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Affordable Modern Masters

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Article by Jonathan Horwich

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Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, David Hockney, Pierre Auguste Renoir are just a few of the Titans of Modern Art. They all have stellar international reputations, with their finest works being fought over by mega-collectors worldwide and making millions.

This leaves us mere mortals, who might aspire to own a work by any of these greats, without hope; the assumption being that price precludes ownership. Thus, collectors may totally discount the possibility of acquiring anything at more affordable prices.

However, there are buying opportunities out there for all of these artists which may not seem immediately obvious. When faced with astronomical prices for finished major works, collectors should be encouraged to look below the surface for less apparent opportunities…

For example, during Francis Bacon’s early career in the 1930s, he worked as a commercial furniture and rug designer. After the war he emerges as the great painter we know today, and of course his paintings are now out of financial reach to the masses. However, his rugs, although expensive, and his much cheaper surviving pieces of furniture, offer some buying opportunities, (no.’s 1-2). As do his limited-edition prints, each one is signed by him, even all three works in a Triptych, (no.’s 3-5).

Following this theme, I looked for more affordable pieces. Among my favourite finds is no. 7, Lucian Freud’s artist’s palette. It is one he actually used and still has all his signature colours. Equally, Freud’s etchings are accessible and affordable and they are a direct link to his skill as a draughtsman. The process of making an etching involves the artist drawing his subject direct onto the printing plate, and so is only one step away from an original drawing in my mind.

I think David Hockney offers us the greatest number of different buying opportunities, from faxes, to iPad drawings, to office-made, limited-edition ink jet prints and he is still finding new ways to make art, which at 83 is truly remarkable!

 

 

 

Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) – Painting as a Pastime

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Jonathan Horwich, Modern Art Specialist

It’s 1915 and the First World War is raging. Winston Churchill, now aged forty, was in the thick of the fighting, leading his men at Ypres. It was while resting behind enemy lines at Ploegsteert, nicknamed ‘Plug Street’ by the Tommies, that he first picked up a brush to paint for the first time. His reasons for doing so are most eloquently expressed by Churchill himself in the introduction to his book ‘Painting as a Pastime’ first published in 1947.

Image of painting by Winston Churchill, Plug Street, 1915

Plug Street, 1915. Oil on canvas. 51 x 60 cm
Painted during WW1 while Churchill was resting with his men behind the battle lines at Ploegsteert near the front at Ypres.
In the National Trust collection at Churchill’s home , Chartwell, Kent

“Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end, or almost to the end, of the day. To have reached the age of forty without ever handling a brush or fiddling with a pencil, to have regarded with mature eye the painting of pictures of any kind as a mystery, to have stood agape before the chalk of the pavement artist, and then suddenly to find oneself plunged in the middle of a new and intense form of interest and action with paints and palettes and canvases, and not to be discouraged by results, is an astonishing and enriching experience. I hope it may be shared by others. I should be glad if these lines induced others to try the experiment which I have tried, and if some at least were to find themselves dowered with an absorbing new amusement delightful to themselves, and at any rate not violently harmful to man or beast.”

The Loup River, Alpes Maritimes 1936 by Sir Winston Churchill 1874-1965

THE LOUP RIVER, ALPES MARITIMES, 1930. Oil on canvas. 20 1/8×24 (51·5×61). Presented by the artist 1955. Exh: R.A., 1947 (174); R.A. Diploma Gallery, March–August 1959.
The picture was painted in 1930, and the site lies about five hundred yards from where the main Cagnes to Grasse road crosses the river.
It was one of the two pictures Churchill exhibited at the R.A. in 1947 and were submitted to the Selection Committee under the name ‘David Winter’.

Churchill soon found that watercolours were not his ideal medium, and instead switched to the more robust medium of oil paint – as ‘you can more easily paint over your mistakes’. Early encouragement came from an amateur prize he won for “Winter Sunshine, Chartwell,” a bright reflection of his Kentish home. Also, under the pseudonym Charles Morin, he sent five paintings to be exhibited at the Paris Salon in the 1920s, where four were sold for £30 each. However, making money was not the incentive, then or ever. It was simply the sheer delight of painting that accounted for Churchill’s devotion.

Image of painting by Winston Churchill, Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque.

Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque. Signed with initials ‘W.S.C.’ (lower right). Oil on canvas. 45.7 x 61 cm.
The world auction record holder for Churchill sold on behalf Angelina Joli for £8,285,000 in January 2021 the only painting Churchill completed during WW2 and gifted to President Roosevelt, probably the most historically Important picture by Churchill.

He readily received tuition and guidance from some of the leading artists of the day such as Sir John Lavery, Sir William Nicholson and Walter Richard Sickert. This led, in 1947, to the then president of the Royal Academy, Sir Alfred Munnings, suggesting Churchill submit two works to the annual Summer Exhibition. Churchill was eventually persuaded, on the proviso that they be submitted under the pseudonym of David Winter. Both pictures were accepted, with one being acquired later for the National Collection by the Tate. A few years later during the first post-war Royal Academy Dinner in 1949, Churchill was made an Honorary Academician (Hon, R.A), the first and so far, only person to be awarded this honour.

