Impressionist and Modern Art

Nick Skipp launched Nick Skipp Fine Art in 2022. He specialises in Modern European and British abstract art and studio ceramics alongside selected antiquities such as sculpture and pottery. Skipp exhibits at this week’s Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair.

One of the most eyecatching collections of Impressionist and Modern art sold at a provincial auction at the end of last year comprised 17 lots from the late Ralph Bateman.

The decision by Cologne auction house Lempertz (26% buyer’s premium) to postpone the sale of Max Pechstein’s 1909 Expressionist work Selbstbildnis, liegend (Self Portrait, lying down) from June to December 1 proved to be a wise one.

Trained at the Krakow School of Fine Arts as well as the Paris École des Beaux Arts, Jacek Malczewski (1854-1929) is credited for the rise in popularity of symbolism in late 19th and early 20th-century Poland.

A wide range of eastern European works is increasingly attracting strong demand at auction

It is the final months of the major exhibition of Marc Chagall (1887- 1985) works at Alon Zakaim, where visitors can expect to see lovers floating through the sky with the occasional goat in the tradition of many of the artist’s most recognisable works.

An eastern European picture that commanded bidding at a recent UK regional auction was a trademark painting by Polish artist Jan Lebenstein (1930-99).

Works by the Turkish artist Mubin Orhon (1924-81) can be a valuable proposition.

Although this small oil sketch that surfaced at Oxio Paris (24% buyer’s premium) in Saint-Ouen on November 19 was catalogued as by ‘Howard Hancock’, the signature is clearly that of David Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943).

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) arrived on the Amalfi Coast in 1923 and ultimately created more than 100 works there based on the landscape.

A group of Modern and Impressionist pictures provided a significant boost to the latest Art & Design post 1880 sale held at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium).

An ancient Egyptian sculptural fragment was the most eagerly contested lot in Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ (20% buyer’s premium) Autumn Majestic sale on November 10-12.

A good crop of top-end Impressionist and Modern pictures lifted the latest flagship series of auctions in New York.

Maud Lewis (1901-70) is hailed today as one of Canada’s greatest folk artists, with her works regularly bringing tremendous results at auction.

Sotheby’s (26/20/13.9% buyer’s premium plus 1% overhead premium) staged three Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary auctions in Paris during the second half of October.

Two of the highest prices at auction in the last 20 years for Dame Ethel Walker (1861-1951) came at Roseberys’ (26% buyer’s premium) latest Modern British & 20th Century Art sale.

A raft of Modern and Contemporary art auctions were held in Paris in the second half of October coinciding with the Paris + par Art Basel fair held at the Grand Palais Ephemère.

The most contested lot in Bonhams’ October 19 Expressionism: Germany, Austria and Beyond sale was a self-portrait by the German painter Hermann Lismann (1878-1943).