Modern British Art

Private domestic demand rather than trade drives bidding at Scottish and Irish art auctions.

The English artist and poster designer Alfred Thomson (1894-1979) painted this eye-catching depiction of the famous penguin pool at London Zoo.

Items from the homes of MJ Long (1939-2018) and Colin ‘Sandy’ St John Wilson (1922-2007), the husband and wife team that designed the British Library, come for sale at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet later this month.

Two Frances Hodgkins (1869-1947) gouache watercolours painted during her artistic prime were taken to multi-estimate sums at separate UK salerooms in the same week.

Rarely seen in public before, this signed 18in x 2ft (45 x 65cm) gouache is one of the earliest works by the British Modernist painter John Armstrong (1893-1973).

A bid of £5000 from a Contemporary art gallery in London secured this post-war portrait by the writer and Vorticist painter Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957).

Way before the TV comedy series artist Gilbert Spencer was depicting the Home Guard.

A Post-Impressionist painting of a horse-drawn hansom cab by Robert Bevan (1865-1925) was one of the headline lots at the Modern British art sales in London.

The British Art Fair (BAF) is to return to its previous dates in late September.

A spate of early to mid-20th century portraits of society figures and important personalities generated stiff competition at UK sales in London and the regions.

When this portrait of a young woman was first exhibited in the early 1930s, critics remarked on its “intensity and vital quality”, “the charming head” and the “wonderful life-like expression”.

Group of works from the Cornish school underpins a positive Modern British offering

A group of “historically important” watercolour and pencil drawings of the London Blitz sparked a bidding war at Cirencester saleroom Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium).

As his reputation began to grow in the early 1940s, Michael Ayrton (1921-75) embarked on a series of melancholic paintings in the Neo-Romantic style.

At various stages of painting 'Pear Still Life' (1971), Craigie Aitchison (1926-2009) included a golden bird, a yellow rose and constellation of five-pointed stars.

A portrait of a mystery sitter by Ambrose McEvoy (1877-1927) sold at auction nearly four years ago led dealer Philip Mould to uncover a forgotten stash of works by the neglected British artist in a lock-up.

'Lights o’ London – Glasshouse Street by Piccadilly Circus' is among more than 20 works by Rex Vicat Cole (1870-1940) and his son John on offer at a show featuring depictions of the capital spanning 200 years.

Our weekly selection from salerooms.