The Colony Room Club has been a haunt for hard-drinking artists since the formidable Muriel Belcher founded the club in two small rooms up a staircase in Soho, and paid the young Francis Bacon £10 a week and free drinks to bring in the clientele. He did, and Lucien Freud, Frank Auerbach, Michael Andrews, Patrick Caulfield and Barry Flanagan were among the Colony's regulars - as well as Bacon himself for whom the Colony was a second home. The Colony's emerald green, nicotine-stained rooms also plays host to
Soho artist and poet Alyson Hunter. Alyson was born in New Zealand in 1948 and studied Fine Art at Auckland University before leaving for London to study at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art. Later working with her husband Hugh Stoneman, she promoted the use of photography in printmaking, and her photo etchings were bought by many public and private collections.
Artfusion is pleased to be collaborating with Alyson to produce a series of limited edition prints based on an earlier project the ‘changing face of Soho’. The series will include one her most iconic images ‘The Colony Room Club’ which depicts Michael Wojas looking out into Dean Street as the club opens at 3 o'clock on a summer afternoon in 1994.The barstools are worn with the whiling away of the hours by Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, and Dan Farson.
We look forward to posting more on this exciting project very soon.
You can find out more about Alyson and her work by visiting her site at www.alysonhunter.com
