Next week, Sotheby’s flagship sale of Modern British & Irish Art headlines the auction house’s British & Irish Art Week. Celebrating the artistic landscape of Britain from the 19th to 21st century, the sale is preceded by a number of special events, including a series of free talks with artists, curators and historians exploring Britain’s avant-garde artistic heritage.
The programme coincides with the publication of Revisiting Modern British Art (Lund Humphries), a collection of essays edited by Jo Baring, Director of The Ingram Collection.
Some of the greatest artists working in Britain and Ireland in the 20th century feature in next week’s sale. William Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, William Roberts, L.S. Lowry and Elisabeth Frink are amongst the stellar names, with work emerging from private collections and some auction debuts.
Highlights include:
Dame Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), Curved Form (Bryher), conceived 1961 and acquired directly from the artist in 1962. This important work is related to one of the artist’s most significant public commissions, the monumental Single Form (BH325), an iconic feature of the plaza outside the United Nations Building in New York. Unveiled on 11 June 1964, Single Form was commissioned as a memorial to Secretary General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjӧld – a close friend of Hepworth until his tragic death in a plane crash in 1961. Hammarskjӧld and Hepworth were in talks about a large-scale commission for the UN, and the artist had started working on her ideas, including the larger scale version of this work, Bryher II. This present work was described by the artist as “a relationship between the sea and the land.” Estimate: £500,000 – £800,000
Dame Elisabeth Frink RA (1930-1993), Seated Man II, conceived in 1986. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Frink’s focus was on the portrayal of the male form. Frink’s husband is believed to have been the model for Seated Man, but the work also shows how the artist was moving towards stockier, more monumental figures – and was also influenced by the discovery of two 5th century Greek bronze statues off the coast of Calabria in 1972. A move to Dorset in 1974 allowed the artist to continue making larger work, including the larger than life-size Seated Man. Estimate: £500,000 – £800,000
L.S. Lowry RA (1887-1976), A Cricket Match, 1938. A Cricket Match first appeared at auction in 1996 and achieved a world record price for a painting by Lowry. Since then, Lowry’s prices have continued to rise, with his auction record having been set and reset many times. This work is recognised as being an example of Lowry at his very best. Although at first glance is seems to be a simple ‘slice of life’, the painting is constructed very carefully, with the characteristic restricted palette helping to convey the hardship of the lives he portrayed. Estimate: £1,200,000 – £1,800,000
Christopher Wood (1901-1930), Porthmeor, 1928. Painted soon after Christopher Wood moved to Cornwall with Ben Nicholson and Winifred Nicholson, Porthmeor in St Ives held a special place for the artist – in part as this was where Wood first encountered Alfred Wallis (1855-1942), whose ‘naïve’ painting style revolutionised Christopher Wood’s own work. The direct influence of Picasso and Van Gogh from Wood’s time spent in Paris can also be seen in this painting, which marks a critical moment in the development of what is recognised as the artist’s own style. Estimate: £250,000 – £350,000
Sotheby’s Modern British & Irish Art sale takes place on 23 November with bidding now open online.
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Image: Lot 5, Dame Barbara Hepworth, Curved Form (Bryher), est £500,000 – £800,000 © Sotheby’s