Cornish-based painter Ken Symonds (1927-2010) embarked on a series of portraits to document his fellow local painters in the early 1980s.
The Artist Portrait Series comprised 40 large pastels executed during 1984, using a combination of artist sittings and photography. Each work showed the sitter surrounded by the tools of their trade and works in progress and took about a week to complete. They were exhibited towards the end of 1984 at the Art Centre Trust in Truro and at the Penwith Galleries in St Ives.
Now, more than 30 portraits from Symonds’ series will be offered at Penzance saleroom David Lay on October 25. The 32-lot group are guided at £100-200 each and include portraits of Irish abstract painter Tony O’Malley and his wife Jane, Alexander Mackenzie, Denis Mitchell and Symonds’ own self-portrait. This 2ft 5in x 20in (73 x 52cm) pastel on paper above, signed and dated 1986, depicts artist Bryan Pearce painting in his studio and surrounded by his naïve works.
Three curved panels by stained-glass designer Reginald Hallward (1858-1948) are among the decorative arts going under the hammer at Surrey saleroom Ewbank’s on October 25.
Signed and dated 1896-97, the 2ft 3in x 14in (70 x 35cm) gesso panels depict saints Oswald, Columban and Augustine, although the original site for these works is not known.
Hallward was educated at the Slade and went on to design stained-glass windows for many churches. After the First World War, he was commissioned to design war memorials in England, France and Belgium. Estimate £300-500.
