Summer/Autumn 2024: Modern British Art Report

A great many auctions, fairs and exhibitions have taken place across the UK’s secondary market since our last report in April. In the absence of a report last summer, this extended issue will attempt to cover the highlights and trends seen over the last six months.

In June, Sotheby’s opted to combine their day sale with the usually separate presentation ‘Made in Britain’ to achieve £11.6m in their Modern British sale. Ivon Hitchens’ still life Orange Lily (£144,000), Among the Bathers by C.R.W. Nevinson (£20,400) and Lobster Pot by Eilleen Mayo (£57,600) were among the stronger performing artworks; the latter two coming to sale from the esteemed collection of Leslie and Johanna Garfield. Mayo’s delicate tempera painting previously sold in 2008 for just over £20,000 but this year’s result achieved a new record price for the artist at auction. Both Mayo and Hitchens more than doubled their low estimates while Nevinson’s atypical beach scene remarkably sold for over ten times its given low estimate. Positive results also continued for Craigie Aitchison, as Still Life Vase and Flower made a strong £20,000 (£8,000-12,000 estimate). It is apparent that works by Aitchison of this subject matter and size have been climbing in demand and value in recent months. Portland Gallery have also been active in the Aitchison market this year, advising a private collector on the acquisition of two oils.

Despite these positives, the volume of lots (as Colin Gleadell observes) combined with more lots selling underestimate at lower reserves, allowed for a higher percentage of overall sold works than the previous year. Within the sales, evidence of an oversaturated market with LS Lowry showed, as the top lot of the evening sale Going to Work (estimate £1.2 - 1.8m) despite its quality, failed to find a buyer. Nine other Lowry works were offered across the evening and day sales with only one work on paper making over pre-sale estimate. Ben Nicholson succumbed to unexpected results as 6 out of 15 lots went unsold and the others making towards their low estimates.

Lyon & Turnbull – arguably the pre-eminent auction house in the Scottish art market now – saw sales in excess of £2.45m. 17 works by Fergusson were offered including Rose in the Hair, an oil from 1908 depicting Anne Estelle Rice. This charming portrait hammered for £195,000 (estimate £100,000-150,000). The most vibrant of works on offer, Still Life with Fruit and Flowers by S.J. Peploe was another highlight of the evening. The painting, offered from a private collection, shared several visual correlations with F.C.B. Cadell’s style of the time. Despite, or perhaps because of, its lilac and yellow palette, the painting drew considerable interest (including bids from Portland Gallery on behalf of a private collector) to sell for £340,000 hammer (estimate £200,000 – 300,000). Successful sales of works by George Leslie Hunter and Edward Atkinson Hornell proved that the market for Scottish Art is still buoyant.

Proof that the traditional established London houses do not have a monopoly of headline grabbing results could be seen at Chiswick Auctions, who revealed strong sales. Their highlight lot, a David Hockney drawing View from Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica, 1970 sold for £403,200 against an estimate of £200,000 – 300,000. Sworders’ Modern and Contemporary sale included a very strong group of eight works by David Bomberg, including charcoal drawing Ronda which sold at over three times the low estimate. Similarly, The Cotswold Auction Company sold notable works from the late Maurice Costley, a local collector who amassed many 20th Century works, including Alberto Morrocco, Craigie Aitchison and Dame Lucie Rie. In total, the collection made an impressive £169,000 however it is feasible that these works may have slipped under the radar of buyers less aware of the smaller provincial rooms. Portland Gallery was active in bidding and securing lots for private clients within this sale.

Bonhams’ 100 lot Modern British June sale also showed optimistic signs for the market. Fewer works sold below estimate compared to Sotheby’s, though this is possibly a consequence of more conservative valuations on lots. Once again, a selection of Lowry’s appeared on the market, though on this occasion all six on offer sold. John Craxton maintained encouraging market results, having been subject to several recent presentations in museums and galleries as well as a new publication. Goatherd and Goat, 1950, doubled its low estimate at £203,600. Tristram Hillier’s oil Fin de Saison, 1939 sold for over double its low estimate to take a new auction world record for the artist. Bonhams maintained strong results with their September women-only auction Blazing a Trail. The 95-lot sale achieved a total of £924,660, with 82% sold by lot. It offered the largest private collection of work by Jessica Dismorr to come to market with a new world record set for the artist.

 

Our report concentrates heavily on auction sales and results because these are publicly recorded. It is worth remembering that the auctions constitute less than half of the British art market, and the private market does not always suffer from the same volatility. Prior to the autumn season of auctions, London saw the annual British Art Fair. The fair welcomed a significant increase of visitors: 10% more (13,000) than the previous year. The fair offers a far greater variety of artworks than most auctions, so although there are significant recorded sales by artists discussed in this report, it was an opportunity for guests to see remarkable works by lesser-known artists and potential stars of the future.

