The Financial Times Looks Closely at the Fortunes of Scottish Art

Anthony Thorncroft looks at the Scottish market in advance of Christie’s late October sales:

Indeed, until recently Scottish art has been viewed as something of a backwater, but this year the Edinburgh sales of Scottish art at Sotheby’s and Bonhams, traditionally held in late August to coincide with the Edinburgh festivals, attracted intense interest. Prices for post-1890 Scottish art, especially the best work of the Colourists (the quartet of Peploe, Hunter, Fergusson and Cadell); of the so-called Glasgow Boys (Lavery, Walton, Henry, Hornel and more) and, later, the girls of the Edinburgh Group (such as Blackadder and Redpath as well as Eardley) have been experiencing a sharp upturn; on the other hand fears of a global recession had blighted the July auctions of British art in London. In the Sotheby’s sale, quality works were snapped up but there was little interest in the mundane – almost half the 263 lots were unsold.

These are turbulent times, however, and Christie’s is cautious. Its auction on October 23 in Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms is restricted to 175 lots and specialist Laura Lindsay has kept estimates low. As she says, “we want to lure buyers in with sensible reserves”.

Northern Lights (Financial Times)