Fine Art

Providing a major boost to Bonhams’ first sale in London with room bidding since the lockdown, a portrait of the writer EM Forster by Roger Fry (1866-1934) set an auction record both for the artist and any Bloomsbury Group picture.

Sotheby’s held the first of this summer’s ‘super sales’ last week as it combined a series of three Modern and Contemporary art auctions into a marathon four-and-a-half hour live-streamed event.

A record price of £10,200 was paid last month for a pen and ink sketch by fell-walking legend Alfred Wainwright at 1818 Auctioneers of Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

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

On July 23 Stair of Hudson, New York, will be offering paintings, works on paper and sculpture from the collection of art consultant and adviser Matthew Rutenberg (1956-2019).

The German-born watercolourist and musician John Baptist Malchair (c.1730-1812) was a key figure in 18th century Oxford.

'Still Life with Red Chrysanthemums' is among the works featured at The Fosse Gallery in Stow on the Wold as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. It was painted by Bristol artist Karen Edwards, a regular exhibitor at the now historic gallery.

As might be expected, local scenes were an important feature of David Lay’s Cornish art sale on June 11. Among them was a view of Penzance’s Market Jew Street by Norman Garstin (1847-1926) that depicted a location only a 10-minute walk from the saleroom.

Massachusetts auction house Skinner will be offering over 200 pieces from the collection of George H Way in its sale of European Furniture and Decorative Arts to be held from July 20-28.

Though largely made up of books, the star turn in a US sale of 100 lots called ‘Churchill in Charge’ was a portrait by the photographer usually known simply as Karsh. The sale was inspired by the 80th anniversary of his assuming the office of Britain’s Prime Minister.

More than 400 online enquiries came through the 'London Art Week' (LAW) website during its preview day last Thursday as it kicked off a new virtual format.

This pastel by the Barbizon school artist Jean-François Millet (1814-75) is one of the highlights in the Esprit du XIXème Siècle auction at Osenat in Fontainebleau on July 19.

Consignments from vendors with a close connection to famous artists are always a welcome boon for any auction.

A new catalogue on painter-etcher Michael Blaker (1929-2018) includes a picture he executed of one of his friends as well as an etching by her.

Without the signature and dedication, this crayon and pencil drawing of 'Dorfhaus mit Baum und Randsteinen' (Village House with Tree and Rocks), coming up for sale at Neumeister in Munich on July 16, would be virtually impossible to attribute to its creator.

This 8 x 10in (21 x 25cm) oil on canvas board sketch of two farmhands cutting grasses with a scythe is unsigned but it carries a label on the back from an Ipswich Borough Council exhibition which identifies the artist as Harry Becker (1865-1928) and the picture’s title as Fieldworkers in Mid-Summer.