BLAST #14 | Modern British Art at Christie’s

March 2024

In this auction report, Colin Gleadell gets the microscope out to reveal exclusively who bid and bought, and which works made profits or losses for the owners.

If there were nerves around the Modern British and Irish art market they were calmed by Christie’s specialised sales on 20th and 21st March which came in at the upper end of the pre-sale estimate with a £28.9 million total including a £23.8 million evening sale which was the fourth highest for a Modern British art sale in the company’s history. The total was up 18.4% on last year, also up on 2017 and 2019, but slightly short of the 2018, 2021 and 2022 March totals. So, over a seven-year period, we can see a remarkable consistency of performance.  

Lot 14, MICHAEL ANDREWS (1928-1995), School III: Butterfly Fish and Damsel Fish. Acrylic on canvas
60 x 84in. (152.4 x 213.3cm.). Painted in 1978
Price realised: GBP 3,125,500

Evening Sale details

Notable results and bidders by lot number - (sold prices include the buyer’s premium unless specified as hammer prices. Estimates, in brackets, do not.)

1. Henry Moore. Helmet Head No 1, 1950/1960. Sold for £290,000 (£150/250,000). Underbidders Osborne Samuel, Beaumont Nathan.

Lot 4, R.B. KITAJ (1932-2007), Clerk's Dream, signed 'Kitaj' (lower right), signed again and inscribed 'Kitaj Clerk's Dream' (on the canvas overlap). Oil on canvas
78 x 25 in. (198.1 x 63.5 cm.) Painted in 1972.
Price realised: GBP 529,200

Lot 4. R. B. Kitaj. Evidence that there is still life in the School of London market beyond the top performers, Bacon, Freud and Auerbach, hit home a week before the Modern British sales with the London Contemporary Art sales when a 1970s painting of goldfish swimming by Michael Andrews soared to a new record £3.1 million. Interestingly, the competitors were bidding not through Christie’s Contemporary Art department specialists, but two of the Modern British art department’s senior directors, Phillip Harley and Nicholas Orchard. If there is a struggle between the two departments to handle certain artists, then one might be over Andrews and another could over R. B. Kitaj after lot  4, Clerk’s Dream, 1972, took the room by surprise as four bidders vied remotely for the tall painting taking it to a record £529,200  (£50,000/80,000). The painting had belonged since 1985 to the late Gerald Fineberg whose collection Christie’s has been selling in New York, mostly well below estimates, which experts identified as being a downward turning point in the market...but this was an exception. The result was particularly pleasing for dealer, Thomas Gibson, who sold Kitaj’s work when he worked for Marlborough Fine Art, owns several examples, and sold one privately about 30 years ago for £750,000, far in excess of the auction record. Even happier was the Piano Nobile gallery which recently took on the Kitaj estate.

3. Pauline Boty. Epitaph to Something’s Gotta Give, 1962. Sold for a record £1.3 million (£500/800,000). This was the highest estimate yet for the tragic female pop artist who died young during childbirth in 1966. Although her story has been out there for decades, it continues to gather momentum with successive auction records, a new book on her by Marc Kristal and publicity surrounding her various exhibitions, starting with the Mayor Gallery in 1993, after her work was found posthumously stored in a garage and priced up to only £5,000, followed by Whitford Fine Art in 1998, and most recently by Gazelli Art House this year.  

8. Barbara Hepworth. Atlantic Form, Blue, 1963. Last sold at auction Mallams in 2008 for £15,000 hammer, the painting has since changed hands several times but provided one of the best examples of increased value  in the sale, selling sixteen years later for £160,000 hammer (£100,000 - £150,000).

Lot 9, HENRY MOORE, O.M., C.H. (1898-1986), Head. Alabaster, on a verde di Prato base, unique
8 in. (20.4 cm.) high, excluding base. Carved circa 1930.
Price realised: GBP 5,122,000

9. Henry Moore. Head c 1930. Sold for £5.1 million, a  record for a unique carving as opposed to an editioned bronze by the artist (£800,000/£1.2 million). Chased by four bidders over £1 million, including Thomas Gibson who was bidding for himself rather than a client, it eventually just pipped the £4.6 million set for another unique carved head from the 1930s paid at Christie’s in 2018.

10. L.S Lowry. Sunday Afternoon 1957. Bought in 1967 for 7,500 guineas by Keith Showering, shortly to be appointed  the vice chairman of Allied Breweries  on his way to becoming chairman and Chief Executive. By then a Lowry had become an established trophy for captains of industry. That Lowry is the backbone of the Modern British market was underlined by the fact that 6 works by him contributed  £11.2 million to the total sum. Another 3 were unsold that should have reaped a further  £1.3 million - but those signposted the worries that exist over the middle market in general. One of the Lowry’s, lot 22, People Standing About, 1935, was the latest consignment from The Professional Footballers Association which sold below estimate for £693,000 compared to its purchase price by the PFA in 2018 of £788,750

12. Barbara Hepworth. Sculpture with Colour (oval form) Pale Blue and Red, 1943  (stringed) £2.9 million (£2.2/£3.2 million) Buyer - Beaumont Nathan art advisory. Underbid by Daniel Katz. 

