London – As the festive season approaches, Bonhams presents a feast of four Prints & Multiples sales taking place in London this December, providing an array of editions for the aspiring and the avid collector.
Included in the festive line-up is the special thematic sale is The Age of Speed – The Grosvenor School and the Avant-Garde, a single-owner collection, which will take place on Tuesday 12 December at Bonhams New Bond Street. Inspired by Italian Futurism, the Grosvenor School was active from around 1925-1940, and were keen to capture the speed of modern life. As a group, they have become synonymous with their medium of choice: linocuts. Amongst the highlights are a number of works by Cyril Power (British, 1872-1951), including The Tube Train, a linocut, circa 1934, which has an estimate of £30,000 – 50,000.
Writing on The Grosvenor School in the Winter edition of Bonhams Magazine, the art critic Mark Hudson notes: “The giddily futuristic, brilliantly coloured prints of a small group of artists associated with the school, who became known, appropriately enough, as the Grosvenor School, were ignored for decades after their brief interwar heyday, before being rediscovered in the 1980s. They are now much sought after by collectors…[The sale] provides an opportunity to delve into a compelling, but still little understood by way of 20th-century British art.”
Read the full article HERE
Other highlights of the sale include:
- Sybil Andrews CPE (British-Canadian, 1898-1992), Speedway. Linocut printed in raw sienna, Venetian red, permanent blue and Chinese blue, 1934. Estimate: £40,000 – 60,000.
- Cyril Power (British, 1872-1951), The Eight. Linocut, 1930. Estimate: £40,000 – 60,000.
- Cyril Power (British, 1872-1951), Whence & Whither?. Estimate: £20,000-30,000.
Carolin von Massenbach, Head of Bonhams Prints Department, commented: “This winter season we are thrilled to present the best of printmaking in an exceptional programme of four curated auctions spanning every art historical period and movement. From The Age of Speed, a single-owner sale celebrating The Grosvenor School & The Avant-Garde, to City Lights: The Martin Lewis Sale, and our two highly anticipated Fine Prints & Multiples auctions presenting some of Hockney’s most sought-after editions and more – we have a true feast of prints this December with something for collectors of all tastes.”
Leading Bonhams New Bond Street Prints & Multiples sale, also taking place on 12 December, will be a significant number of works by David Hockney (born 1937), including iPad works such as The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) – 19 February, which has an estimate of £80,000 – 120,000. Hockney’s Viewers Looking at a Ready-made with Skull and Mirrors, a monumental photographic drawing from 2018 on four sheets of wove paper measuring 2220 x 3710mm also features in the sale with an estimate of £150,000 – 200,000. Autour de la Maison, Hiver, a monumental inkjet print also by Hockney is also in the sale with an estimate of £150,000 – 200,000.
The sale will also present a strong selection of prints by Lucian Freud (British, 1922-2011), including: Girl Holding her Foot (estimate: £12,000-18,000), Blond Girl (estimate: £12,000-18,000), and Man Posing (estimate: £6,000-8,000).
Ending on Thursday 7 December will be the online auction City Lights: The Martin Lewis Sale. An Australian-born American painter and printmaker, Martin Lewis (1881-1962) was best known for his representations of urban landscapes. His works often possessed a dramatic film noir quality. Highlights of the sale include Relics [Speakeasy Corner] and Glow of the City, which both have estimates of £18,000 – £25,000.
View the full sale HERE
The sales follow on from Bonhams Knightsbridge Prints & Multiples sale, which takes place on Wednesday 6 September. The sale will offer a range of prints at different price points, including works by Harland Miller, Allen Jones, Damien Hirst, and Banksy. Leading the sale will be Going to the Match, an offset lithograph in colours, 1972, by Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A. (British, 1887-1976), which has an estimate of £25,000 – 35,000.
