C is for champion

The story behind C is for Champion

The source for this painting is a magazine photograph — a reunion of sorts, an elderly man standing beside the car he drove to victory at Le Mans in 1953. That man is Tony Rolt. The car is a Jaguar C-type, number 18. Together, Rolt and his co-driver won one of the most celebrated races in motorsport history, and this particular car has since been assessed as the most historically significant British automobile ever built. The export controversy that erupted when it was recently listed for sale — the prospect of it leaving the country permanently — gives some indication of how seriously that assessment is taken.

The painting is an act of homage, but it is also a technical statement. Over a hundred hours were spent on the drawing stage alone before a brush touched the board. The total time to completion was over 700 hours, spread across several years. Tony Rolt passed away before the painting was finished.

What justifies that investment of time is visible in the detail of the car’s bodywork — specifically the reflections. The surface of a racing green Jaguar C-type is essentially a distorting mirror, and to render those reflections accurately is to render abstraction accurately. It is one of the clearest demonstrations in this body of work of what photorealism actually demands: not just the ability to copy what is in front of you, but the ability to copy what is in front of you with complete fidelity, including the parts that make no immediate logical sense to the eye. The reflections in this painting do not lie. That is the whole point.

This is among the strongest paintings in my work. The indifference it received upon completion remains difficult to account for.

This car is now considered to be the most valuable British car ever built.

Tony achieved much in his life, he was a soldier in the second world war, and later went on to have a huge part in British motor racing both as a driver and was among the unsung backroom heroes of British racing development.

Here’s a link to Tony Rolt’s wikipedia page.

Source image of realism painting C is for Champion

Detail views of realism painting C is for Champion