LONDON.- Sotheby’s upcoming Made in Britain auction is the fourth instalment of a sale dedicated to capturing the diversity and innovative spirit of British art in the 20th-century, across Fine Art, Prints, Sculpture, Photography, Studio Ceramics, and Design. The sale encompasses almost 250 striking artworks illustrating the very significant role that Britain played in the development of modernism internationally. With estimates starting at just £200, and going up to £60,000, Made in Britain is the perfect opportunity for a new buyer’s first foray into collecting works by some of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century – including L.S. Lowry, Damien Hirst, Patrick Heron, Norman Parkinson, Frank Auerbach, Mary Fedden and David Hockney. The auction will also offer works from the collection of the acclaimed writer Martyn Goff.

ART, LIFE & LITERATURE: The Collection of Martyn Goff
‘Julian MacLaren Ross, who was a Soho layabout, introduced me to John Minton, who introduced me to Graham Sutherland, who introduced me to John Piper, who introduced me to Henry Moore… and though I had almost no money at all, I bought something from each of them’ (Martyn Goff).

Nineteen works from the collection of the late Martyn Goff, much-loved writer and driving force behind the Booker prize, will be offered in the sale - each piece carrying a strong Neo-Romantic theme. Goff’s first novel, The Plaster Fabric, was published in 1957 and dealt with the then illegal homosexual lifestyle of its main protagonist with unabashed honesty. Goff’s close friend John Minton, whose works will be offered in the sale, created the dust jacket for the novel - the last commission before the artist took his own life, it was then dedicated to him.

A highlight from the collection is a maquette for Henry Moore’s screen created for the iconic Time-Life building in Mayfair (est. £15,00020,000). Conceived in 1952, Moore discussed that his commission was brought about because ‘Architecture is the poorer for the absence of sculpture and… the sculptor, by not collaborating with the architect, misses opportunities of his work being used socially and being seen by a wider public.’

Christopher Wood’s On the Quay (est. £40,00060,000) was painted in 1926 when the artist was at the height of his career, just four years before his tragic suicide. The little cameo of a fisherman and his wife cradling a baby is strongly reminiscent of one of Wood’s most famous paintings, The Fisherman’s Farewell, which depicts Ben and Winifred Nicholson and their baby son Jake and is on view at The Tate. A major retrospective on Wood opens at Pallant House Gallery this summer, the first in over 35 years to provide a comprehensive overview of the artist’s career.

Garden of Gethsemane by David Bomberg (est. £30,000-50,000) was painted in the 1920s, the most desirable period of the artist’s career. Following his experiences as a private soldier in the trenches, Bomberg travelled widely through the Middles East and Europe - moving his art to a more figurative style dominated by landscapes drawn from nature. This work clearly demonstrates his influence over later artists that he taught, including Leon Kossoff and Frank Auerbach.

Three works by Keith Vaughn also form part of the collection. The poetry of Rimbaud formed a central part of Vaughan’s literary diet and, being fluent in French, he read the prose poems in their original language. Mauvis Sang: An Illustration to Une Saison en Enfer (illustrated right, est. £6,000-8,000) is one of his very first attempts at visualising the young poet’s work and was made in 1949. A highly evocative drawing, it sums up both the style and the imagery associated with British Neo-Romanticism with its dark, brooding, monochromatic landscape and desolate atmosphere.

PAINTINGS
‘For a very long time now, I have realised that my overriding interest is colour. Colour is both the subject and the means; the form and the content; the images and the meaning’. The early 1960s saw a sharp change in Patrick Heron’s visual language and Violet Painting with Orange, Lemon and Black (est. £40,000-60,000) encapsulates the use of colour in explosive fashion. Shown at the 1965 São Paulo Biennale, as well as the artist’s 1967 Retrospective in Oslo, this work epitomises Heron’s position as one of the most important voices in abstraction at the time.

‘You see these people in the street.. they stand at street corners and they are staring at something and you wonder what they are thinking when they are staring. Have you ever noticed them’. L.S. Lowry’s Three Children (est. £40,000-60,000) is a charming, small-scale figure painting by one of Britain’s best-known and best-loved artists.

The sale also offers a wonderfully characterful painting by Gary Bunt – the artist’s debut at auction. Parsnips, Sprouts and Greens (est. £4,000-6,000) is painted in the artist’s typically naïve style. He describes the scene, ‘he’s picking the veg for Christmas lunch… but it’s sausages wrapped in bacon that fill my doggy dreams’.