Image of painting by Winston Churchill, JUG WITH BOTTLES

JUG WITH BOTTLES, signed W.S.C. (lower right). Oil on canvas board. Unframed: 51 by 35.5cm.; 20 by 14in.
Painted at Chartwell sold in Nov 2020 for £983,000

Churchill had a true craftsman’s dedication to his art and readily accepted the advice to visit Avignon and later the Cote d’Azur where he discovered artists who worshipped at the throne of Cezanne. He also acknowledged the inspiration he derived from his many visits to Marrakech, Morocco.

Image of painting by Winston Churchill, MIMIZAN

MIMIZAN, signed with initials. Oil on canvas, 56.5 by 36cm.; 22¼ by 14in. Executed circa the 1920s
SImage of painting by Winston Churchillold June 20128 for £430,000
Gifted by the Artist to Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein in 1950

Churchill sought and found tranquillity in his art. His much-quoted words, summing up his expectations of celestial bliss; “When I get to heaven, I mean to spend a considerable portion of my first million years in painting, and so get to the bottom of the subject…”

Image of painting by Winston Churchill, THE SCUOLA DI SAN MARCO VENICE

THE SCUOLA DI SAN MARCO VENICE, signed with initials. Oil on canvas, 50.5 by 61cm.; 20 by 24in. Executed in 1951.
Churchill loved Venice, he spent his honeymoon there in 1908, this picture was painted on a family holiday at the Lido in 1951.
Sold Nov 2015 for £500,000

By far the best and most enjoyable way to get to know the man and his art is to visit his beloved Chartwell in Kent. Now owned and run by the National Trust, Churchill’s paintings and artefacts are all around the house, but for me the revelation is the Garden studio which is full of Churchill’s paintings, hung corner to corner almost, with his paints, brushes and easel all set out as if he were returning shortly… not to be missed!

Image of painting by Winston Churchill, View of Blenheim Palace through the branches of a cedar

View of Blenheim Palace through the branches of a cedar. Oil on canvas. 61 x 51 cm
A view of Churchill’s childhood home painted in 1920 and gifted to Churchill’s daughter Mary Soames, and sold from her estate collection sale in December 2014
for £566,000

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How Art Galleries & Auction Houses Have Adapted During COVID

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By Jonathan Horwich, Modern Art Specialist

‘Never waste a crisis’ they say in the art business. The various lockdowns, and Covid itself, has forced the art market to adapt quickly to the new challenges we all face in our lives and businesses. When you think of the art business, it’s about people and face to face meetings, parties and major auction gala openings etc. So how, in the face of the pandemic, are they going to manage, when indeed the very people they need to see and sell to are no longer allowed to travel or even mingle in any way shape or form!
Brilliantly and swiftly auction houses reacted almost overnight. Having worked in the auction industry myself for over 30 years, I’m well aware of how many great ideas were sitting on the shelves in auction houses just waiting for the right moment to be put into practice, now suddenly, that ‘right moment’ is now and all the ideas are in play. Realising that it would now be impossible for people to view in person, they switched to remote live and timed online auctions. The latter, prior to Covid, had only been mildly successful, but now, with no other option and with bidders locked up at home, they found tens of thousands of new bidders.  We were about to witness the reality of presenting auctions live to the public- with nobody at all sitting in the saleroom! Those of you who have attended auctions will recognise the buzzing atmosphere with people here, there and everywhere all bidding and crammed shoulder to shoulder. Well, none of that was going to be possible now.
Christie’s mounted what they called a ‘global auction’ which was an extraordinary feat of logistics and engineering. There was an auctioneer in Hong Kong passing on to the auctioneer in Paris, passing on to an auctioneer in New York, so literally back-to-back auctions spanning almost 15 hours!  What was truly remarkable was the numbers. Over 160,000 people were either watching or bidding around the world, whereas normally they might expect 30,000 online viewers and the prices achieved were every bit as strong.  In some cases, even stronger than pre-pandemic, mainly because new people were involved so bidder numbers were significantly higher than would have been seen before. In fact, there were so many people attempting to log on to watch, me included, that it was impossible for the system to cope! They reacted quickly though and adapted things. So much so that one year on 160,000 + people watching an auction in various locations around the world is normal and they no longer run out of bandwidth.
To further develop the online offering, new visual aids have appeared. You can now gauge the size of the picture you were thinking about buying on a virtual wall. To be able to gauge the size of the piece is genius, as sometimes in our heads it’s bigger or smaller than it really is.
Auctioneers around the world are still adapting to the new norm. However, not all of them are doing auctions in exactly the same way, which is rather refreshing.  Some are conducting live auctions with an auctioneer, sometimes in his own living room, with images and bidding increments being presented on your screen so everything is there for you, while the actual pieces are safely in the warehouse.
Condition reports for multi million dollar lots are essential so that at a distance you can be comfortable with what you’re buying, Covid rules allow for independent restorers to visit the rooms to do reports on behalf of the vendors and are flat out doing just that!
We’re only a year on, however it seems like five years’ worth of ideas and development have been squeezed into less than a year of real time when it comes to auctions. You can now bid on either a live auction in one session with an auctioneer and nobody except staff in the room, or on a timed online auction which is spread over a week or so.  Everyone is doing it in their own slightly differing ways and yet all are instinctively seeming to get it right.  
Major auctions now appear on YouTube so you can search Christie’s auction and watch a recorded New York auction from beginning to end, followed by a second session in London if you have the energy! The 160,000 people worldwide watching in 2020 has now grown to nearer a million in some cases with auction houses using multiple cameras and angles just like a football match.
For art dealers, international art fairs are the lifeblood to their businesses as it’s where they meet new clients, re-engage with existing clients and show exciting new pieces and discoveries for the first time.  The buzz of fairs, such as Masterpiece, the London Art Fair and the Armoury and Frieze fairs are all suspended. The galleries are no longer able to use their physical shop space to garner interest, so to reach out they are turning increasingly to newsletters, updates and new stock reports, knowing that we’re all locked down so much more likely to read what they are sending us.  While it’s not possible to go into the galleries themselves, new virtual portals have opened, run by those dealers usually involved with art fairs. This allows them to showcase on other platforms such as Love Antiques, The Bruno Effect and 1st dibs and 2covet – all of whom are benefitting from added interest in this lockdown world.
It’s fair to say that pretty much everything is virtual in the art world now. The upshot I think is that for many people buying at auction and galleries has been totally demystified so encouraging new buyers. When lockdown ends and we get back to something near normal, I think that the art world will bounce back with a vengeance. People will still want to buy at auctions but will accept and enjoy attending virtually too, and there will be an equal number of people who have been introduced to buying art via virtual fairs and exhibitions.
Virtual Auctions

