A DESK CLOCK IN THE FORM OF AN ARTIST'S PALETTE AND BRUSHES, PRESENTED TO FRANCIS BACON (1909-1992) c.1950/60s
engraved and inscribed Francis Bacon From Daniel and Crew, Waterman's Arms (along the upper edge)
10 x 19 cm

The Waterman’s Arms (Isle of Dogs), for a period between 1962 and 1964, was run by Daniel Farson was also part of the Soho scene in the 1950s and early 1960s. He photographed and wrote about Soho in a book Soho in the Fifties, although due to his level of drinking there was always some doubt as to the details of the stories Farson would recall.

It was in Soho that Farson met people such as the artists Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, who would also go on to visit the Waterman’s Arms.

The Waterman’s Arms and Daniel Farson tell of a very different time. Soho has since lost much of its original character, and East London pubs have been disappearing rapidly over the last few decades.

see: A London Inheritance, A Private History of a Public City