LONDON.- A powerful early work, Sack (2005), by contemporary British painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, is one of the highlights of Bonhams Post-War & Contemporary Sale at New Bond Street on Wednesday 6 March. The artist is known for her paintings of people of colour against muted ambiguous backgrounds, and Sack, painted in loosely gestural strokes, is a superb example. It has an estimate of £100,000-150,000. The work was acquired directly from the artist by the present owner.

Sack by Yiadom-Boakye was first exhibited in the Artists of the Day series at The Flowers Gallery, Mayfair in 2005, an initiative that the gallery created to show emerging artists since 1983. Each artist is carefully selected by an already established practitioner for a one-person show that lasts a day, allowing one generation to highlight the work of the next. Yiadom-Boakye was chosen by the artist Martin Maloney and the show became her first solo exhibition.

Ralph Taylor, Global Head of Bonhams Post-War & Contemporary art department, commented, “Yiadom-Boakye has reaffirmed the value of the medium of painting. Her compelling works show universal images of figures without the boundaries of a particular historical context or recognisable setting. Yiadom-Boakye’s striking painting in our sale perfectly captures this ambiguity while radiating a sense of self-containment.”

Other highlights in the sale include:

• Christopher Wool’s silkscreen ink, Untitled, 2004, has an estimate of £800,000-1,200,000

• Josef Albers, Contented Green, 1948-1955 has an estimate of £350,000-400,000

• Jannis Kounellis (Greek, 1936-2017), Untitled, executed in 1989. Estimate £100,000-150,000

• William Kentridge (South African, born 1955), Rebus 2013, shows a selection of bronze sculptures each signed with the artist’s initials and numbered. Estimate £90,000-120,000.