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Modern & Post-War British Art

RESULTS

Our November sale has once again shown that Modern & Post-War British Art is one of the most exciting and vibrant fields offered by Sotheby’s London, with British collectors competing with buyers and bidders from all four corners of the globe. The sale was 90.9% sold by value, the best rate seen in this category for five years, with more than half of the lots exceeding their pre-sale high estimates.

We saw outstanding results for some of the 20th Century’s leading artists, such as Lucian Freud and Ben Nicholson, setting new auction records for many. These included the record for a painting by Post-War abstract artist Peter Lanyon, for a portrait by one of Britain’s best loved artists L.S. Lowry, for a painting by internationally renowned Barbara Hepworth, for a work on paper by poetic visionary John Craxton, and a stunning new benchmark for a painting by William Turnbull.

As ever, sculpture was a strong feature of our November sale, reflecting the standing of the likes of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Lynn Chadwick within the international narrative of Modernism. We set a new world record for a 1950s piece by Lynn Chadwick, with his outstanding Stabile with Mobile Element, which had been unseen since its acquisition in 1954, two years after its creation.

AUCTION DETAILS

Rediscovered masterpieces lead the 17 and 18 November sale of Modern & Post-War British Art – from Lucian Freud’s Flyda and Arvid; a dual portrait of Freud and his first wife Kitty Garman that has been in a private collection since the 1940s, to Lynn Chadwick’s Stabile with Mobile Element, unseen since it was acquired directly from the artist in 1952. Some of Britain’s most sought-after artists feature in the sale, including Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Stanley Spencer, L. S. Lowry, William Roberts, and William Turnbull.

Join us at 2pm on Sunday 15 November for a gallery talk by acclaimed art historian Michael Howard on L.S Lowry’s masterpiece Father and Two Sons.