Niki Lauda and James Hunt Artwork
Nicloas Cancelier depicts the protagonists who fought for the 1976 Formula One World Championship.
Some time ago, Nicolas Cancelier decided he should work on a series of paintings about the great fighting duels in Formula One. The first in the series was that between Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi—Ferrari teammates, but fierce rivals. Their darkest moment was obviously at Imola, in 1982, during the San Marino GP. Some years earlier the fight between Niki Lauda and James Hunt was an epic story of two guys that was recently celebrated by Hollywood with the release of the film Rush. Cancelier thought that was a great title and, indeed, gave the title to this work. Had he lived, James Hunt would have celebrated his 70th birthday during the month of August 2017—so the artist thought it seemed appropriate to offer this piece in recognition of the former World Champion’s racing career. While Cancelier works in many mediums, ranging from simple pencil sketches to mixed media, acrylic, watercolor and oils, this work is oil on canvas, measuring 120cm x 80cm.