Live auction at Christie’s London on March 1st 2021, here we see the hammer about to come down on the only wartime painting completed by Winston Churchill ‘ called the Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque. it was completed by Churchill in 1943 after the allied conference in Morocco and given to President Franklin D Roosevelt and much later bought by Brad Pitt for his then wife Angelina Joli and sold in this auction on her behalf for nearly 6 times its pre-sale estimate of £1.5 million for a record breaking £8.3 million. The auctioneer is the only one not wearing a mask, see below

Staff bidders at the March 1st auction, not black tie anymore for gala auctions, it’s now matching black masks for everyone. You can’t see but there are no members of the public in the saleroom at all, they are either on these phones or online, only these masked phone bidding staff , the auctioneer plus a few masked art handlers showing the works are the only people in the room. The room would normally be packed yet despite everything this sale and all the others have been rip roaring successes. The sale was filmed using multiple cameras and angles and is therefore fun to watch it is on you tube, just search Christie’s auction where it can be viewed in full, on the night the auction was viewed by over 100,000 people. It appears that watching auctions under lockdown has gone viral !

A rare early picture by Vincent van Gogh, Rue Montmatre , estimate £5-8 million for sale at Sothebys on March 25th 2021 ,this is the image from the online catalogue, it has a ‘zoom in’ facility and condition report, lot essay etc see below

Same Van Gogh picture shown on a virtual wall, next to a virtual window, to give you a sense of its scale

Arg-Ala by Damien Hirst,
Estimate £150-200,000
In a Sothebys online timed auction 26th March, 2021, bidding is over a week usually and progress is shown 24/7 like e bay, bidding ends at a specific time and day with a delay if bidding is still active and will continue until bidding stops , at the time of writing it was £150,000, the picture is 50 x 50 cms and is seen here with an art handler nearby to give scale. These online timed sales were mainly used for lower value lots or collection sales pre- covid , however they have now fully proved their ability to sell very high value lots well.

The latest big news in the auction world is digital art , known as NFT’s ( Non Fungible Tokens) this is a brand new development as of March 2021. This image shows a work with multiple images titled ‘The First 5,000 days ‘ created over 5,000 days by Mike Winkelmann, aka ‘Beeple’ sold for $69,000,000 in Christie’s New York . Again this was not a live traditional auction it was a timed sale as for the Hirst in fig 6. Amazingly the starting estimate was only $100 and there was no reserve , bidding only began actively a few minutes before the auction was due to close, bids rose from $100 to $69,000,000 in a matter of minutes ! It was bought by Vignesh Sundarasen a Singapore based investor. The work doesn’t exist in a tangible form, so you can’t hang it up anywhere nor have you bought the copyright which stays with Beeple the artist. However you can trade it via the unique access code you receive with the work.

Another digital work made up of multiple individual images again by Beeple, called ‘The Next Chapter’ Beeple first began making his ‘Everydays’ (one image per day) in 2007, however lockdown and its full embrace of live online auctions seems to have provided the catalyst to go global with offering digital works at auction online.
Virtual Art Dealing

Unlike the auction houses Art Dealers don’t have the monkey of back to back auction calendar to manage, however they do rely on major Art fairs and events such as Frieze, The London Art Fair and Masterpiece to showcase new works and meet new clients and make sales. Many of the events have been postponed, however The London Art Fair went digital, showcasing individual galleries such as Alan Wheatley in this image. The image and details will have been shared with all registered attendees of previous year’s fairs and is teamed up with experts and other curators to present a series of lectures, webinars and virtual events to drive sales.

More London Art fair 2021 images, featuring works for sale by Bridget Riley, Ian Davenport and others

Welcome page for 2covet a new online dealer platform enabling dealers to continue to have access to sales and new clients while their shops remain closed.

