10th Jun, 2026 12:00
Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026
40
⊕ HELEN BRADLEY (BRITISH 1900-1979)
THE DEATH OF ANNIE SIMPSON
signed with a fly symbol lower right; signed, inscribed and dated "Surely" cried Mother and the aunts "the coffin can't have come for Annie Simpson and her new Baby" alas it had, for there was Miss Carter (who wore Pink) hurrying across the road to enquire for Annie Simpson. 'Cleaned' for Miss Carter. We all watched her funeral and (the year was 1908) / Helen Layfield Bradley (1966) on the artist's label glued to the backboard
oil on canvasboard
40.6 x 50.8cm; 16 x 20in
56 x 66.5cm; 22 x 26 1/4in (framed)
Ten works from a Cheshire Collection (lots 40-48)
Provenance
Mercury Gallery, London (by 1967)
Mr and Mrs D. Long (purchased from the above on 3rd January 1967)
Sale, Phillips London, 17th November 1992, lot 73
The Lyver and Boydell Galleries, Liverpool (by 1993)
Purchased by the father of the present owner
Exhibited
London, W. H. Patterson, Helen Bradley M.B.E. Commemorative Exhibition, 2000, no. 36
Bath, The Holburne Museum, Helen Bradley - Paintings of a Victorian Childhood, 2000, no. 23
Bradley began her art education at the age of 13 winning a scholarship to Oldham Art school. However, her early artistic endeavours were cut short both by the outbreak of war and her family's reluctance for her to explore an artistic career. She married after the war and dedicated the next 40 years raising her family, thus it wasn't until she was 65 that she rekindled her artistic talent.
She met L.S. Lowry in the 1960's who encouraged her to narrate her childhood experiences through her canvases. Her early works focused on the period 1904 to 1908 - she tended to write short descriptions of childhood events and then illustrate them in her paintings - these works often included Miss Carter (who wore pink), Helen herself, her younger brother George, her mother, her three maiden aunts and Mr Taylor, the bank manager. Miss Carter in pink can be seen rushing across the road to enquire after the deceased; the two small children in the foreground appear to be Helen and George accompanied by their mother and possibly the aunts.
Sold for £5,000
THE DEATH OF ANNIE SIMPSON
signed with a fly symbol lower right; signed, inscribed and dated "Surely" cried Mother and the aunts "the coffin can't have come for Annie Simpson and her new Baby" alas it had, for there was Miss Carter (who wore Pink) hurrying across the road to enquire for Annie Simpson. 'Cleaned' for Miss Carter. We all watched her funeral and (the year was 1908) / Helen Layfield Bradley (1966) on the artist's label glued to the backboard
oil on canvasboard
40.6 x 50.8cm; 16 x 20in
56 x 66.5cm; 22 x 26 1/4in (framed)
Ten works from a Cheshire Collection (lots 40-48)
Provenance
Mercury Gallery, London (by 1967)
Mr and Mrs D. Long (purchased from the above on 3rd January 1967)
Sale, Phillips London, 17th November 1992, lot 73
The Lyver and Boydell Galleries, Liverpool (by 1993)
Purchased by the father of the present owner
Exhibited
London, W. H. Patterson, Helen Bradley M.B.E. Commemorative Exhibition, 2000, no. 36
Bath, The Holburne Museum, Helen Bradley - Paintings of a Victorian Childhood, 2000, no. 23
Bradley began her art education at the age of 13 winning a scholarship to Oldham Art school. However, her early artistic endeavours were cut short both by the outbreak of war and her family's reluctance for her to explore an artistic career. She married after the war and dedicated the next 40 years raising her family, thus it wasn't until she was 65 that she rekindled her artistic talent.
She met L.S. Lowry in the 1960's who encouraged her to narrate her childhood experiences through her canvases. Her early works focused on the period 1904 to 1908 - she tended to write short descriptions of childhood events and then illustrate them in her paintings - these works often included Miss Carter (who wore pink), Helen herself, her younger brother George, her mother, her three maiden aunts and Mr Taylor, the bank manager. Miss Carter in pink can be seen rushing across the road to enquire after the deceased; the two small children in the foreground appear to be Helen and George accompanied by their mother and possibly the aunts.
Auction: Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026, 10th Jun, 2026
L.S. Lowry’s expansive Figures on a Beach (lot 39) is the lead painting in our June sale that ranges from the Old Masters to Modern British and post-War & Contemporary. Many of the works have been in the same collection for decades; a number have fascinating stories attached.
The first seven lots of Dutch and Flemish Old Masters are from the collection of Paul Wertheimer. Acquired almost hundred years ago, Wertheimer brought the works to England when he fled Germany in 1938. Leading the group are 17th century panels attributed to Moses van Uyttenbroeck and Lucas van Uden, the latter a reduced copy of Rubens’ original in the Royal Collection (lots 1 & 4). Another early panel, a portrait of Cornelisz. Van Beresteyn, is by a follower of Michiel Jansz. van Miereveld (lot 9).
Works by fellow artists and friends Augustus John and Edgar Augustus ‘Loben’ Slade (lots 20-25) feature John’s early portrait of Loben and five works on paper by the lesser known Slade, nephew of the founder of the Slade School of Art, one of which is a watercolour of Jessie McNeill, John’s model, muse and mistress.
Also in the sale are seven works by Australian artists, including Jeffrey Smart, William Blamire Young and Leonard French, all from a private collection in Surrey (lots 30-36), and ten paintings from a Cheshire Collection that features the work of Helen Bradley, Edouard Cortes and Marcel Dyf together with bracing coastal views by Campbell Archibald Mellon (lots 40-48).
A small and fascinating work on paper is by Paul Nash. It captures the view of Harry Rocks off Ballard Down from Nash's flat in Swanage where he was living in the mid-1930s and which he incorporated into his Surrealist work ahead of the major Surrealist exhibition in London of 1936 (lot 27).
Beside the Lowry beach scene, other post-War works include an important early sculpture by James Tower (lot 52), a leading sculptor-ceramicist of his generation. Other post-War abstract works include examples by Frank Avray Wilson, James Hull and Etienne Beothy (lots 50, 51, 55 & 57).
For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44 (0)20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 7th June: 12pm - 4pm
Monday 8th June: 10am - 8pm (Drinks 5 - 8pm)
Tuesday 9th June: 10am - 5pm
