30 21st January 2012


art market Not revolutionary, but tidy


■ Pictures with the right mix of attributes defy the downturn


Gabriel Berner reports


QUALITY, fresh-to-market works continue to defy a stubbornly selective picture sector, as was the case at Rosebery’s (17.5% buyer’s premium) recent mixed- discipline sale. The event, notable for the £105,000


sale of a Charles II delft portrait charger (see front page of ATG No 2021), included approximately 300 picture lots with a strong representation of previously unseen 20th century Eastern European art. Leading the way on December 13


in West Norwood, London was a work by French-Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely (1906-97) entitled Boug III. This signed 22 x 20in (57 x 53cm) acrylic on board was typical of the artist’s experimentation with Op Art, of which he was a forerunner, and was included in a series of pictures which he produced in the mid 1950s. According to Artnet, only three from


the series had appeared at auction prior to this sale, with Boug I selling for a premium-inclusive £25,000 at Phillips de Pury last June. Rosebery’s example was bigger in size – a definite plus for Vasavely’s work (his very large canvases easily make six-figure sums) – yet its condition, according to Rosebery’s specialist Marcus Grey, was “delicate” with some restoration work. This ultimately affected the value.


It sold to a private buyer at £18,000


– just shy of the £20,000 lower estimate. Works by Tymon Niesiolowski


(1882-1965), a member of the Polish Expressionists founded in 1917, rarely appear on the British auction scene, so it was not surprising that Rosebery’s Bathers in woodland by the shores of a river, dated c.1919 and influenced by Cézanne’s Bathers, attracted


Thirst for painting sparks online bidding duel


RIVAL internet bidders battled it out for this late 17th century/ early 18th century Dutch portrait, right, of a man drinking from a very large glass, by an unknown artist, offered at Holloway’s Auctioneers (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Banbury. Featured as the catalogue cover lot of the December 13-14 sale,


the 2ft 5in x 2ft (74 x 61cm) oil on canvas achieved £21,000 – over four times the top estimate. The work had a solid provenance, having been purchased in 1956


from the executor’s sale of Captain Noel Thorhill of Diddington Hall in Huntingdonshire. Holloway’s specialist Nick Williams said: “It seems two people


were determined to buy the painting, although it remains unclear who may have been the artist.”


strong bidding. Separately sourced and estimated at £2000-3000, the 2ft x 2ft 7in (62 x 81cm) signed oil on an unstretched canvas was heavily damaged after spending many years in the vendor’s loft but, crucially, was in its original condition and duly took £16,000. The auction house would not name the buyer but said there was interest


At Rosebery’s, clockwise from left: n Red Lenin paper print by Andy Warhol – £29,000. n Victor Vasarely’s Boug III from 1956 – £18,000. n Bathers in woodland by the shores of a river by Tymon Niesiolowski – £16,000. n Alexandra Povorina’s Steps to boats in bay – £5500.


from Poland as well as the UK trade. This is believed to be a record price outside Poland and the highest for a group composition by the artist. Rosebery’s picture section also


included eight paintings from the collection of the late Hans Schwarz (1922-2003), the painter and sculptor who arrived in Britain as a refugee at the age of 16 from Nazi-occupied Austria. The collection totalled £7110, with five of the lots finding new homes. A work by the Russian-German


artist Alexandra Povorina (1885- 1963) provided the highest price here, selling for £5500 against a £1500-2000 estimate. Entitled Steps to boats in bay, the 22 x 18in (56 x 46cm) oil on canvas was dated to 1917 – a vibrant period in Russian art history. On the verso was a small sketch of a girl by farm buildings. The overall top lot in the picture


section also had links to Russia – at least in terms of the subject matter. This was an Andy Warhol (1928-87) print of Lenin. The 3ft 3in x 2ft 5in (1m x 74cm) screen print dated from 1987 and was numbered 61/120. It went in the room to a private buyer at a mid-estimate £29,000.


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