Fear Gives Wings to Courage

For over 20 years, Alon Zakaim Fine Art has been rooted in the rich artistic heritage in and around Cork Street — an area long recognised for exhibiting and dealing in works at the forefront of art history.

As part of ​Cork Street Galleries: 100 Years,​ ​Fear Gives Wings To Courage is a​n exhibition that unites all 15 galleries on the street​, and celebrates its centenary​. In collaboration with Tarini Malik, Curator of Contemporary and Modern Art at the Royal Academy of Arts, the exhibition takes its title from Jean Cocteau’s​ seminal 1938 work, La peur donnant des ailes au courage (Fear Giv​ing Wings to Courage​), a piece so provocative that, during Peggy Guggenheim’s time at 30 Cork Street, she was forbidden from displaying it publicly. Instead, she was compelled to hang it in her office, where it could only be seen by those who specifically requested to view it.

Interwoven with the events that have shaped the history of the street, our exhibition explores the notions of fear and courage. Drawing on key works from the gallery’s collection, it presents a narrative that unfolds in reverse. The exhibition initially situates the viewer in the present day, presenting contemporary responses to the theme through Chris Smith’s Ali vsThe Beatles, Clive Head’s hyper-realist Signal Box, and Patrick Hughes’s Reverspective invention in The Message is the Medium – all works that convey a sense of jeopardy, at times humorous, but each demonstrating a courageous approach to artistic expression.

Alongside these works, visitors can also reflect on late twentieth-century pieces such as Sir Terry Frost’s Red, blue and white. A former prisoner of war, Frost overcame profound internal struggles to create vivid and colourful expressions of abstract optimism. His work is displayed alongside pieces by Richard Artschwager, Damien Hirst, David Breuer-Weil and Avigdor Arikha.

Downstairs, the focus of the exhibition shifts to the early 20th century, highlighting a climate of fear through powerful expressions of resilience – most notably in a rare tapestry after Picasso, entitled La Minotauromachie or Minotaur Battle. The tapestry depicts the Minotaur alongside a striking cast of figures: a female matador on an injured horse, a young girl holding a candle and flowers, a man climbing a ladder, and two women observing from a window with doves. It was conceived during what Picasso later described as “the worst time in my life”. At the time, his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter was pregnant, and his marriage to Olga Khokhlova had collapsed, with Olga having recently moved out. Here, the viewer can observe Picasso turning to classical mythology as a creative outlet – a work that stands apart from the more overtly angry pieces he produced during this turbulent period.

With the gallery’s long-standing focus and specialism in Impressionist and Modern art, the final room is dedicated to the work of the early Impressionists. These paintings reflect the collective struggle of a group of artists who faced harsh criticism and rejection. Challenging the prevailing academic tastes and the dominance of neo-classical ideals, they persevered in pursuit of a new artistic vision. Among them, Eugène Boudin’s Scène de plage stands out as a striking example of plein air painting. His small oil sketches depicting the bourgeoisie on Trouville Beach marked a bold departure from traditional studio practice. These works played a pivotal role in shaping a fresh artistic approach that laid the foundations for a new generation of artists, whose influence resonates throughout the exhibition.