Modern British Art

Sylvia Gosse (1881-1968) was perhaps the best known of the women artists who worked closely with Camden Town Group luminary Walter Sickert.

Lyon & Turnbull is holding an auction of Modern & Contemporary art, sculpture and design at The Mall Galleries in London on March 27 under the title Modern Made.

An impressive collection of 20th century British pictures will be offered at Cheffins in Cambridge on March 21 after Hertfordshire County Council took the decision to offload them.

Among the lots drawing keen interest at Sworders’ Modern British and 20th century sale in Essex on February 26 was a privately consigned 2ft x 2ft 8in (61 x 83cm) oil on canvas of Burmese women collecting water by Royal portraitist Gerald Kelly (1879-1972).

Edward Seago (1910-74), perhaps the best-known 20th century artist who lived and worked almost exclusively in Norfolk, captured the atmosphere of his beloved East Anglia with sweeping compositions and a delicate palette.

The bullish Modern British art market fuelled the performance of three market-fresh paintings by George Hammond Steel (1900-60) which appeared at an Essex auction.

An original drawing by Henry Moore (1898-1986) – which the artist labelled as a lithograph – was among the top-sellers of European art at Skinner (23/20/12% buyer’s premium) in Boston.

A little-known work by a prolific Newlyn School artist became the top lot of Scottish saleroom Elgin Auction Centre’s (15% buyer’s premium) February 6 sale.

A painting by one of Picasso’s mistresses drew considerable interest at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury on February 6.

'Portrait of a Woman in a Hat' by the Scottish Colourist John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961) is among the 71 drawings and watercolours currently on show at Mayfair art gallery Browse & Darby.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

MADAM – Regarding Bid Barometer, ATG No 2377, your readers might be interested to know that the portrait painting featured is in fact a self-portrait of Helen Lessore (of Beaux Arts Gallery fame).

A huge linen mural by Victor Pasmore (1908-88) which until recently was believed to be lost serves as the centrepiece of Marlborough Fine Art’s next exhibition.

Julian Trevelyan’s (1910-88) final oil painting, depicting Strawberry Hill against a pink sky, sold in the first hours of Connect – The Independent Art Fair’s inaugural staging on January 29.

A painting by Scottish artist Dorothy Johnstone (1892-1980), executed near the peak of her career in 1921 made £3250 at Edinburgh saleroom Franklin Browns (15% buyer’s premium).

“There’s no money around in January” is the refrain you often hear from businesses in the new year. But, as we know, the auction world behaves differently from other commercial markets.

The £140,000 record-breaking Cedric Morris lower painting at Chichester saleroom Henry Adams (plus 20% buyer’s premium) was not the only work by an artist-plantsman to feature in the January 17 sale (see ATG No 2377 for more on that Morris result).

Modern British pictures by female artists made a major contribution to the bottom line at Sworders’ (23% buyer’s premium) dispersal of the Barbara Holliday Collection.