2 covet dealer page showing more traditional pictures from a dealer in late 19th and early 20th century
Pictures.

2 Covet website showing the range of categories available to buy.

A new site, ‘The Bruno Effect, due to open June 2021 focussing on antiques vintage and 20c design.

Bruno Effect’s dealer focus page

1st Dibs is an established online dealer platform, they have a full range of art and antique dealers who pay commission on sales along with a monthly subscription so it’s quite an investment , if you also have a closed shop, lockdown will have encouraged many more dealers to move online to this site. They hold online dealer and object focus events plus editors picks so many more dealers are moving online

A current ‘Editor’s Picks’ event page on 1st Dibs featuring items from different disciplines chosen by the Editor.

Looking for Lowry

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By Jonathan Horwich, Modern Art Specialist

L S Lowry, (1887-1976) is perhaps our most famous English painter of the 20th Century. Certainly, if you were appearing as a contestant on ‘Pointless’ then good luck trying for a pointless answer by naming Lowry as your answer in any question category! Most people in the UK today, young or old, and for some reason mostly male, will in some way or other have heard of Lowry.
As a Victorian, born in Manchester in 1887, he was the only child of Robert and Elizabeth Lowry. It seems he was always a disappointment to his mother, who really wanted a girl. Early photographs show him still wearing girls’ clothes aged 4 or 5. He also wanted to be an artist, which was yet another disappointment to his mother.
However, as the Lowrys were not wealthy enough to support the family, he was thwarted by having to work full time at his father Robert’s work place. This left no time for painting in the day, leaving him only the evenings to study, so that is what he did. Always older than everybody else, it took him the best part of 20 years to fully qualify. Even then, (although he never admitted it to anybody he knew), he had to continue to work full time, Monday to Saturday, and so only painted at night for many, many years. Indeed, probably through habit he continued to do this his whole life.
He was at his most productive after he retired from the Pall Mall Property company in 1952, when at least he had the whole day at his disposal. He was by then famous for his Industrial Landscapes which he began painting in the 1920’s. On retirement, he was keen to move on but inevitably his collectors still mostly wanted his ‘Industrials’.
He switched to a lighter, brighter, whiter, palate by the early 60’s and began to make small, quickly painted pictures, mainly with people and animals.
He has always been a popular artist at auction and as early as 1964 pictures were reaching record sums of near to £2,000, a very significant sum back in the day. His exhibitions in London at the Lefevre gallery were always a sell-out and so now prices for even small, genuine drawings and sketches are out of the reach for many collectors.
Limited edition prints had been around since the beginning of the 20th Century, with artists such as Picasso and Henry Moore signing limited editions of their printed work.
Lowry became involved in the late 60’s and early 70’s, signing everything personally. It is these that offer the new collector at least an entry level starting point as a collector. Generally speaking, the price range runs from £2,000 up to the dizzy heights of £20,000 for particularly rare examples.
This article gives a brief introduction to the 25 to 30 different signed prints by Lowry that are still available. They regularly come up for auction and are available in private galleries all around the UK. As they are multiples, they are a bit like buses – if you miss one, there will be another along soon. Hence, there is no need to jump in quickly. If this is something that you want to get involved with, see what’s out there and then dip your toe in the water .
Things to watch out for are – condition and colour, (some prints fade if they’ve been in strong sunlight), and avoid stains and rips. Good luck and enjoy the process!
LS Lowry (1887-1976)
1-3 are all original Lowry paintings

Station approach Manchester print

 

1) Going to the Match, 1953
Signed, oil on canvas, 71 x 92. This is an image of the original oil bought at the 1997 auction by Graham Taylor on behalf of the Professional Football association pension fund, it’s now on view in  the Lowry Salford
Original oil painting, Sold at auction for £1,926,500 in 1997

Station approach Manchester
2) The original Lowry painting Station Approach, Manchester 1960, oil on canvas, 76 x 101 cm
Sold for £2,322,500 in 2014

Punch and Judy
3) The original Lowry painting Punch and Judy. Signed and dated 1943, Oil on canvas, 41 x 56  cm
This original painting has changed hands multiple time since it first came up for auction in 1995 when it made £152,000, last time it sold was in 2019 when it made £611,000
Sold for £962,500 in 2014

The following are all signed limited edition prints of various original Lowry pictures and drawings

Going to the match
Going to the Match, 1953. Signed Colour print from an edition of 300, 56 x 70 cm
While the price paid for the original is not the record price the print version is the top priced Lowry print! It is to do with the subject, ie football and the fact that there were only ever 300 produced
£20,000 in 2020
£18,000 in 2015

Station approach Manchester print
Station Approach, Manchester. Signed colour print from an edition of 850, 40 x 50 cm
£3,187 in 2020
£3,100 in 2015

Punch and Judy print
Punch and Judy. Signed colour print from an edition of 75, 44.5 x 68.5 cm
Prices go down as well as up, the price for this particular print has gone down since 2015…
£5,062 in 2020
£8,100 in 2015

Britain at play
Britain at Play. Signed colour print from an edition of 850, 47 x 60 cm
£4,200 in 2021
£2,500 in 2015

