Rare Spike Milligan artwork up for auction

Two nudes painted by Spike Milligan are coming up for auction later this summer.

The pieces are being sold by artist Charles Newington, who was friends with the comedian in the last ten years of his life.

He said  Spike showed the potential to be a ‘great surrealist painter’ and would have loved liked to have made a career as an artist.

‘But his genius for comic writing and the absurd took over,’ Newington said, adding that as surrealism is ‘not admired much in the UK, he made the right decision.’

The two pieces –  Time To Go Home Dear right, and Bendy Doll, left,  – were  given to Newington  by Milligan’s widow Shelagh after his death. 

‘Needs must to sell them,’ Newington said on a blog on the website of Grand Auctions, which is handling the sale. An artist’s life is always impecunious, but I know Spike would have said, "Go for it".’

Newington helped Milligan – who would have turned 100 this year –  stage his only exhibition of his artwork at the Agency Club in Central London in 1995. ‘Both these two pieces  were shown in that exhibition.

He added that he struck up a friendship with Milligan because:‘He liked the company of artists and, on the whole, disliked the company of comedians, who would always be in danger of treading on his jokes. We got on because we never mentioned the Goons, or anything comical.

It's estimated that Time To Go Home could fetch £300 to £500 and between £200 to £300 for Bendy Doll when the go under the hammer at Grand Auctions in Folkestone on July 9.

Published: 22 May 2018