1965, acrylic on board
Fontana Books published Peter Cheyney’s novel Try Anything Twice in 1965. Fratini caught the mood of the pulp thriller with a stylishly dressed woman on a chaise with a cigarette and a gun. Although this is classic pulp styling, the minimal composition looks toward modernism with more than a nod to Hitchcock. The unusual pose and nuanced expression also give the piece a depth not typical of the genre.
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.