ICONIC PHOTOGRAPHS
The selection of photographs in the auction bring to life the glamorous worlds of British film, photography and fashion.

Terence Donovan came to prominence in the 1960s as part of the era of ‘Swinging London’ and along with David Bailey and Brian Duffy revolutionised the world of magazine photography. Donovan socialised with musicians, royalty and actors becoming the first real celebrity photographers. Featured in the sale are photographs he took of Sean Connery during an advertising shoot for Smirnoff in 1962 (est. £2,5003,500), Julie Christie (est. £1,500-2,000) and Twiggy in 1962 (est. £1,5002,000).

Glamorous photographs by Norman Parkinson include a series of model Jerry Hall in Russia – whose career he launched (est. £4,000-6,000). The images are from 1975, when Vogue was one of the first fashion magazines to be invited to carry out fashion shoots in Russia.

Terry O’Neill photographed Faye Dunaway in 1977 (est. £6,000-8,000) in the early morning light, surrounded by newspaper headlines detailing her Oscar night win, as she sits in a daze beside the pool and dines on the Beverly Hills Hotel breakfast. O’Neill had met her just the week before and would go on to marry and then divorce her over the coming decade. He recalls that he was aiming to capture ‘that state of utter shock that Oscar winners enter, where they go to bed thrilled, then overnight, it dawns on them that they've changed, that they've just become a star.’

This Mike Figgis shot of Kate Moss descending a staircase in a deserted mansion was part of the four short movies created in 2007 for lingerie brand Agent Provocateur (est. £8,000-12,000). The films and stills were completed in one night before being put online where they later caused the brand’s website to crash.

A vintage Christmas card titled Darling, We Must Be in the Battersea Park (est. £3,000-5,000) by Angus McBean will be offered from the collection of the artist’s biographer, Adrian Woodhouse. The photograph is of a bust of Zeus, purchased by McBean in 1948 for £30 – the very same bust selling for $3.13 million at Sotheby’s New York in June 2015.

CERAMICS
Responding to the recent insatiable demand in the market, the sale also features an impressive collection of British studio ceramics noted for their sculptural qualities – including works by Lucie Rie, Edmund de Waal and Gordon Baldwin.

'Rie brought to British studio pottery a connection with design and architecture, a…confidence in decorative art and a touch of metropolitan chic.'1 Commissioned directly from the artist by the present owners in 1987, this brilliant Emerald Green Bowl with Oxide Decoration will be offered with an estimate of £12,000-18,000. Rie used a fascinating technique, and raw-glazed her stoneware pieces, giving them only one firing - allowing the body and glaze to mature at the same time, achieving wonderful fusion and captivatingly rich colours. Part of an impressive Private Collection of ceramics all acquired directly from the makers by the present owners, including pieces by John Ward, Rupert Spira and Michael Cardew, with estimates ranging from £200.

‘In the middle of the night I wake up, tossing and turning over what I’m going to wear the next day. It’s so exciting!’ An early and important Grayson Perry ceramic vase from circa 1988 is appearing for the first time in public since the 1989 show from which it was purchased. But What am I Supposed to Wear to the Surface Decoration Ball! (est. £20,000-30,000) is a richly textured example of Perry as a witty chronicler of contemporary life, using an apparently conservative medium to explore a variety of themes.

WORKS ON PAPER
An impressive group of works on paper is led by Henry Moore’s Seated Nude in a Wicker Chair, 1934 (est. £20,000 – 30,000), providing a fascinating insight to Moore’s impeccable skill as a draughtsman.

Further affordable works on paper by the likes of Eduardo Paolozzi (est. £400 – 600), L.S. Lowry (est. from £3,000) will also be presented in the sale.

Four original drawings by Frank Auerbach, given to the artist’s muse J.Y.M on envelopes over a period of thirty years, are being offered directly from the sitter’s family with an estimate of £1,000-1,500.

PRINTS
‘With etching, there’s an element of danger and mystery. You don’t know how it’s going to come out. What’s black is white. What’s left is right.’2 The exciting group of British prints included in the sale is led by Lucian Freud’s Garden in Winter (est. £30,000-50,000) - a beautifully made etching, which engulfs the viewer with its intense depiction of nature. One of four prints by the artist included in the sale.

Two butterfly screenprints with diamond dust by Damien Hirst will be offered with an estimate of £15,000-20,000. A number of stunning prints by the celebrated proponent of optical art Bridget Riley will also be represented in the sale, with estimates starting at £1,000.

1 Edmund de Waal, The Pot Book, Phaidon, London, 2011, p.226