Fine Art

A new boutique art fair launches in London this spring.

Rediscovered work inspired by Goethe emerges at auction in Germany

Sketches and journal by Emily Eden relate to her life in the UK then journey to the subcontinent

Street traders or costermongers of 1930s-40s London star in Browse & Darby’s current show on Welsh artist Ceri Richards (1903-71).

In 1959, some two years after the German painter Otto Piene founded the ZERO group of artists together with his colleague Heinz Mack, he began producing his so-called 'Rauchbilder' (Smoke Paintings).

Early on in his career, which spanned most of the 19th century, Johann Wilhelm Preyer decided to paint only still-lifes. He studied at the academy in Düsseldorf and was one of the leading lights in what was to become the Düsseldorf School of painters.

If you wanted to sum up the current state of the watercolours and works on paper sector in a single sentence, you might say something like ‘flatter than ever for general works but exceptional lots routinely generating strong interest’.

The highest price at auction for 12 years for Arthur Foord Hughes (1856-1934) came at Nottingham saleroom Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) at the start of the year.

Two portraits of Regency beauties by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) come for sale at Cottone Auctions in Geneso, New York, on March 20. Both come by descent from by the Buffalo industrialist Colonel Charles Clifton (1853-1928) who paid huge sums for them in the early 1920s.

A mixture of leading artist, intriguing subject, ‘prominent’ background and perhaps a bit of speculation helped propel a portrait of an Indian figure to 36 times the top estimate.

Although the late antiques dealer Maurice ‘Dick’ Turpin (1928-2005) may have been better known for his expertise in furniture and works of art, he also had an eye for a painting.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Rare prints from a remarkable collection deaccessioned from a library in Massachusetts came for sale at Tremont Auctions (24% buyer’s premium) on February 25.

The Paris auction houses will also be hosting plenty of sales devoted entirely or in part to works on paper.

A surge in websites selling ‘cold-cast bronzes’ – sometimes passing them off as original metal alloy sculptures – has led to calls for tighter rules to distinguish them from genuine works.

One of the stand-out results at a three-day auction of a huge American book collection came for a very British lot.

Drawing Week, the Paris annual spring celebration staged around the Salon du Dessin fair and a raft of works on paper auctions, takes place in the latter part of this month when the French capital traditionally turns the spotlight on drawings

Despite print fair’s focus having shifted over the years, more traditional works still play an important part