Sunflowers painting lights up Shrewsbury fine art auction
A modern art auction in Shrewsbury saw one piece sell for more than £8,000.
The Halls Fine Art sale, run by the Shrewsbury auction house, saw works by a number of celebrated artists going under the hammer.
Halls' modern art specialist, Abigail Molenaar, said the results had been "excellent", with the striking large-scale depiction of Sunflowers by renowned British artis, John Bratby (1908-1992) fetching £8,400.
Bratby is considered the founder of the Kitchen Sink Realism artistic movement, which was influential in the 1950s and which pursued the use of everyday objects as inspiration and the main subject of artistic work.
Bratby’s still life and floral compositions continue to result in good results on the market.
The dazzling floral display with its exuberant colour and energetic brushstrokes highlights his expert use of colour and line.
Ms Molenaar said: “It has been such a pleasure to bring this painting to auction and as my personal highlight of the sale, I am delighted it achieved such a fantastic result.”
A scene of St Ives Harbour, by John Anthony Park, which was recently uncovered in a local house cellar had survived in exceptionally good condition and reached £2,350.
Other lots received an enthusiastic reception with bidders, achieving notable results.
Sir Matthew Smith's 'Seated Girl', a portrait of a young woman holding a bunch of flowers, oil on canvas, sold for £7,600.
John Piper's watercolour, ‘Venice’, sold for £1,800, while French artist Andre Dignimont's ‘Accordionist playing in a bordello’, achieved £1,350.
The dark brooding colours of the Wales landscape in David Barnes’ ‘Road into the Hills’, and ‘Cottages on Cardigan Bay’, also proved popular with buyers, reaching £950 and £800 respectively.
Finally, Augustus John's ‘Portrait of a Woman’ in pen and ink, sold for £950.
