Grail Alert! A rarity indeed: a painting by Alister Pearson! Most of Pearson's work that are not in the collection of the artist are pretty heavily contested, but this one has a crystal clear provenance. It was gifted in 1992 by Pearson to the then editor of Doctor Who Magazine, John Freeman, on the occasion of him leaving the editorship. Throughout his tenure Freeman commissioned fan artist Pearson to produce covers for the magazine: Pearson is known to include people's initials into his designs, and you can see the JF to the middle right of the image, by Willam Hartnell's chin. The painting was commissioned, I believe, by the BBC and was used for the BBC Enterprises VHS twin pack release of The Dalek Invasion of Earth in 1990, and re-used for the Virgin Media Target 'blue spine' reprint of Terrace Dick's novelisation in the same year. Originally it did not include the Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben; that was requested by the BBC: it was Freeman's idea to set the time to the original broadcast of the show in 1963! I'm also told that the Dalek image was based on the superb model work and photography by Julian Vince that graced the cover of DWM 141 in October 1988, soon after Freeman was made editor of the magazine. It's a gorgeous piece of delicate painting, and having been out of the hands of the artist since 1992, it has not been reworked by Pearson, and so it is in its clear and original form. It is framed, so no verso view for now; having examined some of the few other Pearson's available, typically there's not much on the back anyway... Gouache on grey art board 49 cms x 37 cms
