So, when a 50-year-old collection of no fewer than ten Fidler oils was put under the hammer by the Devon
auctioneer Michael J. Bowman (10% buyer’s premium) on August 23, the event should have created some
serious excitement among Fidler
aficionados.
Unfortunately, though considerable amounts of initial interest were
generated, particularly from the artist’s home village of Teffont in Wiltshire, final demand was cooled by the fact that the vendor’s father had indulged in some DIY varnishing of the pictures.
In addition, most of the paintings were from Fidler’s less sought-after early years, before he began to explore more impressionistic impasto effects.
These drawbacks resulted in eight out of the 10 selling at under £1000, but a 13 x 15in (33 x 38cm) canvas of a hay wagon did manage £1100 and this more impressionistic 18 x 14in (46 x 36cm) canvas of an old seamstress sold at £1450, just below the lower estimate, to a Teffont-based collector.
Varnishing takes the gleam off ten works for fans of Fidler
THE pleasingly freely painted, if sometimes rather dark, evocations of the English countryside by Wiltshire artist Harry Fidler ((1856-1935) regularly fetch respectable prices in the £1000-5000 range when they come up for auction.
