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Included in Charles Saatchi’s landmark exhibition Sensation at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1997, Untitled (NRAL 2) (1994) is an early work from Richard Billingham’s seminal series of family portraits. Depicting poverty-stricken life in Cradley Heath in the West Midlands, these raw, candid snapshots brought him to critical acclaim. The series, entitled Ray’s a Laugh, focused on Billingham’s alcoholic father Ray, his mother Liz – shown here – and his younger brother Jason. Inaugurating a style known as ‘squalid realism’, they offered a no-holds-barred view of council estate living in post-Thatcherite Britain. Billingham went on to become one of the most celebrated photographers of his generation, earning a Turner Prize nomination in 2001 and a BAFTA nomination for his feature film Ray & Liz in 2019. Examples from the present series are held in museum collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; and the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna.
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Condition report
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The condition of lots can vary widely and the nature of the lots sold means that they are unlikely to be in a perfect condition. Lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of sale.
The work is structurally sound. There is some minor lifting to the extreme upper corners. Subject to the foregoing, it is our view that the work appears to be in generally good condition.