Local collectors were the principal spending force in a specialist sale of Cornish art at Lay’s (21% buyer’s premium) in Penzance, where a rather atypical painting by Newlyn School artist Harold Harvey (1874- 1941) topped the price list.
The late work, Herding Cows in a Cornish Landscape, 1935, was a brighter and more impressionistic example than the painter’s earlier pictures, devoid of his usual dominant figures and instead depicting foxgloves and a view of the bay.
The auction house’s Mimi Connell-Lay described the 16 x 18in (40 x 46cm) oil on canvas as a “particularly charming” scene that “ticked a lot of boxes for people”.
Although the picture had failed to find a buyer in a Christie’s online sale a few years back estimated at £8000,12,000, it had no such problems at Lay’s on June 6 where local interest drove the price above a £5000-10,000 guide to £30,000.
The result places it among the top-selling Harvey landscapes at auction and demonstrates both the spending power of Cornish-based collectors and the ability of this saleroom to tap into that demand.
Pearce still-life
Tulips & Daffodils by Bryan Pearce, £27,000 at Lay’s.
Also catching the eye of local collectors was a 1980s still-life by Bryan Pearce (1929-2006), whose naive-style pictures have become increasingly pricey. The St Ives-born Pearce was a sufferer of the (then unknown) condition Phenylketonuria, which affects the normal development of the brain. Encouraged by his mother and other St Ives artists, he began drawing and painting in watercolours in 1953.
The 2ft x 20in (61 x 51cm) oil on board Tulips & Daffoldils, 1986, was among some 30 Modern British works in the sale collected over the last 40 years by Ian and Ann Head.
Pearce’s vibrant still-lifes are rare compared with his harbour scenes. This example was something of a hybrid, combining both subjects in a single picture.
Described by Connell-Lay as “a beauty” with “wide appeal”, it drew high bids before the sale and on the day it soared over an £8000-12,000 estimate to sell to a local buyer on the phone for £27,000.
“We are increasingly seeing higher prices for his colourful still-lifes, whereas, in the past, his maritime paintings were more wanted. A change in fashion,” said Connell- Lay.
The price is a significant increase on the £22,000 paid in the same rooms in February for Poinsettia, 1969 - the previous joint high for a Pearce still-life.
Newlyn School ‘father’
Awaiting the Return by Stanhope Forbes, £16,500 at Lay’s.
Tipping over top estimate for £16,500 to a private buyer via the internet was Awaiting the Return, 1916, by Stanhope Forbes (1857-1947), the so-called ‘father’ of the Newlyn School.
It is true that works by the first wave of Newlyn School artists are less commercial than they were back in the 1980s-90s - both a lack of supply and a shift in buyers’ tastes towards pictures from later in the 20th century have driven this change - but sensitively priced, good quality examples, as was the case here, can still do well.
The 18 x 14in (46 x 36cm) oil on canvas, depicting the artist’s model Annie Blewett looking out the window, came in “excellent original, cleaned condition” with “no indication of restoration or repair” Blewett lived next to The Ship Inn in Mousehole and sat for many of Forbes’ works including The Harbour Window, now in the Royal Academy.
Procter landscape
Penberth Valley by Dod Procter, £7200 at Lay’s.
Multiple bids also emerged for Penberth Valley, a landscape by Dod Procter (1891-1972), who trained under Forbes.
The 10 x 12in (25 x 30cm) oil on board, like the Forbes, was described as in “excellent condition” with “no sign of restoration under UV light”.
It had sold at Sotheby’s, London, November 1986 for £500. Here, it was knocked down at £7200 against a £2000-4000 guide, possibly to the Cornish trade.