Fever van
Fever Van. Signed colour print from an edition of 700, 45 x 54 cm
£4,800 in 2021
£2,500 in 2015

The Pond
The Pond. Signed colour print from an edition of 850, 45 x 58 cm
£4,000 in 2021
£2,200 in 2015


Market Scene in a Northern Town. Signed colour print, 46 x 60 cm
£5,000 in 2021
£2,700 in 2015


Man Lying on a Wall. Signed colour print. No 479 from an edition of 500, 40 x 50 cm
£7,200 in 2020
£6,000 in 2015

Group of Children
Group of Children. Signed colour print from an edition of 850, 18 x 19 cm
£3,825 in 2020
£1,800 in 2015

The Contraption
The Contraption. Signed Colour print from an edition of 750, 31 x 30 cm
£4,000 in 2020
£2,100 in 2015

Great Ancoats Street
Great Ancoats Street. Signed b/w print, from an edition of 850, 26 x 36 cm
£2,800 in 2020
£1500 in 2015

Salford Viaduct
Salford Viaduct. Signed, monochrome, lithograph from an edition of 75, 52 x 64 cm
£7,000 in 2021
Rare print, only two have been offered at auction, one sold for £6500 in 2016

Deal Beach sketch
Deal Beach, sketch. Signed colour print from an edition of 850, 26 x 50 cm
£5,000 in 2019
£3,500 in 2015

Burford Church
Burford Church. Signed colour print from a numbered edition of 850, 60 x 45 cm
£2,200 in 2020
£3,100 in 2015

A street full of people
A Street full of people. Signed b/w print from a numbered edition of 75, 62 x 97 cm. This particular print is no 2/75 and was embellished in blue crayon by Lowry himself which doubled its price to £20,000!
£10,000 in 2020. It’s a rare print only 5 have come up, one made £800 in 2012

Mrs Swindell's picture
Mrs Swindell’s picture. Signed colour print from an edition of 850, 40 x 30 cm
£3200 in 2020
£1600 in 2015

The football match
The Football Match. Signed and numbered black and white print from an edition of 850, 26 x 36 cm
£5,737 in 2021
£4750 in 2015

Three men and a cat
Three Men and a cat. Signed in blue biro, colour print, 25 x 17 cm
£3600 in 2020
£1800 in 2015

His familiy
His Family. Signed colour print from an edition of 575, 54 x 72 cm
£1785 in 2020
£1600 in 2015

The Secrets Revealed by the Back of Pictures

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By Jonathan Horwich, Modern Art Specialist

Next time you’re watching the Antiques Roadshow, look carefully to see what each of the different specialists do when they first examine a new item.

The jewellery specialists will get out their ‘loop’ (a small high magnification eye glass) and examine the setting, the stone its colour, light reflection, hallmarks and all the other little details of interest to them; the furniture specialists will crouch down on hands and knees to look underneath or pull out the drawers to rummage inside; the ceramic specialist will pick up the piece, turn it upside down and go straight for the base to look for marks and stamps and other clues.

The picture specialists have a similar routine. First a glance at the front and then flip it over to look at the back (size allowing). To the uninitiated it may look like they have hardly glanced at the front. So, what are picture specialists looking for? Well, there could be a whole host of things back there such as: if a picture has been re-framed there might be a sticker or a note left by the framer saying what was done and when. In some cases, it may have been exhibited and there may be exhibition labels pasted on the back of the picture. As dates and locations are usually included, this can help lead to identifying whether or not it is a more or less important work. It may have been bought from a commercial gallery and the quality or value may depend on the gallery it came from. There could have been restoration work carried out on the picture and or notes or labels that may give a hint or indication of where and it when it might have been repaired.

I have often heard the phrase ‘it’s got a very good back’ said about a picture with lots of labels. Certainly something attached to the back of a picture will rarely be removed once there, so it often feels like walking through history when looking at the back of a well labelled picture. It probably doesn’t make any sense if you’re not used to it, but it makes perfect sense if you spend your days looking at pictures. I have even seen specialists look at a photograph of a picture and then out of habit, turn the snap over to look at the back for anything interesting!

I thought it might be helpful just to share a few examples of the backs (and fronts) of some pictures and works on paper that I have seen myself. I also try to explain a little bit more about what I’m looking for, what we are seeing and what conclusions if any, we are able to draw.

L S Lowry (British, 1887-1976)
Children Walking up steps
Oil on board, 25 x 35 cm
Estimate, £150-250,000
From the Artist’s estate
Not signed or dated
Sold £137,000, March ‘21

Reverse of Children Walking up steps
Showing top left exhibition label for Crane Kalman London top left. Bottom centre, loan label for The Lowry Salford

L S Lowry (British, 1887-1976)
Broken Shop Window, 1950
Signed, Pastel, 27 x 37 cm
Estimate £35-55,000
Sold £50,000, March ‘21

Backboard of Broken Shop Window; the green label says NAN, code for Christies Cheshire office, and has Christie’s London address, it shows the work was consigned for sale from an owner in or near Cheshire. In white chalk a previous Christie’s sale date, lot 301 8/Jun/90. Black stencil KKS69, this is unique to Christies, London

