Leyburn auction house Tennants is hosting a not-to-be-missed auction of modern British art on 12 October 2019, with artworks by leading artists from all around the UK. With over 100 pieces in a dazzling array of styles and media, there really is something for every British home and art collector.
A particular highlight of the sale is the two works by Kyffin Williams OBE (1918-2006), who is well known for his love for and affinity with the landscape of his Welsh homeland. This can be seen in his oil on canvas with muted greens and browns, Llanrhwydrys, which depicts an Anglesey cottage with ruined outbuildings, and a watercolour of the Brecon Beacons castle, titled Carreg Cennen.
Moving north, Northern art is represented with five works by mining artist Norman Cornish MBE (1919-2014). One of Cornish’s favourite subjects was Pit Road, which we find in the pastel, Pit Road with Colliery, Winter. The curved lines and frenzied drizzle of snow gives the effect of a blustery winter’s day. The coal mine and building loom in the background while two workers, dressed in matching uniforms of hats, satchels, boots and brown coats, huddle against the weather on their way to a day’s work.
Other works by Cornish in the sale include a more colourful oil painting, titled Little Snow Scene, of children in green and red coats playing in the show before a church, and a pastel portrait of Barbara Coia, aged 8.
More cold and snowy scenes of figures bundled in winter coats and hats and scarves – a reminder of what’s just around the corner – are depicted in 10 prints after Laurence Stephen Lowry RBA. Each work captures Lowry’s admired style: strong and straight, clean lines, white and grey English winter skies, faceless figures and delicate motion. While Cornish’s above Pit Road with Colliery, Winter suggests harried movement, these works after Lowry are still, imbuing a sense of calm within the viewer.
While Tennants’ auction features primarily British artists, with more prints by Peter Blake, John Piper and a group of etchings by Norman Ackroyd, we’d be remiss to forget some of the international stars on show.
Another highlight in the sale is a still life work by Dutch artist Henk Helmantel (b. 1945), titled Still Life of White Onions in a Painted Earthenware Bowl. Helmantel is much admired for his classically-composed still life paintings, deeply inspired by the Netherlands’ artistic traditions.
Within his works, as depicted here, he combines an exquisite use of light and technical mastery to produce paintings that are at deeply-rooted in the traditions of the old masters, yet at the same time starkly modern, clean and fresh.
Another international star in the sale is Paris La Madeleine by French artist Antoine Blanchard (1910-1988). Blanchard is known for his bustling Parisian scenes, which we find within this charming work. The light and leaves are brilliantly captured here in dazzling daubs of colour.
Other works included in the sale are those by Geoffrey Key, Joe Tilson, John Lowrie Morrison ‘Jolomo’, Nael Hanna, Carlos Nadal, David Mach, Keith Haring and P J Crook, to name a few.
