Roseberys' Modern British & 20th Century Art sale (Tuesday 11 June) has a wonderful group of important private collections, many offering a vital record of British 20th century social and visual history.
Lot 6: Othon Friesz, French 1879-1949 - Landscape, 1920
Key amongst these are ‘Works from the Descendants of Sidney and Stella Churchill (1862-1921 and 1883-1954) and Ruth Plant (1912-1988)’ (lots 1-25). Spanning items amassed over four generations, this wonderful family collection will include important artworks by David Jones (lot 10), Rudolf Helmut Sauter (lot 13) and French Post-Impressionist Othon Friesz (lot 6). Sidney J. A. Churchill was a diplomat and collector and connoisseur of Renaissance and Oriental Manuscripts and Persian antiquities and Dr. Stella Churchill had an illustrious career, writing many books on maternity and child welfare, later specialising in medical psychology. Their daughter Ruth Plant was an architect and become known for her study of the rock churches of Ethiopia and we are fortunate to be selling one of her own watercolours of a scene in Tigre as part of the collection.
Lot 307: Aubrey Williams, Guyanese/British 1926-1990 - Visual Idea II, 1962
Roseberys are also delighted to be selling the ‘Estate of Andrew Salkey (1928-1995)’ (lots 305-333), a hugely influential figure in post-War British and Caribbean cultural history. A prolific writer and journalist, he presided over the Caribbean section of the BBC world service as well as co-founding the Caribbean Artists Movement in London in 1966. The collection includes works by his friends, Denis Williams (lot 305), Patrick Procktor (lot 333) and Aubrey Williams (lots 306-309). Both Denis and Aubrey Williams were born in Guyana but emigrated to Britain in the post-War era and their work has been the focus of much recent academic and critical attention with displays at the Barbican and Tate Britain respectively. The collection also features a cartoon by comedian Spike Milligan (lot 332) and illustrations for Salkey’s novels by William Papas (312-317).
Lot 340: Rose Hilton, British 1931-2019 - Interior scene, 197
Other important collections are: works from the families of Erna Hoppe-Kinross and Grace English (lots 32-43), two artists in the circle of women that surrounded Dame Ethel Walker; works from Beaux Art Gallery (lots 48-56), the gallery that first exhibited Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff; and works from the late David Cornwell, better known as esteemed spy novelist John Le Carré (lots 334-344).
Individual highlights include two beautiful seascapes by Edward Seago (lots 28-29) from the same private collection in London. Lot 28 by Seago comes with provenance from W. Russell Button Gallery, Chicago, which held exhibitions of the artist’s work in 1964 and 1966. Other works from this collection in this sale are by Henry Lamb, Harold Knight and Annie French (lots 26-31).
Roseberys will also present an abstract bronze by Robert Adams (lot 291) and a moving portrayal of the artist’s aunt by Roy de Maistre (lot 198).
Contemporary highlights include a work from the 1980s by Rose Wylie (lot 526) and her late husband Roy Oxlade (lot 527), and collections of works by Mark Lancaster (lots 360-362) and Stephen Willats (lots 363-369).
Highlight lots:
Lot 10: David Jones, British 1895-1974 - The Little Wood, c.1940; £10,000-15,000
This work was purchased from the exhibition 'Watercolours by David Jones' at the Redfern Gallery, 4th -27th January 1940. It was an important exhibition for the artist, with the Tate Gallery purchasing 'The Chapel in the Park' for its collection. The present work has the same painterly approach as 'The Chapel in the Park' to the use of watercolour, Jones carefully building up the forest scene in glazes of warm greens, blues and reds. Jones uses the translucence of the medium to evoke a sense of ethereality and his spiritual wonder at the woodland landscape.
From a Private Collection of British Art (lots 26-31), this exquisite collection features pieces by Scottish art nouveau artist Annie French, portraits by Harold Knight and Henry Lamb, alongside two brilliant seascapes by Edward Seago. Seago is perhaps the most celebrated British landscape painter of the 20th century and this is a brilliant example of his mature style, depicting the East Anglian landscape that was his home. The work comes with provenance from W. Russell Button Gallery, Chicago, which held exhibitions of the artist’s work in 1964 and 1966.
The present work relates to the important painting 'The Death of Camilla, c.1948', Camilla Keogh was the artist's aunt and an important figure in his life both personally and professionally, who died in a Covent in Holland Park in 1948. This painting brilliantly encapsulates the artist's mature post-Cubist style with the religiously informed subject matter that would mark the later decades of his life. The most brilliant example of this is his 'The Stations of the Cross' at Westminster Cathedral made in 1954. De Maistre moved to London in 1930 where he became associated a with a circle of queer artists, most notably Francis Bacon, with whom he shared an exhibition at the celebrated Beaux Arts Gallery in 1930. De Maistre made a number of paintings of Bacon's studio, one of which recently sold at Christie's.
Lot 291: Robert Adams, British 1917-1984 - Ovoid Variation No.1, 1980; £8,000-12,000
This is a brilliant example of the artist's later work, demonstrating his total command of shape and balance. The artist created a series of these 'Ovoid Variations', each a celebration of organic abstract form, suggesting growth and the beginnings of life through the oval form. This was a hugely successful period for the artist, with solo exhibitions in Australia, the US and Zurich, as well as his work featuring in the exhibitions 'British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century' Part I and II at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London in 1981, organised by Nicholas Serota and Sandy Nairn.
Lots 306: Aubrey Williams, Guyanese/British 1926-1990 - Maridowa Series no.2, 1964; £8,000-12,000
Thie highlight of the Estate of Andrew Salkey (lots 305-333) is the group of works by Aubrey Williams. After moving to the city in the 1950s, Williams became a major figure in the London art world, especially through his connection with the South African artist Denis Bowen, who founded the New Visions Gallery in London, and the Caribbean Artists Movement. The central work in this group ‘Maridowa Series no.2, 1964’, refers to the artist's daughter and another work referencing her is now in the collection of Bradford Museums and Galleries, 'The Birth of Maradowa, 1959'.
Lot 506: Raymond Ching, New Zealander b.1939 - Field Guide IV, 2003; £8,000-12,000
The sale features a brilliant group of six works by celebrated wildlife painter Raymond Ching. Five of these works come from the Estate of Mr Bob Reid (1935-2023) (lots 301-305). Bob Reid ran Snowdonia Taxidermy Studios, which created pieces that the artist had painted from since the 1960s. Reid worked with Ching on important works including this paintings of Aesop's fables and the 'AA Book of British Birds' published in 1969.
Lot 526: Rose Wylie OBE RA, British b.1934 - Untitled, 1989; £5,000-7,000
Roseberys are fortunate to be selling this work by Rose Wylie, alongside a painting by her husband, Roy Oxlade (lot 527) from the same collection. The artist, who is now in 90, received recognition late in her career, with The Tate Britain holding a solo display of her work in 2013. In 2010, Wylie was the only non-American artist in the Women to Watch exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C., and in 2015 she became a member of the Royal Academy of Arts.
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