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Thursday, March 18, 2010

20TH CENTURY BRITISH ART CONTINUES TO MAKE WORLD RECORDS AT BONHAMS


Bonhams sale of 20th Century British Art once more exceeded expectations yesterday when it made a £2 million total and a brand new world record price for a Helen Bradley picture sold at auction, for £144,000.
Bradley (1900-1979), who started painting in her sixties, and died shortly before she was due to be honoured with an MBE, had previously commanded £97,000 as a best price at auction, said a delighted Matthew Bradbury, Head of 20th Century British Art at Bonhams. The world record picture titled `Blackpool Beach’, a sunny image of bathers, had been estimated to sell for £70,000 to £90,000. Matthew Bradbury said that the sale had “produced strength across the board” with the 90 lots offered generally doing well.
Fourth highest price in the sale was for a recently discovered David Bomberg (1890-1957), `The Canal Lock’, which sold for £84,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £30,000 to £50,000.
Other notable results from among the top ten in the sale included a beautiful picture by Sir Alfred James Munnings (1878-1959) titled `The Start, Newmarket’ that made £524,000; a picture by Sir Kyffin Williams (1918-2006) titled `Bull’ performed strongly with a £50,400 price against a pre-sale estimate of £8,000 to £12,000.
There was also an LS Lowry (1887-1976) ‘Newtown’ which went for £43,200, and a Dame Elisabeth Frink (1930-1993) titled `Assassins’ which made £62,400 having been expected to sell for £20,000 to £30,000.
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com

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