* JOHN BELLANY CBE RA HRSA (SCOTTISH 1942 - 2013), TWO WIVES oil on canvas, signed 152cm x 122cm (60 x 48 inches) Framed. Provenance: Ex Collection of Ruth and Jerome Siegel (USA). Label verso: Fischer Fine Art, 30 King Street, London. Number C 14.087. Note: After his divorce from Helen (Percy) in 1974 Bellany suffered a nervous breakdown. They had married while both were students in Edinburgh and had three children together. He married Juliet (Lister), one of his mature students in 1979. In 1985 Juliet tragically took her own life and later that year Bellany's father died. Bellany struggled to cope with these calamities but he re-united with Helen and with her help and the encouragement of his family he managed to stop drinking, permanently. However, the years of heavy drinking had already taken their toll and in early 1988 Bellany was told by his doctors that his death was near. The pioneering work of surgeon Roy Calne and his team at Addenbrooke's Hospital saved Bellany's life with what at that time was a groundbreaking liver transplant. His Lazarus like recovery offered John a second chance and he grasped it with a new found passion for life. TWO WIVES was acquired in 1990 by Jerome and Ruth Siegel who owned one of the finest private collections of contemporary art in America. Their multi million dollar collection included examples by most of the great post war American and European artists and individual paintings from the collection have sold in recent years for approaching $4,000,000. Ruth founded and led Art Latitude Gallery and the Ruth Siegel Art Gallery (New York), where she nurtured and brought to prominence major young American artists. She gave Bellany a major solo show in New York in 1988. Ruth Siegel was a board member of MoMA PS1 and the Museum of Arts and Design. There is much on the internet about Jerome and Ruth Siegel their lives, the art collection and their philanthropic activities.