Victor Pasmore ( British, 1908-1998)
Abstract, 1951-52, 68 x 83 cm, Oil on board
Estimate £60-80,000
Sold £72,750, Nov ‘20

Photo showing the back of above picture

Magnification of labels on the back see this label for an exhibition at a Jonathan Clark’s London Gallery…. No date probably circa 1990- 2000

Owner’s own label, Sir Martyn Becket’s

Carriers label name on label
Rob Oakden
Not significant

Arthur Tooth, a major London gallery label date, circa 1950’s stock no Cl 686

Arts Council 1980 exhibition label catalogue no 22

David Bomberg ( British, 1890-1957)
Old City and Cathedral, Ronda. 1935, signed lower left, oil on canvas, 64 x 76 cm
£400-600,000
Provenance Asa Lingard, Bradford
Sold £790,750

View of the back of Old City and Cathedral, Ronda, it’s all very original with its original canvas no labels evident so look for any writing on the canvas or wooden stretcher

Spotted some writing top left hand corneron the wood , it says ‘ Ronda, David Bomberg, Spain 1935. Possibly the artist’s hand writing or maybe a previous owner?

More writing top centre , it says ‘Richard Cork says Cuenca‘.
Richard Cork is the authority on Bomberg. This is in biro circa 1980’s so not the artist. Cork changed his mind to Ronda near Malaga.

Centre right, ‘Property of Mrs Nimmo‘ a previous owner again in biro so not Bomberg.

William Roberts (British, 1895-1980)
Women playing with Cats
1919, Signed. Pen ink and watercolour, 29 x 20 cm
£150-250,000
Sold £325,250, Nov ‘20

Back of Women playing with Cats; a great looking back.
Top a label for a show at Tate Britain in 1956, catalogue no 186, it then toured the UK.
Also showing the owners name at the time, Michael Tachmindji.
Hamet Gallery label, Feb 1971, very well known and respected gallery, sold by them to another owner. Arts Council label, they organised the Tate Show and its tour around the UK.

The cut out in the backboard shows the title inscribed on the back of the work itself, written by the artist ‘Women Playing with cats’

Ben Nicholson (British, 1894-1982)
Two Forms
Oil on board, 23.8 x 21.6 cm
Estimate £70-100,000
Sold June ‘18, £193,750

Back of Two Forms. See shipping label and owners name Mr Wright Luddington, who bought the work at the Lefevre Gallery London. See Lefevre gallery label underneath. See writing in pencil top centre, Two Forms, Ben Nicholson 1947, this is all the artist’s writing.

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The Back of Pictures

Patrick Heron

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You have £5,000 to spend – Yayoi Kusama objects

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£5,000 to spend. A Limited Edition by the Japanese Contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama. By Jonathan Horwich, Modern Art Specialist

I would spend  my £5,000 on a limited Edition by the Japanese Contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama ( born 1929).

Image of Yayoi Kusama tea set

Yayoi Kusama tea set

I would choose one of her objects series, perhaps  a Tea Set (above), or group of mini pumpkins (below) They are all colourful, tactile, fun, attractive, look great on display and invite curiosity. Plus, they offer an investment opportunity, as Kusama’s work has an international appeal and great originality. While still being recognisably her work it is like a strong international brand.  

Image of Yayoi Kusama's 11 mini pumpkins

Yayoi Kusama – Eleven ceramic Pumpkins, one red and 10 yellow, 6 x 8 cm. estimate $2-3,000

Her work comes up for sale all the time, is widely available and sells well around the world. This is of key importance with art investment; the more countries you can sell in the better your chances are of some financial uplift on your purchase price.

Image of single Yayoi Kusama mini pumpkin

Yayoi Kusama mini pumpkin

I have chosen a few examples which I would buy in a heartbeat, all are coming up for auction somewhere around the world currently and the estimates are all under £5,000.
 

African, Modern and Contemporary Art

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cotswolds

Jonathan Horwich

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Collectors are always on the lookout for new opportunities and in a brilliant piece of rebranding over the last couple of years the old style South African Art auctions have re-emerged as a new category known as African, Modern and Contemporary Art.

Ben Enwonwu
Tutu, 1974, oil on canvas
Bonhams, London, Feb 2018. Estimate 200,000 – £300,000, sold for £1,208,750
Auctions now take place in New York and London and the rebranding has widened the catchment area to the whole of Africa, while at the same time still retaining the big hitters such as Irma Stern and Ben Enwonwu , the auctions now include many new artists or previously neglected artists from across the Continent of Africa. Looking around at the current International contemporary sales in all the main sites, some African artists such as El Anatsui have already broken through to the mainstream market. However the vast majority of artists are at a very early stage so it’s still possible to support and spot new stars and over the next 5 to 10 years I would expect to see many more cross over into the mainstream Contemporary auctions.

El Anatsui
Recycled Dreams, c2005. Found aluminium bottle caps and copper wire.
Christies, New York, Nov 2018, Estimate 700,000 – 1,000,000 USD, sold for 1,512,500 USD
Here are a few examples from recent sales and it’s encouraging to note that the price range is wide and the choice of work is vast, all the way from £2,000 to £2 million and there is plenty of work available at entry and all levels in every sale, the volume of art being produced by this vibrant and vast Continent is more than enough to satisfy even the most enthusiastic collector.

