Modern British Art

A little-known work by a prolific Newlyn School artist became the top lot of Scottish saleroom Elgin Auction Centre’s (15% buyer’s premium) February 6 sale.

A painting by one of Picasso’s mistresses drew considerable interest at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury on February 6.

'Portrait of a Woman in a Hat' by the Scottish Colourist John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961) is among the 71 drawings and watercolours currently on show at Mayfair art gallery Browse & Darby.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

MADAM – Regarding Bid Barometer, ATG No 2377, your readers might be interested to know that the portrait painting featured is in fact a self-portrait of Helen Lessore (of Beaux Arts Gallery fame).

A huge linen mural by Victor Pasmore (1908-88) which until recently was believed to be lost serves as the centrepiece of Marlborough Fine Art’s next exhibition.

Julian Trevelyan’s (1910-88) final oil painting, depicting Strawberry Hill against a pink sky, sold in the first hours of Connect – The Independent Art Fair’s inaugural staging on January 29.

A painting by Scottish artist Dorothy Johnstone (1892-1980), executed near the peak of her career in 1921 made £3250 at Edinburgh saleroom Franklin Browns (15% buyer’s premium).

“There’s no money around in January” is the refrain you often hear from businesses in the new year. But, as we know, the auction world behaves differently from other commercial markets.

The £140,000 record-breaking Cedric Morris lower painting at Chichester saleroom Henry Adams (plus 20% buyer’s premium) was not the only work by an artist-plantsman to feature in the January 17 sale (see ATG No 2377 for more on that Morris result).

Modern British pictures by female artists made a major contribution to the bottom line at Sworders’ (23% buyer’s premium) dispersal of the Barbara Holliday Collection.

British art specialist Patricia Jordan Evans rounds off more than four decades in the trade with her next show called 'The Last Hurrah! 45 Years at Bohun Gallery'.

Barewall Art Gallery in Burslem recently sold 'Chapel' by Arthur Berry (1925-94), raising £2170 for the British Heart Foundation.

A single-owner collection, including significant works from the Modern British canon, sold for £541,200 at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet last week.

Henry Adams has achieved an auction record for Cedric Morris (1889-1982), completing a hat-trick of high prices for the artist-plantsman at the Chichester saleroom.

Sensual, satirical and grotesque: the works of Beresford Egan (1905-84) certainly fit a description of ‘distinctive’.

'Fish and Lemon', painted in 1964, is among the 65 works included in Portland Gallery’s show on Mary Fedden (1915-2012) opening this week.