Frank Dunphy (27 November 1937 – 23 August 2020) was an Irish-born, British-based

business manager The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company". Compare manager. Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to op ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

. He represented the interests of such artists and actors as

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

Tracey Emin Dame Tracey Karima Emin (; born 3 July 1963) is an English artist known for autobiographical and confessional artwork. She produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, Neon lighting, neon text ...

Jake and Dinos Chapman Iakovos "Jake" Chapman (born 1966) and Konstantinos "Dinos" Chapman (born 1962) are British visual artists, previously known as the Chapman Brothers. Their art explores deliberately shocking subject matters; for instance, in 2008, they produc ...

and

Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage, and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is known ...

. Sean O’Hagan
"The man who sold us Damien"
''The Guardian'', 1 July 2007.

Early life in Ireland

Dunphy was born in

Portrane Portrane or Portraine () is a small seaside village located three kilometres from the town of Donabate in Fingal, County Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Barony (Ireland), barony of Nethercross in the north of the county. P ...

. His father was a nurse and his mother was a republican activist and member of

Cumann na mBan Cumann na mBan (; but in English termed The Irishwomen's Council), abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and dissolving Inghinidhe na hÉireann, and in 191 ...

. He was married to Lorna.

Career

Dunphy moved to England in the early 1950s and began his career in representation advising performers including

Coco the Clown Nicolai Poliakoff Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, OBE (2 October 1900 – 25 September 1974; ; ) was the creator of Coco the Clown, arguably the most famous clown in the United Kingdom in the mid-20th century. Biogr ...

, Harry Worth, and

Roy Castle Roy Castle (31 August 1932 – 2 September 1994) was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. An accomplished jazz trumpet player, he could also play many other instruments. In a career as a versatile perfo ...

. He reputedly charged his clients 10% of all sales/income revenue. Cahal Milmo
"Mr 10 per cent (and he's worth every penny)"
''The Independent'', 18 September 2008.

Damien Hirst

Dunphy has represented artist

since 1995. He claimed he was first asked to represent artist Hirst by Hirst's mother, Mary, a claim which the artist has disputed. In 2018, Dunphy and his wife gave six works by

Young British Artists The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Golds ...

to the

Pallant House Gallery Pallant House Gallery is an art gallery in Chichester, West Sussex, England. It houses one of the best collections of 20th-century British art in the world. History The Gallery's collection is founded on works left to the city of Chichester by ...

, Chichester, including ''Butterfly'' by Hirst.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunphy, Frank 1937 births 2020 deaths Businesspeople from County Dublin Irish talent agents Irish expatriates in England