Drawings & Pastels

Drawing is a type of graphic art created with lines and areas of tone applied to paper usually with pencil, charcoal and coloured pencil, but a wash may also be applied.

They frequently serve as preparatory studies for other works, but are also considered works of art in their own right. A practitioner of drawing is known as a draughtsman.

Pastels are created using a stick made of pure pigment and a binder.

A key part of the general art market, both are also specialist collecting areas in their own right.


Wind In The Willows

EH Shepard Wind in the Willows illustration among Forum Auctions sale highlights

02 October 2024

A selection of important British works were on offer at Forum Auctions, including these four highlights that hammered over estimate

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Dealer Dickinson offers ‘early Michelangelo’

30 September 2024

London dealer Dickinson is offering what it says is ‘the one of the most exciting old master discoveries to have been made in recent decades, and is an important addition to the small group of extant drawings by Michelangelo’.

Winston Churchill portrait

Trevillion's 'favoured' sketch of Churchill emerges at Hansons

24 September 2024

A Winston Churchill (1874-1965) portrait personally signed by the former prime minister heads to Hansons on November 20.

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Art Market: Results leave you feeling cocky

23 September 2024

Recent picture highlights at auction include works by artist renowned for his poultry depictions and writing on the subject

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Monet sketchbook draws the eye

23 September 2024

Studies include caricature-like portraits which were an early preoccupation of the young artist

Bastille sketch

Contemporaneous sketch of the demolished Bastille makes $1.6m at Freeman’s Hindman

10 September 2024

A sketch which was given by the Marquis de Lafayette to the first American president George Washington sold for $1.6m (£1.22m) at an auction in Philadelphia earlier today.

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Sketch sourced from Austrian castle captures Cairo terror in Napoleonic era

19 August 2024

Viennese auction house Tiberius (27% buyer’s premium) recently sold the inventory of Laudon Castle, a privately owned, moated baroque residence on the outskirts of the Austrian capital.

Harold Cohen AARON drawing

Example of early AI art in demand at Chiswick Auctions

14 August 2024

As with most other areas of life, it remains difficult to say at present whether artificial intelligence will end up having a transformational effect on the art market or not.

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Drawing result is a surprise even for Klimt in Austria

12 August 2024

Works on paper by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) are regularly strong sellers at Austrian auctions, but even so, the result for one of his coloured pencil drawings at a Dorotheum (30/25% buyer’s premium) sale in Vienna was quite a surprise.

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Street view and galleon at sea surface in same south London sale

05 August 2024

In a fortuitous coincidence, two Old Master drawings linked to leading Netherlandish painters emerged in the same auction at Roseberys (26/25/20% buyer’s premium) in south London.

The Destruction of the Bastille drawing

Lafayette’s gift to George Washington: Important visual record of the Bastille comes to auction

30 July 2024

A sketch of the Bastille executed only weeks after it fell during the French Revolution has emerged at auction in the US.

Michael Jackson drawing

King of Pop Michael Jackson’s drawings to appear at auction after court ruling

24 July 2024

King’s Auctions of Las Vegas has been appointed by the Superior Court of California to sell a collection of original artworks signed by Michael Jackson (1958-2009).

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London Art Week draws in top quality buyers

22 July 2024

In its latest edition London Art Week (LAW) showcased 35 participants, including four taking part in LAW Digital, and also the three major London auction houses: Bonhams, Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

2652 NEDI NIB Queen Victoria Sketch

Teenage Princess Victoria’s sketches fetch £3200

11 July 2024

Four drawings by the future monarch found their way into an album perhaps assembled by her portrait artist's daughter-in-law

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Knight plays a part in sale success

08 July 2024

Portrait sketch of pianist by Dame Laura was one of the eye-catching works on paper offered in the run-up to summer

Hockney Chiswick 1

California dreaming as rediscovered Hockney drawing brings £320,000

25 June 2024

A large prime period ‘California’ drawing by David Hockney, recently rediscovered by Chiswick Auctions, has sold for £320,000.

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Barns-Graham and Nicholson in the spotlight

24 June 2024

Pictures by two leading women of the Modern British art movement sold strongly at a Lyon & Turnbull (26/25/20% buyer’s premium) auction in London.

Admiral Sir Francis Austen drawings

Auction buy set to shed light on Jane Austen

29 April 2024

A 78-page manuscript bought at a Bonhams auction could help to shed light on author Jane Austen.

Dianthus

Large collection of John Ruskin drawings and watercolours offered at London dealership

10 April 2024

The 45-piece collection includes several with an intriguing provenance

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POW sketches created in secret reveal Japanese camp scenes

01 April 2024

A remarkable sketchbook compiled after its creator had been taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore in the Second World War sold for £1650 (estimate £500-700) as part of a timed online sale.

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