Sir Stanley Spencer RA - Sunflower and Dog Worship sold for £5,417,250. (click on image to enlarge). (image copyright Sotheby's).
THE highest total ever for an auction of Modern British Art was achieved at Sotheby’s this evening. Just 30 lots brought in the remarkable total of £37,464,300 / $61,224,159, doubling the pre-sale high estimate of £16 / $26 million. Part I of The Evill/Frost Collection sale surpassed all expectations and established eight auction records.
The top lot was Stanley Spencer’s Sunflower and Dog Worship, which sold for £5,417,250 over a pre-sale estimate of £1-1.5 million. No less than five bidders vied for the painting. This broke the record set for the artist earlier at the same sale when Workmen in the House sold for £4,745,250.
The sale saw the highest price at auction for a Lucian Freud work on paper. There were new record prices Graham Sutherland, William Roberts, David Jones, Leon Underwood, Edward Burra, John Skeaping and Patrick Heron.
Sutherlands The Crucifixion made £713,250, Roberts Discussion in a Cafe made £373,250, July Change by David Jones made £32,450, Sungirl by Leon Underwood made £91,250, Zoot Suits by Edward Burra made £2,057,250, John Skeaping’s Pouter-Pigeon made £58,850 and Patrick Heron’s The Blue Table with Window made £1,049,250.
Boat on a Beach, a 1945 work on paper that records a trip Lucian Freud made to the Scilly Isles, sold for £2,617,250.
See antiquesandartireland.com post for March 7, 2011
UPDATE: The three-part sale of the Evill/Frost collection brought a combined total of £42,484,639 against a high estimate of £19 million.
Boy on a Sofa by Lucian Freud made £1,497,250. (click on image to enlarge, copyright Sotheby's)
Workmen in the House by Sir Stanley Spencer made £4,745,250. (click on image to enlarge, copyright Sotheby's)
