Colin Gleadell observes the British art sales in London last week that showed surprising strength for six-figure lots. Sotheby’s even held a small but very successful single-owner sale. Here’s Gleadell on the £22.3m week:

At Sotheby’s the top lot was Striptease, Harlem, 1934, by Edward Burra, fresh from the Pallant House Burra exhibition, and sent for sale by collector, Frank Cohen. Cohen bought it in 2007 for £490,000, and it now sold for £842,500 to art advisor Nicholas MacLean. […]

Christie’s had the highest value sale at £12 million and the highest price of the series when the Pyms gallery bid over the £800,000 estimate to buy a tall wood sculpture from 1960 by Barbara Hepworth for £1.1 million for a private UK collector. But the biggest buyer was Richard Green who secured the next top three lots against stiff competition. He bought a rare 1912 Venetian bathing scene by Sir John Lavery for £686,500; a classic floral still life from the 1920s by Samuel John Peploe, straight from the artist’s family, for £662,500; and, staying with the Scottish Colourists, a ravishing female portrait Poise, 1916, by J D Fergusson which had been discovered in an attic by its owners in France, and sold for a record £638,500.

And here’s Sotheby’s release on their Tim Ellis collection:

Sotheby’s November sale of Modern & Post-War British Art in London featured the sale of the Tim Ellis Collection which achieved ‘white glove’ status, with 100% of the 142 lots sold. The collection, assembled by Tim Ellis, who filled his London townhouse with art in a range of media over the course of 30 years, exceeded pre-sale expectations and totalled £1.2m (est. £561,750 – 818,850) and drew competitive bidding from as many as 15 bidders for a single lot. A significant number of new buyers were attracted to the sale – 28% of buyers were new to Sotheby’s, and also 30% of Sotheby’s existing clients were drawn to the Modern & Post War British Art collecting category for the first time.

Drawing widespread international clients to the field Modern & Post-War British Art, the November sale saw participation from Europe, the US, Asia, South America and India

Art Sales: Modern British art finds its stride   (Telegraph)