 

The significant autumn sales begun at Christie’s in October. Their evening sale totalled an impressive £14,370,000 (an increase on the year before). 32 lots were offered, with 81% selling within or above estimate. Henry Moore, Barry Flanagan, Stanley Spencer, and Gwen John were top sellers. Moore’s Rocking Chair No. 3, 1950 surpassed the 2011 auction record for his rocking chair figures (£2,883,500) and John’s delicately painted oil titled Girl in a Blue Dress more than trebled its low estimate and marked a new auction record for her paintings (£403,200). While Lynn Chadwick’s monumental Walking Woman sold over double low estimate (£1,371,000) the equally large 1953 Beast, did not find a buyer. This is likely a reflection on the less commercial nature of the work, having been created during Chadwick’s ‘Geometry of Fear’ association. Christie’s day sale, saw several works at attractive estimates achieving very good results inlcuding Christopher Wood’s evocative view of St Ives making a record breaking £88,200 against estimates of £5,000 to £8,000. The Bloomsbury groups’ enduring popularity continued with Roger Fry’s colourful oil The Quay, St Tropez (£8,000-12,000 estimate) selling for £107,100, the second highest result for his paintings at auction. Seven of the top ten paintings by Fry have now been set in the last four years. In November, Bloomsbury works continued to show their strength in the market with all works selling comfortably overestimate at Bonhams.

 

Sotheby’s did not enjoy quite the same level of success. Twenty-five works were offered within their British and Irish evening sale however, with four withdrawals and eight works going unsold, the total for the sale was just over £3.5 million. Sir William Orpen’s ‘swagger’ painting of his lover Mrs Evelyn St George, 1906, was the top selling lot by value at £690,000, though Lowry’s A Man Waiting was the only work selling over estimate at £300,000 (£100,000 – 150,000 estimate). Similarly, Sotheby’s 174 lot day sale also underperformed with 34% of works unsold and only 10 works making over £50,000. The quality of work and aggressive estimates appears to be at fault, together with more stringent vendor commission rates positioned to counterbalance Sotheby’s lowering of buyer’s premiums.

The Mary and Alan Hobart Collection at Christie’s, featuring many works by British and in particular, Irish artists was met with trepidation after the results a few days prior. Nonetheless, the esteemed reputation of the Pyms Gallery founders encouraged many private clients and advisors, both in the UK and overseas, into spirited bidding. Sir William Orpen’s The Thinker on the Butte de Warlencourt, 1918 sold for £600,000 hammer. Augustus John (another artist associated with recent Bloomsbury presentations at the London Art Fair, Sotheby’s and Charleston) set a significant new record for An Afternoon in Dorset, 1914, at £214,200. The performance of female artists was also encouraging. Works by Surrealist Eileen Agar and Fauvist Mary Swanzy more than doubled their top estimates and a portrait of Eileen Mayo by Dod Proctor became the second highest painting sold by the artist at auction, making £138,600 against its pre-sale estimate of £30,000-50,000.

Successful results continued into one of the final sales of the year at Bonhams. Barbara Hepworth’s Miniature Divided Circle sculpture sold for £254,400 against an £80,000-120,000 estimate. Similar bidding was seen on Patrick Heron’s blue abstract Manganese, Ultramarine and Indigo 1964 (£190,900) and French Café, 1950, (£165,500). Ewan Uglow’s still life Duck, 1960, sold over three times its low estimate, also at £165,500.

As we have seen in recent years, the secondary market continues to be increasingly selective in both selling and buying. Galleries and auction houses must work hard in sourcing new works for sale though once again we see works performing at their best when priced at realistic and achievable values. The 2024 Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting demonstrates that top end spending has slowed, however the middle ground remained relatively stable. This trend of spending and collecting volume is reflective on the drop of purchase prices overall. The Art Newspaper also states that: ‘The APAA (Association of Professional Art Advisors) report’s deaccessioning data "strongly indicates" that collectors are "selling from the bottom of their collections, deaccessioning more but lower-value works"…as opposed to selling opportunistically to capture appreciation’ (A. Brady, The Art Newspaper, 24 October 2024). Despite this, London’s fairs and marquee auction weeks continue to deliver results.

In addition to highly successful exhibitions of works by Edward Seago and Mary Fedden, Portland Gallery continue to develop and diversify our inventory of 20th century art. Our July exhibition of British Sculpture saw notable sales of works by Henry Moore and Lynn Chadwick among others. We opened our autumn season with an eclectic survey of Scottish art which saw sales of works by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, James Morrison, Alberto Morrocco and Sir William Gillies alongside more contemporary artists. We have also been able to advise and source many works for private clients ranging from major Colourist oils to significant sculptures and paintings by Elisabeth Frink, William Scott and Craigie Aitchison. While there is no denying the wider economic climate is a little challenging, artworks which are of quality and priced correctly continue to sell very well. We look forward to presenting new works at Islington’s London Art Fair in the New Year, alongside a full calendar of exhibitions at the gallery throughout 2025.

N.B: All sold prices listed, unless otherwise states, are inclusive of buyer’s premium

2 Dec 2024