Art Market

Watercolours by the polar explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1886-1959) were discovered among thousands of works from Stanley Studios in Chelsea.

“The good thing for Welsh art is the maturity of the tourist industry. It’s no longer, ‘if you want to go to Wales, you go to Butlin’s in Pwllheli’.” Ben Rogers Jones of Rogers Jones (20% buyer’s premium) puts much of the increased demand for Welsh art over the last 20 years down to that tourism trend.

“I think the secret to our success is that we now hold an art sale every four weeks.” A 90% sell-through rate from 400 lots was the latest bullish stat to come out of John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium) monthly picture auctions, started this year by specialist Buffy Parker.

Jenny Saville’s (b.1970) contorted and grotesquely fleshy female nudes are hot property on the contemporary art market.

The Cubist-inspired oils of Manchester artist Geoffrey Key (b.1941) regularly feature at Peter Wilson (20% buyer’s premium) in nearby Nantwich.

A rather shabby portrait of an unknown woman sparked a bidding battle at W&H Peacock (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Bedford on May 5.

Bronze busts of the Queen and Prince Philip from the Oxfordshire studio of Czech émigré sculptor Franta Belsky (1921-2000) took top honours at Mallams (20% buyer’s premium) in Oxford on April 25.

Unusual appearance of mountain views by painter whose career was cut short by tuberculosis

A Newlyn School work by Albert Chevalier Tayler (1862-1926) topped David Lay’s (18% buyer’s premium) April 27 sale in Penzance.

Brexit, rising inflation and now the distraction of a snap general election has left a feeling in the picture trade that the good start to the year may begin to fade.

A painting of St Tropez by the Fauvist painter Charles Camoin (1879-1965) went under the hammer for the first time in more than half a century at Gildings (15% buyer’s premium).

A collection of early 20th century German works on paper, brought to England in the possession of a German academic who fled the Nazis on the eve of the Second World War, appeared at Canterbury Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium) on April 4-5.

A scarce complete portfolio of 26 prints from Erté’s (1892-1990) famed Alphabet Suite appeared at Henry Adams (20% buyer’s premium) on April 12 in Chichester.

A view by Yorkshire artist Fred Elwell (1870-1958) of his beloved local town, Beverley, took £13,000 at local saleroom Hawleys (15% buyer’s premium) on April 9.

An ‘Unfashionable’ single-owner collection from a London club attracted trade and private buyers. The 98-lot sale on April 5 was held by British pictures specialist Harry Moore-Gwyn at 25 Blythe Road (20% buyer’s premium) in West Kensington.

Nearly a quarter of the sale total at the auction held by Harry Moore-Gwyn at 25 Blythe Road (20% buyer’s premium) in West Kensington on April 5 came from a collection of original cartoons.

A work by one of Lebanon’s most eminent painters, Khalil Saleeby (1870-1928), surfaced at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) of Etwall in Derbyshire.

An intriguing 18th century watercolour of a tree struck by lightning fetched a multi-estimate sum at Forum Auctions’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) March 30 sale in London.

Salisbury is latest auction house finding a sense of optimism despite some patchy areas

A good mix of traditional and modern pictures drew decent bidding at Mallams’ (20% buyer’s premium) on March 16.