Pioneer: Gerald Laing took Amy Winehouse as a subject for his paintingsGerald Laing/Hugh KellyPop art portraits of stars including Kate Moss, far left, and Amy Winehouse feature in a new show dedicated to a pioneering artist.
Gerald Laing, who died in 2011 at the age of 75, was known in the early Sixties for his celebrity portraits, including one of Brigitte Bardot which sold at auction for over £900,000 two years ago.
A former Army officer, he studied at Central Saint Martins before moving to the US where he befriended Andy Warhol and worked as a sculptor. His son Farquhar, who helped organise the show with his brother Alexander, said his father’s anger at the Iraq War was the main reason he took up painting again. But Laing “maxed out” on the subject before “latching on to Winehouse” and painting Moss with a Martini glass.
The exhibition of more than 70 paintings and sculptures is at the Fine Art Society in New Bond Street from today until October 13.
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