No fewer than five telephone bidders, plus three more in the room, lined up to contest this signed 113/4in by 111/2in (30 x 28cm) oil on board of Oxford Street, Manchester, when it came under the hammer at the Nantwich rooms of Peter Wilson (15% buyer’s premium) on September 25.
Executed in the 1960s and thought to have never been offered at auction before, this evocation of Delaney’s Manchester childhood in the 1930s, eventually sold to a collector on the phone at £5200.
This was the highest price achieved for the artist – almost on home ground at these Cheshire rooms – although it was still some way behind the record £7500 paid for another Delaney oil offered just across the Pennines at Tennants of Leyburn in April.
For Lowry on a budget – Delaney
For those who can’t afford paintings by L.S. Lowry, the Manchester townscapes of Arthur Delaney (1927-87 appear to be becoming an increasingly popular substitute.