Billie Zangewa
The Cotswolds, 1973. Embroidered silk.
Aspire Art Auctions, Sept 2019, Estimate 9,800 – 16,400 USD, sold for 14,987 USD
Covid has brought us many challenges and the world of auctions and galleries have responded brilliantly to the call for greater visibility about what is available to buy .

Chéri Samba
J’Aime la Couleur, 2005. Acrylic and glitter on canvas.
Sotheby’s London, April 2019, Estimate £40,000 – £60,000, sold for £93,750
So now It’s super easy to browse to find what appeals to you. It’s easy to follow the sales and bid online, take your time before buying, and I think you will learn and enjoy!

Ibrahim El Salahi
Standing Figure. Pen and Ink.
Bonham’s London, March 2019, Estimate £15,000 – £20,000, sold for £50,062
Some artists to look out for are:
El Anatsui , Ben Enwonwu, Gerard Sekoto, Ibrahim El Salahi, Yusuf Grillo, Demas Nwoko, Skunder Boghossian, Malangatana Ngwenya, Iba N’Diaye, Papa Ibra Tall, Sam Ntiro, Uzo Egonu, Uche Okeke, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Irma Stern, Nicholas Hlobo, William Kentridge, Chéri Samba, Billie Zangewa, Abdoulaye Konate, Ouattara Watts.

Gerald Sekoto
Cyclists in Sophiatown. Oil on canvas board.
Sotheby’s London, October 2019, Estimate £250,000 – £350,000, sold for £362,500
Artists hail from Angola, Benin, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and other countries in Africa.

Artists to Watch in 2021

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Jonathan Horwich,Modern Art Specialist

Some new or not so well known artists who have all outperformed auction expectations during 2020.
The advent of online only sales and bidding has not only broadened the International reach of Contemporary art auctions but also spawned new trends that have moved more quickly and been much more noticeable, especially in the Contemporary day sales which have often been overshadowed by the evening auctions. This makes the day sales even better hunting grounds and barometers of who is hot or not. Early evidence of up and coming artists is seen when their hammer prices hurtle past their high estimates many times over.
Here are a few of the artists who exceeded expectations at day sales during Covid restrictions in 2020. I think they are all ones to watch and may well appear in an evening sale soon!
Matthew Wong, River at Dusk, (2018)
Matthew Wong River at Dusk
Matthew Wong (Canadian, 1984-2019)
River at Dusk, 2018, oil on canvas, 203 x 178 cm
Offered at Phillips Hong Kong, December 3, 2020, estimate 7-10 million HKD sold for 37,760,000 HKD. A new world record for the artist.
The Canadian born Chinese Matthew Wong smashed into the International Art market in 2020.
His ‘River at Dusk’ painted in 2018 was offered in Hong Kong on December 3rd 2020 by Phillips in association with Poly Auctions. It made nearly 5 times its low estimate of 7 million HKD (approx. £700,000) selling for 37,760,000 HKD . Self-taught as a painter , Wong’s untimely death in 2019 at the age of only 35 has robbed us of one of the most talented painters of his generation. Therefore inevitably and tragically the number of his available works is limited.
Salman Toor, Rooftop Party With Ghosts 1 (2015). 
Salman Toor Rooftop Party wth ghosts
Salman Toor, Rooftop Party With Ghosts 1 (2015) Photo courtesy Christie’s.
Auction: Christie’s New York, December 3
Estimate: $100,000 to $150,000
Sold For: $822,000
Salman Toor, was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1983
and lives and works in New York City
Christina Quarles, Tuckt (2016)
Christina Quarles, Tuckt
Christina Quarles, Tuckt (2016). Photo courtesy of Phillips.
Auction: Phillips New York, December 8
Estimate: $70,000 to $100,000
Sold For: $655,200
Christina Quarles was born in Chicago, IL in 1985 and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She completed her BA at Hampshire College in 2007 with a double concentration in Philosophy and Studio Arts. Christina earned her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University in 2016. She currently lives in Los Angeles, CA with her wife and two cats.
Christina Quarles is being hailed as the ‘hottest artist in America’
Pilar Corrias Gallery in London, recently sold works for as much as $200,000. In 2021 Quarles’s delayed solo show opens in Chicago, debuting dozens of paintings and sculptures.
Bernard Frize, Néoco (2004)
Bernard Friz, Néoco
Bernard Frize, Néoco (2004). Photo courtesy Sotheby’s.
Auction: Sotheby’s Paris, December 11
Estimate: $49,000 to $73,000
Sold For: $198,000
Bernard Frize was born in France in 1954 and in addition to the one above , on December 3, a painting sold for $276,000 at Phillips’s evening sale in Hong Kong, and then days later, at Sotheby’s Paris, another went for $198,000—well over its high estimate of $73,000.
Alex Gardner, Moment (2018)
Alex Gardner, Momen
Alex Gardner, Moment (2018). Photo courtesy Phillips.
Auction: Phillips New York, December 8
Estimate: $20,000 to $30,000
Sold For: $170,000
Alex Gardner is an LA based American painter, he was born in 1987
In his first ever appearance at auction, Gardner saw his 2018 painting Moment, sail past its $30,000 high estimate to sell for $170,000. As far as I can tell this is his first time out and the only pictures offered at auction so far, it certainly will not be the last !
Ayako Rokkaku, Untitled (2012)
Ayako Rokkaku Untitled
Ayako Rokkaku, Untitled (2012). Photo courtesy Christie’s.
Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, December 2
Estimate: $45,000 to $71,000
Sold For: $306,000
In 2003, the self-taught Japanese artist Ayako Rokkaku, then just 21 won the Scout Prize at Geisei, the biannual Tokyo art fair founded by artist Takashi Murakami. Since then, Rokkaku has continued to make her manga-inspired, largely hand-painted works, which often involve cartoonish depictions of young girls.
In early December at the Christie’s Hong Kong auctions series, a signature work by Rokkaku sold for $306,000, well above its high estimate of $70,000, thus creating a new record for the artist. This record did not last long as at the the Taiwan auction house Ravenel, when The Sisters, sold for $416,000.
Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Eve on Psilocybin (2018)
Kudzanai Violet Hwami Eve on Psilocybin
Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Eve on Psilocybin (2018). Photo courtesy Phillips.
Auction: Phillips New York, December 8
Estimate: $30,000 to $40,000
Sold For: $252,000
Born in Zimbabwe in 1993 Kudzanai-Violet Hwami is another new young artist on the gallery and auction scene. Although only 26 at the time she was chosen as one of the four artists to represent Zimbabwe in the 2019 Venice Biennale despite the fact that she will not finish her MFA at the Ruskin School of Art until this year, 2021.
Hwami’s first auction showing was for her psychedelic Eve on Psilocybin , it was lot 1in the sale and it set a strong trend for the whole sale, multiple bidders pushed the price up to $252,000, well above the high estimate of $40,000
 

