Sotheby’s had a strong sale of British art in London with Barbara Hepworth posting a big sale. Here’s how the press release addresses some of the other works in the sale:Continue Reading
Christie’s Modern British = £9.8m
Christie’s Modern British sale made a strong showing last night:
The Modern British Art Evening Sale realised a total of £9,870,725/ $14,697,510/ €11,469,782 and was sold 84% by lot and 85% by value.
The top lot was Curved Form (Bryher II) by Dame Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) fetched £2,413,875/$3,594,260/€2,804,923, setting a new world record price for a work by the artist at auction.
André Zlattinger, Senior Director, Head of Modern British Art, Christie’s London and Rachel Hidderley, Christie’s International Specialist and Director, Modern British Art:
“The strong results achieved in the ‘Modern British Art Evening Sale’ indicate the continuing appeal for works by for British post-war artists such as Moore, Nicholson, Chadwick and Hepworth. The auction was rich in British sculpture and we are particularly pleased with the prices achieved for Hepworth’s ‘Curved Form: Bryher II’ which was the top lot of the sale at £2.4 million, and Frink’s ‘Seated Man II,’ both of which set world record prices for the artists at auction. This auction sees the continuation of Christie’s leadership in the market for works by Laurence Stephen Lowry; the seven works offered were highly sought-after and there was competitive bidding for his ‘Street Scene’ which fetched £421,875 against a pre-sale estimate of £120,000 – 180,000.
Lowry-palooza Makes £26.3m
Christie’s Evening sale of Modern British & Irish Art which include Lord Forte’s collection of LS Lowry works demonstrated the increasing demand for Lowry’s art. The sale made £23.6m with 36 out of 50 lots sold. Other big sales were:
- 1935 (painting), 1935, by Ben Nicholson, O.M. (1894-1982), sold for £959,650/ $1,512,408/ €1,123,750. This is a key work from this important decade in the artist’s oeuvre.
- Double Anemones, 1921, by Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949) sold for £265,250/ $418,034/ €310,608, setting a world record price for the artist at auction.
- Still Life Variations 2, 1969, a refined work by William Scott, R.A. (1913-1989), one of the Irish masters of the 20th century, sold for £385,250, far exceeding the pre-sale estimate of £200,000-300,000.
Sotheby's 20th C British = £4.58m
Sotheby’s Sale of 20th Century British Art achieved a total of £4,580,325 ($7,389,896) withsell-through rates of 73.7% by lot
Stanley Spencer Sets a Record
Sotheby’s press office provides the background on the Stanley Spencer painting shot through the estimates today:
Sotheby’s in London established a new auction record for a work by Sir Stanley Spencer (in pounds – see note at foot of email), when his Hilda and I at Pond Street sold for £1,430,050 ($2,249,612), far in excess of its pre-sale estimate of £400,000-600,000.
(The previous auction record for Spencer was £1,320,000 ($2,161,454) and this was achieved for his The Crucifixion, which sold at Sotheby’s in London in 1990.**)
Hilda and I at Pond Street, from 1954, was arguably the finest work by the British artist to appear at auction in the last five years. It was offered for sale by The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, to benefit the Museum’s acquisition fund.
Hilda Carline was perhaps the most important figure in Spencer’s life. They first met in the early 1920s and married in 1925. To Spencer, the relationship with Hilda was miraculous, the intimacy and union of their two beings becoming a source of wonderment. Everything about Hilda fascinated Spencer. However, personal circumstances in Hilda’s family led to her spending long periods of time away from her husband, who – in her absence – befriended Patricia Preece, another artist living in Cookham. Hilda and Spencer later separated and this would become Spencer’s biggest regret and he did everything he could to make up for his actions.
