Cover of the book about Norman Webster.
Dealer releases printmaker book
Andrew Froste Antiques launches a book about the printmaker and educator Norman Webster this week at the Hepworth Wakefield Print Fair (March 16-17).
Face II, numbered 1 of 35 and dated 1964, framed, £175 from Andrew Froste Antiques.
The dealership came across and purchased a large collection of prints and paints from Webster’s studio during the pandemic. While researching the collection, dealer Andrew and his wife Claire, an art historian and former curator at the V&A, decided that the artist deserved wider recognition.
Broken Stone Wall, Yorkshire, unframed from an edition of 50 dating to 1960, £125 from Andrew Froste Antiques.
The book Norman Webster: Master Printmaker is the result. Written by Claire, it includes many of the artist’s work and an account of his life. He taught several generations of printmakers at Leeds College of Art (later Leeds Polytechnic) including Norman Ackroyd, who has written a forward to the book.
Copies of the book and the artist’s prints are available from @normanwebster_printmaker on Instagram.
Recent acquisitions at a Belgian firm
Rectangular polychrome champleve enamel on copper and gilt plaque, c.1170, depicting The Crucifixion, offered for €225,000 by Bernard Descheemaeker.
This rectangular polychrome champleve enamel on copper and gilt plaque, c.1170, depicting The Crucifixion, is among the highlights in Bernard Descheemaeker’s current catalogue.
Sedes Sapientiae: A Selection from My Most Recent Acquisitions launched with a short exhibition at the Antwerp gallery last month.
It is the dealer’s 24th catalogue and features 27 works from late medieval sculpture to Flemish drawing and painting.
Created in Mosan, Belgium, the crucifixion plaque, 8 x 6.2cm, has a provenance to a Lucerne collection, 1979, and is offered for €225,000.
London Art Week sales
Alejandro Mario Yllanes, Skull and Llama, wood engraving (15 x 20.6 cm). Acquired by the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College.
Ben Elwes Fine Art’s two recent exhibitions of the art of indigenous Bolivian artist Alejandro Mario Yllanes (1913-c.1960) have led to several sales to US institutions. The two shows took place during London Art Week’s summer and winter stagings last year, the first focusing on works on paper and the second on monumental pictures.
Among the successes were Estaño Maldito (Cursed Tin), 1937, which went to The Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and three works including a rediscovered self-portrait gouache on paper to The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, New York.
Chagall exhibition extended
Alon Zakaim Fine Art’s exhibition on the works of Marc Chagall (1887-1985) has been extended until March 22. The show (see ATG No 2622) unites 30 works, many on show for the first time at the Mayfair gallery.
According to the dealership, it is one of the largest commercial exhibitions ever held on the artist.
acrylic and lacquer on board.
Spanish post-War artist featured at London gallery
Antonio Saura, Autodafe, 1986, acrylic and lacquer on board.
Image copyright: Succession Antonio Saura www.antoniosaura.org A.D.A.G.P. Paris, 2023
This month, Opera Gallery London features the work of Spanish post-War artist Antonio Saura (1930-98). Running until March 26 at the Mayfair gallery, the exhibition includes 27 paintings created from 1959-97. Sauara founded the El Paso, a group which took inspiration from the abstract expressionists of the US. Prices in the show range from £20,000-500,000.
