Roseberys in London is to hold its first specialist auction of modern and contemporary prints at their West Norwood saleroom on Saturday 4 October 2014.
Rosebery’s director Marcus Grey said: “The print market has weathered the recession particularly well. Last year we offered a single owner collection of rare single prints and suites by Salvador Dali in which
almost every lot sold. We have also been achieving
notable prices for prints in our fine art auctions,
including a record-breaking £6,200 for a 1920 Paul Nash lithograph, ‘The Tide, Dymchurch’. We have a
strong collection of prints to offer, several examples of which feature in museum collections including Tate Britain and MoMA, New York. It is a great curtain raiser for a series of specialist standalone auctions we are planning that will cover a range of disciplines.”
The auction includes ‘The Cormorant’, from the Seabirds Series by Elisabeth Frink (above). Frink ascribed her frequent use of the bird motif to being brought up surrounded by wildlife which she used as vehicles for what she wanted to say, coupled with an obsession with flight. The family home was near an airfield in Suffolk and bombers often returned to base in flames. Her earlier birds could be quite malevolent but, by 1974 when the Seabirds Series was published, she had left London and settled happily in Devon where her love of the natural world and its beauty eclipsed the more fearful connotations she associated with flight.
‘Here We Are In Croydon’ is the intriguing title of a 1979 lithograph with hand colouring by Sir Howard Hodgkin (right). Far from depicting the South London town, the image represents a room in Tulsa, Oklahoma which Hodgkin visited and which had been decorated very ostentatiously by Jean Harlow’s designer husband. One of Hodgkin’s companions made the sarcastic remark that provided the print’s title.
Hodgkin has, since 1977, enriched the printing process with hand-painting which is executed by studio assistants under his supervision. A notoriously exacting artist, Hodgkin has been known to reject as many as 70 sheets before he is satisfied with the printing and hand colouring.
A print by German Max Beckmann (left) is another highlight of the auction. It features Dr Hildegard Melms, known as Naïla, a political scientist with whom Beckmann had an affair in Frankfurt in 1923. Naïla’s distinctive features and steely gaze are recognizable in numerous images that span the artist’s career.
Beckmann enjoyed great success during the Weimar Republic when he made this print, but he suffered a reversal of fortune under Hitler whose dislike of Modern Art led to the notorious Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich in 1937. Beckmann was one of the artists included and he fled the country shortly afterwards.
The catalogue for this auction will be online from 26 September at roseberys.co.uk and the prints will be on view at Roseberys West Norwood saleroom from Thursday 2 – Saturday 4 October.
Those unable to come to the auction in person can bid online at the-saleroom.com, phone Rosebery