Why Frank Auerbach is set to shine at Bonhams'  sale of 20th Century British Art

You may want to make a note of the date of Wednesday 17th of November 2010. 

It looks set to be a special day for art collectors, with Bonhams holding a sale of 20th Century British art at their New Bond Street auction house.


A smaller painting by Auerbach
sold for £800,000 earlier
this year

Each year, Bonhams hold three auction offering up some of the most collectible modern and contemporary pieces in the form of paintings, drawings and sculptures to name but a few.

However, the November sale is offering up an extra special treat for British art collectors.

The auction will feature a special piece from German born British painter Frank Helmut Auerbach.

With his work focusing on figurative interpretations of female models and London landscapes, Auerbach is considered one of the greatest British artists of his generation.

In a career spanning over fifty years, he has maintained his residence in North London and it's this setting which has influenced much of his work.

His landscape art has focused primarily on Camden with the Carreras cigarette factory and Camden Palace Dance club featuring alongside more pastoral settings like the nearby Primrose Hill.

November's auction will be offering collectors the chance to bid on one of his most acclaimed landscape paintings from his early 1970s work entitled "Looking towards Mornington Crescent Station."

The piece belongs to a small but ambitious body of work from the early part of the decade, which saw Auerbach shift his focus onto depicting townscapes rather than his more traditional works.             

The painting has never reached auction before and has not been in public view for over thirty years.


Frank Auerbach's "Looking towards Mornington Crescent Station"

In June this year, Bonhams achieved a world record price at auction for a small painting by Auerbach and they are hotly anticipating the popularity of November's sale.

Matthew Bradbury, head of the 20th Century British Art Department commented:

"Bonhams is proud to be offering this large oil by one of Britain's most esteemed and sought after living artists. His reputation is now firmly recognised on the international arena..."

The painting, which comes with a group of sketches by Auerbach, has a pre-auction estimated price of £800,000-£1,200,000.

Yet the critically acclaimed and long missing piece could prove to be even more popular with collectors at auction.

In September, the painting will travel to New York for exhibition, in a move that promises to drum up interest in the November sale.

So while it may be a sale of 20th Century British art, with a rare Auerbach painting on offer, this is one auction that looks set to bring interest from art collectors around the world.

 

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