12A. William Turnbull. Leda 1985. Sold to a phone bidder for £226,800 (£120,000/180,000). For market growth context, this sculpture was bought in 1991 at Sotheby’s by the publisher, the late Sebastian Walker for £22,000, considered a high price at the time and was now offered by his company Walker Books. Turnbull’s market has been reinvigorated by his children with the help of dealers Leslie Waddington and then Offer Waterman, who handles his estate. Notwithstanding, the market is setting limits and a similar work, Paddle Venus 2,1986, went unsold with a £150,000 low estimate.

Day sale

110. Henry Moore. Reclining Figure, 1935. Sold for £15,120 (Estimate £15,000/25,000), underbid by David Breuer-Weil. The drawing was first owned by the artist and poster designer, Ashley Havinden, who would have appreciated the exceptionally graphic nature of this Moore drawing.

128. Barbara Hepworth painting Four Figures, Black, White and Yellow, 1969. Sold for £56,700  (£40,000/60,000).  Underbid by Jonathan Clark.

129. Bryan Wynter. Flowering Monolith, 1957. Sold for £207,900 (£50,000/80,000). Underbid by Jonathan Clark, who represents the artist’s estate. Earlier in the month the Mod Brit market was talking about Meeting Place, 1959, a Wynter belonging to the Museum of Modern Art that was being sold online by Sotheby’s in New York and which fetched a record $533,499 ($50/80,000) – the perfect build up for Christie’s sale.

136. John Hoyland. Untitled 1978. Bought by Mark Goodman for £8,500 (£4,000/6,000).

Lot 145, DOD PROCTER, R.A. (1891-1972), Poppies and Foxgloves, Signed 'Dod Procter' (lower right). Oil on canvas
21 x 27 in. (53.3 x 68.6 cm.). Painted circa 1919.
Price realised: GBP 40,320

145. Dod Procter. Poppies and Foxgloves c.1919  sold in 1991 for £3,000, and last week for £40,320 (£8,000/12,000). Underbid by Jack Wakefield.

147. Alfred Wallis. Trawler and two sailing boats. Sold for £47,880 (£15,000/20,000). Underbid by Alan Wheatley.

148. Alfred Wallis. A Trawler in Mount’s Bay. Sold for £57,700 (£15,000/25,000). Underbid by Alan Wheatley.

149. Alfred Wallis. Ship in Dock. Sold for  £15,120 (£12,000/18,000) to Alan Wheatley.

150. Ben Nicholson. St Ives, 1939.  Sold for £40,000 (£30,000/50,000) Underbid by Mark Goodman.

Lot 159, RONALD MOODY (1900-1984), Crouched Male Figure signed 'Moody.' (on the base). Oak, Unique.
13 1⁄8 in. (33.4 cm.) high, including base. Carved in 1950-52.
Price realised: GBP 40,320

159. Ronald Moody. Crouched Male Figure c 1952. Sold for a record £40,320 (£8,000/10,000) to the Grosvenor Gallery. Grosvenor is quietly compiling a collection of works by this standout sculptor from the Caribbean who came to the UK in the 1930s,  and, like Henry Moore, was influenced by the ancient art from other cultures he saw in the British Museum. Grosvenor, it transpires, was also active in buying Moody’s work at Christie’s in March 2021 when a group of works, including the one that made the previous record £37,500.  The artist is to have a show at Hepworth Wakefield in June.

161. Ronald Moody. Absent 1973. Underbid by Grosvenor, sold for  £37,800 (£7,000/10,000).

171. Craigie Aitchison. Tree, Star and Moon, 1987. Sold for £32,760 (£4,000/6,000), underbid by Alan Wheatley. A good price for such a small, 7x5 inch painting.

184. Henry Moore. Mother & Child on a Ladderback Rocking Chair, 1952 Bought for £138,600 or $176,000 (£120,000/180,000) by David Breuer-Weil. Another cast from this edition sold for $773,000 in New York back in 2015, but this cast had a lower estimate because it went unsold  in New York last year with a $300,000 estimate. Still looks like a bargain.

209. Alfred Wallis. A Gaff-Rigged Sailing Boat. Sold for £33,000 (£18,000/29,000). Underbid by Alan Wheatley.

210 Alfred Wallis. Two Luggers by a Headland. Bought for £15,000 (£12,000/18,000) by Alan Wheatley.

Soft estimates, comparative prices, gains and losses

Soft estimates allow auctioneers to trumpet multi estimate prices. They can also trumpet comparative price increases, but rarely disclose where losses have been made. Not that it makes any difference to them, so long as they sell and take commission.

