Although Collingwood is yet to achieve the sort of international name recognition enjoyed by studio potters such as Lucie Rie or Hans Coper or the St Ives School of abstract artists, he moved in much the same circles. And prices for his work have been rising.
His signature pieces are the 3-D ‘microgauze’ hangings using linen thread and steel rods that, dragging the ancient craft of weaving into the post-war era, were sold in the 1960s-70s in fashionable London stores such as Liberty’s and Heals.
Record sums have been paid for these in the past decade. The auction high currently stands at £18,000 for a large and unique weaving from the 1980s sold by Phillips in London in 2015.
The example offered at Sworders was a textbook work measuring around 13in wide x 4ft 5in high (32cm x 1.35m) and signed and titled M.200. No.10. Estimated at £1000-1500, it sold to a French buyer at £5800 via thesaleroom.com.
Blagovesti (The Annunciation), a bronze relief by Ivan Mestrovic c.1915 – £4400 at Sworders.
Bids flooded in from south-east Europe for a small bronze relief signed for Ivan Mestrovic (1883- 1962), the most prominent Croatian sculptor of the early 20th century.
Blagovesti (The Annunciation) dates from c.1915, the year when Mestrovic (who spent the First World War in exile) became the first Croatian artist to exhibit work at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
It was pitched at £300-500 at the auction on June 23 but sold for £4400 to a Croatian bidder.
Core appeal
Orrefors Äpplet glass vase by Ingeborg Lundin – £2300 at Sworders.
Sold just below estimate for £2300, to a UK private buyer, was an Orrefors Äpplet glass vase – the best-known creation of Swedish designer Ingeborg Lundin (1921-92).
This slightly imperfect 15in (37cm) sphere, topped by a thick-walled cylindrical neck reminiscent of an apple’s stem, was first unveiled at the Helsingborg 1955 world’s fair dedicated to modern design and won a gold medal at the Milan Triennale of 1957. This example in green (the model was also produced in clear glass) was inscribed Orrefors Expo 32-57 Ingeborg Lundin.
A laminated and solid birch ‘Model 21’ chair designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), c.1933 – the first wooden chair to use the cantilever principle – sold to a private collector at £1700 (estimate £300-500). Retaining what may have been the original fabric cover, it carried a faded label for Finmar, the company created to market Aalto’s plywood furniture in the UK.
Gabriella Crespi’s gilded bronze and ostrich egg sculpture, c.1970 – £2400 at Sworders.
Pick of the Italian objects was a much-admired 2ft 6in high gilded bronze model of an ostrich, c.1970, by the Milanese designer Gabriella Crespi (1922-2017). Owing much to the European tradition of luxury, exoticism and the kunstkammer – an ostrich egg forms the body – it sold at £2400 (estimate £1400-1600).
