Sotheby's - Sale: Modern & Post-War British Art

Sotheby’s November sale of Modern & Post-War British Art in London featured the sale of the Tim Ellis Collection which achieved ‘white glove’ status, with 100% of the 142 lots sold. The collection, assembled by Tim Ellis, who filled his London townhouse with art in a range of media over the course of 30 years, exceeded pre-sale expectations and totalled £1.2m (est. £561,750 – 818,850) and drew competitive bidding from as many as 15 bidders for a single lot. A significant number of new buyers were attracted to the sale – 28% of buyers were new to Sotheby’s, and also 30% of Sotheby’s existing clients were drawn to the Modern & Post War British Art collecting category for the first time.

Drawing widespread international clients to the field Modern & Post-War British Art, the November sale saw participation from Europe, the US, Asia, South America and India and brought a combined total of £6,388,288 (est. £6,058,500 - £8,861,500), with almost 60% of the lots sold achieving prices above their high estimate. The top lot of the sale was Edward Burra’s vibrant Striptease, Harlem watercolour and gouache of 1934 which fetched the above-high estimate sum of £842,500 (est. £600,000-800,000). Artist records were achieved for Roger Hilton, with December 1960 selling for £170,500 (est. £60,000-80,000) and for a work on paper by Leon Kossoff with Willesden Junction fetching £206,500 (est. £60,000-80,000). Strong prices were achieved for Henry Moore’s Working Model for Mother and Child of 1983, which came to auction from the collection of internationally renowned conductor and composer Georg Solti K.B.E and fetched £482,500 (£400,000-600,000), and for one of Britain’s best-loved artists L.S. Lowry, with his painting Outside the Factory reaching £410,500 (est. £200,000-300,000).