Original Artwork

c.1962, acrylic on board

Glendon Swarthout’s self-confessed ‘big book’ about a little town in Michigan was published in 1962. Though a more melodramatic image was eventually used for the cover, this version by Fratini uses introspective figures and symbols of authority set against a burning yellow background to imply violent secrets lurking below the town’s composed surface.

The original painting art board is approximately 40 cm wide x 55 cm tall. The artwork is float mounted on to conservation grade mountboard and presented in a white wooden box frame glazed with anti-reflective glass.

c.1962/3, casein tempera on board, 33cm x 43cm

This illustration for a magazine story in Woman’s Realm, is an early surviving example of Johnson's work using casein tempera paint. Casein tempera paint was used by illustrators before the invention and availability of acrylic paint. This painting is an exceptional and rare example of Johnson's early work. 

Johnson used the designer, model and actress Suzy Kendall to model the girl in the striped dress.  Kendall’s films included such Sixties classics as Thunderball, To Sir With Love, Up the Junction and Fear is the Key.  She was briefly married to Dudley Moore, remaining lifelong friends after the marriage ended.