8th October 2025 | by Anna Lambert on behalf of Wilson55
While his nostalgic paintings of Wigan life and his Impressionistic scenes of Scotland, Wales, and Spain have found James Lawrence Isherwood a solid place within the current Northern Art market, the artist was not always met with such commercial success. Isherwood’s is the classic story of an artist only really finding his footing in the art market after his death, when his sister-in-law and former agent organised posthumous exhibitions for the thousands of unsold paintings he left behind. Before then, in a somewhat failed attempt to break into the mainstream media and art market himself, Isherwood realised that he could capitalise on the fame of others and the more conservative attitudes of 1960s Britain to get his artwork talked about, and hopefully sold. The three paintings currently being featured in our upcoming Northern Art Sale are a part of his resulting series of self-professed “gimmicky” paintings, produced with the understanding that any attention they garnered would be redirected to his "serious work". While they may not have succeeded at establishing Isherwood as a serious or even respected artist at the time, they are an important part of Isherwood’s story, and evidence of how far an artist can be willing to go in order to get their name out there.
Perhaps the most controversial in the series is this painting titled ‘Dusty as Salome with John Lennon’. In August 1966, Isherwood painted ‘Dusty Springfield’, a different depiction of the singer in the nude, and his name was immediately featured in national newspapers when Springfield and her team threatened to sue him under the reasoning that the painting’s existence implied that Springfield had posed like this for the artist. About this similar and later depiction of her in ‘Dusty as Salome’, Isherwood was to say that "Lennon's head hides her breasts, so I don't think they can sue me over this one". Such a comment heavily implies that the painting was produced with the sole intention of extending the media attention surrounding his work, with Springfield’s previous public comments awarding this latter painting the same controversy through its shared themes and aesthetics.
Lot 17 - James Lawrence Isherwood (British 1917-1989), "Dusty as Salome with John Lennon", oil on board. Estimate: £300-500
Lot 15 - James Lawrence Isherwood (British 1917-1989), "Cilla Black Nude", oil on board. Estimate: £300-500
Again, likely inspired by the outcry caused by this previous nude depiction of a celebrity, Isherwood went on to paint ‘Cilla Black Nude’. According to Isherwood, this painting is a depiction of Cilla Black's head on the body of his ex-wife, with him going on further to say "one nipple is blue and the other is red - so as Cilla's real name is White, I think the whole thing is rather patriotic." A spokesperson for Black responded that "I believe Cilla is aware of the publicity concerning this picture but we really don't consider the whole thing important enough to make any comment on."
The exhibition that these paintings were featured in was, unsurprisingly, therefore a polarising and widely discussed event. Organised by students at Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1966, it turned out to be Isherwood’s most successful to date in terms of sales, but also resulted in threats and police involvement. This final featured painting depicts John Lennon hanging from a cross while the winged head of Mick Jagger mocks him, and a crowd of women at the forefront of the painting are "treating the whole thing like a pop-show." The student who bought the painting received a threatening letter afterwards, warning him to destroy the painting or the sender would, causing the local police to get involved and the paintings to be moved for their safety. It can be assumed that this threat was due to the controversial use of religious imagery within the painting, though Isherwood did claim that it was not meant to be "anti-religious" but was instead inspired by his lack of respect for pop stars.
Lot 87 - James Lawrence Isherwood (British 1917-1989), "Lennon Crucified, his Fans & Jimmy Savile", oil on board. Estimate: £300-500
While perhaps not his most aesthetically pleasing paintings, they are skilfully painted and laced with thrill and scandal. They stand alone in Isherwood’s oeuvre as a result, and having been in the same private collection since purchase by one of the exhibition’s student organisers, their inclusion in our Northern Art Sale tomorrow provides buyers with an exciting opportunity to add something unique and interesting to any art collection.
Click Here for the full catalogue entries and additional illustrations of each lot, and to view the rest of our Northern Art Sale
For any enquiries about these lots, or about consigning your own paintings to one of our auctions, contact our Art Department via stephen.sparrow@wilson55.com or anna.lambert@wilson55.com, or call us on 01270 623 878.
