03/12/2001
by Andrew Moore

Bonhams sale of Modern British paintings on the 21^st of November saw a sale percentage total of 53% finding buyers. Top lot was the expected star of the day, Young girl in a Cornish street by Sir Stanhope Forbes (1857-1947). This oil on canvas laid down on board, measuring 60.3 x 49.5 cm, sold for $ 101,320 (€ 115,340) against an estimate of $ 56,290-84,440 (€ 63,010-94,520). After this came Blitz on St. Paul's Cathedral an oil on canvas by Sir Claude Francis Barry (1883-1970) showing searchlights panning over London and which hammered for $ 61,930 (€ 70,490) against an estimate of $ 42,220-70,370 (€ 48,060-80,100). Perhaps the most striking of the lots in the sale were three bronze sculptural heads made by Elisabeth Frink (referred to by the artist as "goggle heads") which ranged in hammer prices from $ 47,910-56,360 (€ 54,540-64,160). The heads were based on a photograph of General Oufkir (the Moroccan Minister of the Interior who in August 1972 led a coup against the King of Morocco) and formed the focus of a documentary made for the BBC in 1970 on the artist. There was also good news for Damien Hirst whose pencil and crayon on canvas entitled Those were`t (wurt) Daze and your son`s Willy happy birthday Joan (you don`fire blanks) Thanks, Damien`ô sold within estimate for $ 19,750 (€ 22,480).

Sotheby’s was unable to match Bonhams success at its sale of Modern British paintings on the same day and the auction house could only sell 37% of the items offered. With twice the number of lots as Bonhams, Sotheby’s struggled to keep unsold rates down with values struggling to make over $ 4,230 (€ 4,810). Indeed the only painting which made any serious money was the first lot of the sale, Charles Sims’s delicious Spring song, showing a young nymphet traipsing through the daisies. Signed and measuring 91.5 x 71 cm, this work by Sims (1873-1928), sold for $ 15,230 (€ 17,340) against an estimate of $ 4,230-5,630 (€ 4,810-6,410). The same day Sotheby’s staged its sale of cut-price contemporary art coming from the TI corporate group collection (a manufacturing firm in Britain), consisting of over 250 low priced works. Remarkably the auction was a near sell-out (92% of the sale sold by lot and 90% by value). The total takings of $ 469,470 (€ 534,560) though not massive – were a welcome success, bearing in mind the huge losses incurred earlier the same day.

Of particular note in the sale were two lots by John Kirby, The illusion of Summerland, a triptych that sold for $ 45,780 (€ 52,140) against an estimate of $ 704-1,130 (€ 790-1,260), and Pierrot and Columbine that fetched $ 35,610 (€ 40,560) against an estimate of $ 564-847 (€ 630-945). A spectacular result? Well, $ 20,000-30,000 (€ 28,470-33,500) is the typical price tag for a work by the artist at Flying Colours gallery in London - so it would seem that Sotheby’s Olympia made the error in undervaluing the Kirby’s this time round. Other notable lots included Chris Ofili’s Untitled Series which made $ 33,910 (€ 38,630) against an estimate of $ 35,220-49,310 (€ 40,100-56,130).

Also on the 21^st of November Christie’s held their sale of 20^th century British Art (60% selling by lot) which saw Duncan Grant’s 1916 portrait of the Bloomsbury writer and artist, Vanessa Bell, go for $ 46,350 (€ 52,760) against an estimate of $ 25,360-35,220 (€ 28,870-40,090). Sir Winston Spencer Churchill’s Snow at Chartwell, Kent, an oil on canvas measuring 59.7 x 81.3 cm, made $ 69,540 against an estimate of $ 42,270-70,460 (€ 48,120-80,210). Painted in the winter of 1924, this work is one of Churchill's earliest pictures of Chartwell, his English country home for over forty years. He had purchased the property two years earlier in 1922, the same year in which he stepped down as Member of Parliament, a move which gave Churchill the opportunity to work on his house - and his painting. Dorothea Sharp, a formulaically pretty painter if ever there was one, was another big hitter as her Gathering flowers, an oil on canvas measuring 81.3 x 83.8 cm went for $ 69,930 (€ 79,610) against an estimate of $ 21,140-35,240 (€ 24,070-40,120). Christie’s offered twelve Lowry lots up, with eleven of them selling. Of these his Winding Road made $ 144,870 (€ 164,920) (estimate $ 56,400-84,600, € 64,200-96,310) and The Black Tower made $ 331,000 (estimate $ 140,990-211,500, € 157,850-236,790), though the top lot and top Lowry was On the Sands, an oil on canvas measuring 50.8 x 76.2 cm which auctioned for $ 237,960 (€ 270,870) against a quote of $ 211,530-352,580 (€ 236,190-393,690). On the Sands is considered a turning point in Lowry's artistic career, moving from his industrial cityscapes (with "matchstick cats and dogs") to focus more on the people who occupied the streets themselves. Finally, on the 29^th of November in London, the one modern work which sold in Sotheby’s auction of British and Irish pictures was Jack B. Yeats’s (1876-1957) expressionist equestrian portrait, Age, an oil on canvas measuring 46 x 61 cm which went for $ 943,520 (€ 1.05 million), twice its estimate.