My Favourite…

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The Cunha Braga Cup. By Jonathan Horwich, Modern Art Specialist

Knowing that I am a picture specialist, it may come as a surprise that I have chosen this 14 cm long, ceremonial drinking vessel. It is a rock crystal masterpiece of renaissance craftmanship, carving and decoration and is my favourite piece of all time. I am not sure if I know myself why I love it so much – maybe it is because it is so tactile, almost warm to the touch, and just oozes history. It fits neatly in the palm of your hand and is beautifully made – and nearly 400 years before Carl Faberge turns up and makes anything nearly as good.

Image of The Cunha Braga Cup

The Cunha Braga Cup

I first saw the cup in October 2006 on its preview in New York. I was previewing pictures alongside my colleague from the works of art team who was accompanying the cup. My colleague gave me some of the background to its discovery. Amazingly, he spotted it among a bunch of Polaroid shots sent over from Portugal by a client just in case there was anything of interest. Even more remarkable is that the photographs were general room shots of a room full of display cabinets all rammed with various pieces and the cup was spotted tucked in a cabinet full of undistinguished objects. He was on a plane to Lisbon the next day to see it and the rest is history. I remember he told me that at first it was thought to be a copy or later version of a similar cup in a Munich museum. However, once the two were put together side by side in the museum the curators were delighted to discover that our one was made by the same craftsman as theirs – making these two the definitive pieces and ours the only other example in the world available to buy.

It had belonged to Alfredo Baptista Cunha Braga (1869-1932) from Lisbon. He acquired it circa 1920 and then by direct descent to the owners in the auction. The piece was offered in London on 30/11/2006, the pre-sale estimate was £200,000-300,000 but it sold for an astounding £1,968,000

Modern British Sculpture Sleeper

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Known in the Art business as a ‘sleeper’ this 19 cm high, charming, and unique marble carving sold for 150 times its low estimate at Mellors and Kirk’s auction last month.

Modern British fawn sculpture
Very temptingly priced at a ‘come and buy me ‘estimate of £40-60 and intriguingly catalogued as ‘Modern British School’, this sculpture of a fawn grooming was finally hammered down at  £6,000.

The Fawn is often depicted as a mythical creature and this piece certainly bears the hallmarks of early 20th century British carving. The attribution to Modern British School, although somewhat broad, is I believe, largely accurate as the piece could be attributed to the ill-fated and short-lived artist, Henri Gaudier Brzeska, (1891-1915), who although 100% French, somehow became an honorary ‘Brit’ and an integral  part of the early dawn of the Modern British Art Movement at the beginning of the 20th century. He exhibited alongside greats such as Walter Sickert and Augustus John and is now very highly regarded as a sculptor and original work by him rarely if ever appears at auction.  If this piece is by Gaudier then it’s a particularly good buy for someone as it could be worth 10-15  times the purchase price.

Another possibility is the sculptor and first husband of Barbara Hepworth, John Skeaping (1901-1980). If by him then it is still worth more (but not hugely more – value may increase by 2 or 3 times). I do not think it is by any of the big guns of Modern British sculpture such as Henry Moore or Barbara Hepworth, at least neither of them sculpted fawns.  However it is an intriguing, good quality and well carved piece and so well worth a punt at £6,000…..

Watch this space for an update in case I hear anything more about its final attribution!