One of just 30 copies of Rena Gardiner’s self-made 1960 Portrait of Dorset, sold by Lawrences for £2600.
Until a few years ago, when a study of her life and work was published, this work was not widely known outside the region. However, a 2015 sale held by Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne showed just how much her highly individual works are appreciated and valued by some.
Top lot then was a copy of a Portrait of Dorset, published by her own Workshop Press in Wareham in 1960.
One of just 30 copies printed and bound before the plates for her coloured litho illustrations were destroyed, it was estimated at £150-250 but sold at £3100.
This summer, on June 8, Lawrences offered another of those 30 copies. Signed, but not in this case inscribed for a friend, as was the case in 2015, it sold at £2600.