28. Roy de Maistre.  Francis Bacon’s Studio, 1933. Sold for £189,000 (£50,000/80,000). The estimate was low considering this painting had previously sold in Australia in 2008 for $117,000.

141. Gwen John’s watercolour Black Cat on Blue and Pink sold for a double estimate  £32,760 more than twice the £13,500 it fetched in 1988

TRISTRAM HILLIER, R.A. (1905-1983), Trouvaille, Signed 'Hillier' (lower right), inscribed and dated '"TROUVAILLE"/1962' (on the reverse). Oil on panel
7 x 10 in. (18 x 25.5 cm.). Painted in 1962.
Price realised: GBP 16,380

145. Dod Procter. Poppies and Foxgloves c.1919  sold in 1991 for £3,000, and last week for £40,320 (£8,000/12,000).

181. Tristram Hillier. Trouvaille, 1962.  A dead bird, even sitting upright, might not be the most commercial of subjects, but in the hands of the overlooked surrealist Tristram Hillier it has twice tripled cautious estimates at auction - in 2018 at £9,375, and last week at £16,380 (£3,000/£5,000).

185. Charles Sergeant Jagger’s bronze Scandal, 1930, had been bought by the great collector, the late Sam Josefowitz in 2007 for a record £144,000  but was offered here with a reduced £70,000/100,000 estimate which attracted competitive bidding to reach £230,000 hammer.

Day sale records

In addition to lot 159 (Ronald Moody – see above):

193. A barely discernible untitled work by the designer Eileen Gray from c 1940 from the collection of her biographer, Peter Adam, was the first oil painting by the artist to appear in a major auction room for at least forty years sold for a double estimate £18,900.

Lot 143, DORA CARRINGTON (1892-1932), Cabbages. Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper
14 x 21 in. (35.5 x 53.5 cm.). Executed circa 1912.
Price realised: GBP 20,160

Lot 143. Bloomsbury artist, Dora Carrington’s painting of cabbages trebled estimates to make £20,160 (£3,000/5,000), a record for a work on paper by the artist. A survey of Carrington’s work is planned by Pallant House Gallery this November.

Day sale losses

166.  William Scott.  Blue Still Life 1958. In 2014 it was sold to the UK trade for £74,500, but last week garnered a loss with a hammer return of £60,000.

169. Alan Reynolds abstract. Nocturnal, 1965, was bought in 2007 for £13,100 but last week only attracted a £7,000 hammer price or less to the seller after auction commission charges.  

201. Graham Sutherland. Form on a Ledge, 1964. Sold for  £11,000 hammer (£12/18,000). In 1988 it sold for £16,500.

214. Henry Moore. Maquette for Seated Woman: Thin Neck,1960. Sold for £24,000 or $30,000 hammer (£30,000/50,000) compared to $75,000 hammer in New York in 2018.

215. Ben Nicholson. Pencil and wash drawing February 61 (Nauplia). Sold for £13,000 hammer or $16,400 (£8/12,000) having been bought in New York in 2013 for $37,500 hammer. Judging by the estimate, the owner was prepared to accept even steeper loss.

221. Terry Frost. Not strictly a loss, but White Wedge 1959 (£25,000/35,000) had been bought by an Asian collector at Sotheby’s sale of the Robert Devereux collection in 2010 for £79,250 but could not sell even with  much tempered estimate of £25,000.

222. Lynn Chadwick.  Pair of Cloaked Figures, 1977/ 79,  had been bought by a Swiss collector in 2016 for £72,500 and was back with the same estimate of £40,000/60,000 but made less at £52,900.

250. At the more contemporary end, a large, predominantly black painting by Michael Craig-Martin Untitled (Globe), 1989, which had sold for £25,000 at Christie’s sale of the Leslie Waddington collection in 2016 went on a hammer bid of £3,000. The artist’s dealer, Gagosian, did not represent him in 1989, so did not bid.

247. Perhaps the most alarming shift in demand appears to have taken place for the Taiwanese born British minimalist Richard Lin. In 2018 following a sudden surge of repatriation interest from Asia in his work, his Stripes 1968-70 sold for £272,750. Last week, that surge has subsided and there were no bids at £75,000.

All images courtesy of CHRISTIE'S IMAGES LTD. 2024

To view the Christie’s sale catalogues, click here:
Evening sale

https://www.christies.com/en/auction/modern-british-and-irish-art-evening-sale-30271/

Day sale

https://www.christies.com/en/auction/modern-british-and-irish-art-day-sale-30272/