Modern British Art

After a bullish 2018 for the major Modern British art sales in London – during which Christie’s posted its strongest evening sale to date – results from the first ‘Mod Brit’ series of 2019 looked a little flat by comparison.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

A Cricket Match (1938) by Mod Brit giant LS Lowry (1887-1976) was the fitting headliner at Sotheby’s. Offered in the midst of the Cricket World Cup, the 18in x 2ft (46 x 61cm) oil on canvas showing a back-street match played by local children in Salford sold for a mid-estimate £950,000 to a UK private buyer.

Abbott and Holder offers this 1940 oil on canvas of Regents Canal, Paddington, as part of a large, single-owner collection on offer in the Bloomsbury gallery.

In the spring of 1940, Eric Ravilious (1903-42) spent three weeks in Grimsby during his role as a war artist.

Miners heading to work in the early morning with lit lamps, denizens of northern pubs with flat caps and pipes, women pushing prams or hanging up the washing: these figures populate the works of Norman Cornish (1919-2014), the ‘pitman painter’.

Percy Kelly (1918-93) was so averse to the limelight that only a few of his paintings were ever shown publicly during his life. But a major retrospective in 2015 and a birth centenary last year has helped raise the Cumbrian artist’s profile – and his prices.

An Edward Seago painting, The Thames at Henley, is among the highlights at the annual summer sale held at Thomson’s Gallery in Aldeburgh.

Tentatively guided at £200-400, this watercolour of an unknown sitter below attributed to the painter and sculptor Glyn Philpot (1884-1937) attracted multiple bids in Cardiff.

A study for the mysterious painting 'Allegory' by Thomas Monnington (1902-76) features in Liss Llewellyn’s exhibition of religious art in 20th century Britain. It shows a nude man and woman before a tree, an overt visual reference to Adam and Eve, but one which the artist denied.

A portrait by Augustus John (1878-1961) of his daughter Gwyneth Johnstone attracted keen attention at auction in Cambridge last week.

Edward Bawden (1903-89) produced his celebrated print, Liverpool Street Station, in 1961. He knew the station well – using it regularly when travelling between London and his home in Great Bardfield, Essex.

This abstract oil on paper is among the works on paper by the modern British painter Adrian Heath (1920-92) currently on show at St James’s gallery Alan Wheatley Art.

Connect – The Independent Art Fair, which debuted at London’s Mall Galleries in January, has added a June event to the 2020 calendar.

A remarkable cache of paintings depicting bomb-scarred London during the Blitz by a Jewish artist who devoted herself to a life of altruistic endeavour sold at an auction in Sussex.

London’s horse dealers, auctioneers and cab-yards are among the most memorable subjects painted by Camden Town Group founder Robert Bevan (1865-1925) during the early 20th century.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

An acrylic on paper of Timanfaya, the only active volcano on the Canary Island of Lanzarote, by British artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004), is one of the highlights of the exhibition A Distant Isle.

Inside Manchester Airport stands a sculpture dedicated to John Alcock and Arthur Brown, two aviators who made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919.

A portrait by Henry Lamb (1883-1960) making its first appearance at auction fetched a sale-topping £18,000 at Cambridge auction house Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) on May 9.