20th Century British Art breaks records at Bonhams

Bonhams sale of 20th Century British Art once more exceeded expectations this month 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 and 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.

For more information, visit: bonhams.com