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Lot #5071
Jimi Hendrix Original Psychedelic Portrait Sketches - Presented to Music Journalist Miranda Ward

“May This Be Love?”—mind-blowing original portrait sketches by Jimi Hendrix, presented to the first woman heard on BBC Radio 1

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Estimate: $10000+
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Description

“May This Be Love?”—mind-blowing original portrait sketches by Jimi Hendrix, presented to the first woman heard on BBC Radio 1

Amazing original psychedelic sketch by Jimi Hendrix on an off-white 8.25 x 8.5 paper napkin, which he presented to music journalist Miranda Ward. The impressively detailed sketch contains the halves of two faces, one in profile and the other facing forward, which are believed to be the recipient and Hendrix, who has added words to the upper (“May This Be Love?”), middle (“Love”), and lower (“Problems”) areas of the drawing; ‘May This Be Love’ is the title of a song on the Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 debut album, Are You Experienced. The consignor notes that the drawing originates from the estate of Miranda Ward, a music journalist who wrote for publications like the New Musical Express, Record Mirror, and Hit Parade, among others. When Ward interviewed George Harrison from the set of Magical Mystery Tour in Newquay, Cornwall, she became the first female voice to ever be heard on BBC Radio 1. In very good to fine condition, with stains, intersecting folds, and loss to the left edge (not affecting any of the handwriting).

Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Tracks and a letter of provenance from Ward’s brother, Richard Kirby, which reads: “I am the brother of the late Miranda Ward, the former rock music journalist, as well as the Administrator of her estate. I confirm that during her lifetime she told me on more than one occasion that Jimi Hendrix had drawn a picture of her on a paper napkin during a meal, and that she had kept the napkin and still had it. She interviewed him for an article published in one of several publications that she wrote for in the sixties. I was looking out for the napkin but only found it quite recently in one of several binders of plastic sleeves containing some of her rock-related photographs. It was folded inside a separate sleeve with the drawing not showing. If the photograph of her sitting with Hendrix had been with other rock photographs in the binder with the napkin, I probably would have noticed the napkin earlier, but she had the photograph framed separately.”

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Marvels of Modern Music
  • Dates: #693 - Ended May 23, 2024