11th Dec, 2024 12:00

Fine Paintings & Works on Paper

 
  Lot 41
 

41

MICHAEL ANDREWS (BRITISH 1928-1995)

RECLINING NUDE, LIFE DRAWING
pencil on paper
15.5 x 35cm; 6 1/4 x 14in
26 x 45.5cm; 10 1/4 x 18in (framed)

Property from a Private Collector, Middlesex

Provenance
Estate of the artist
June Andrews (the artist's wife)
A gift from the above to the present owner, the artist's accountant

Executed circa 1949-1953, when Andrews was a student at the Slade School of Art under William Colstream, Lucian Freud and Lawrence Gowing. Awarded a Rome Scholarship in Painting, after graduating Andrews spent six months in Italy at the British School in Rome. Upon his return Andrews divided his time between his native Norwich and London. His first two solo exhibitions were held at the Beaux Arts Gallery, London in 1958 and 1963.

Together with
Auerbach, Bacon, Freud, Hockney, Kitaj, and Kossoff, Andrews became associated with the so called 'School of London', a name coined by Kitaj to describe the heterogeneous group of painters that he brought together in the landmark exhibition The Human Clay at the Hayward Gallery in 1976. The group's shared interest was in figurative painting at a time when abstraction was in the ascendent and painting the human figure and naturalism was far from fashionable.

Sold for £1,200


 

RECLINING NUDE, LIFE DRAWING
pencil on paper
15.5 x 35cm; 6 1/4 x 14in
26 x 45.5cm; 10 1/4 x 18in (framed)

Property from a Private Collector, Middlesex

Provenance
Estate of the artist
June Andrews (the artist's wife)
A gift from the above to the present owner, the artist's accountant

Executed circa 1949-1953, when Andrews was a student at the Slade School of Art under William Colstream, Lucian Freud and Lawrence Gowing. Awarded a Rome Scholarship in Painting, after graduating Andrews spent six months in Italy at the British School in Rome. Upon his return Andrews divided his time between his native Norwich and London. His first two solo exhibitions were held at the Beaux Arts Gallery, London in 1958 and 1963.

Together with
Auerbach, Bacon, Freud, Hockney, Kitaj, and Kossoff, Andrews became associated with the so called 'School of London', a name coined by Kitaj to describe the heterogeneous group of painters that he brought together in the landmark exhibition The Human Clay at the Hayward Gallery in 1976. The group's shared interest was in figurative painting at a time when abstraction was in the ascendent and painting the human figure and naturalism was far from fashionable.

Auction: Fine Paintings & Works on Paper, 11th Dec, 2024


Auction Location: London, UK

Our sale of Fine Paintings and Works on Paper features 80 lots spanning four centuries. It includes works from two significant deceased estates: art dealer Alexander Iolas who promoted the bright and playful works by Jean Hugo and Niki de Sainte Phalle (lots 44-52), and gallerist Karsten Schubert, led by a green revolver on a vibrant red background by Michael Craig-Martin (lot 53), currently the subject of a retrospective at the Royal Academy, Piccadilly.

Colour dominates many of the post-War works. A stripe painting by the leading Washington Colour Field artist Gene Davis is a sale highlight. Davis worked alongside Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland also from D.C. in the 1950s and ‘60s perfecting his distinctive style. 65-6 by Davis (lot 58) dances and rhymes before the viewer’s eye. From the same collection and similarly optical are the works by Joe Tilson (lot 60) from 1965, and a rare painting by Justin Knowles (lot 59). Fellow colourist Howard Hodgkin is represented by Here we are in Croydon from 1979 (lot 63).

Modern British is led by an attractive group of watercolours by John Nash (lots 34-37), all acquired from the artist by the present owner’s grandfather. Other British figurative painters featured in the sale include Alan Lowdnes with a street scene in Altrincham near Manchester (lot 40), and three sketches by the young Michael Andrews (lots 41-43). Elsewhere there are works by John Piper and humorous illustrations by graphic artists Ronald Searle and Quentin Blake (lots 71 & 72).

Artists from further afield include two 18th/ 19th century Cuzco paintings from Peru and good Australian examples: a watercolour by John Russell of the Pont de Neuilly, and an atmospheric painting of a dust storm in the New South Wales out back by John Charles Goodhart of 1907 capturing a storm that year (lots 31 & 38).  ‘en plein-air’-ists in the sale include Otto Modersohn, co-founder of Worpswede school in Bavaria in the 1890s (lot 19) and three delightful paintings of children by Scottish painter Gemmel Hutchison, influenced by Barbizon in France and the Hague School in Holland (lots 27, 28 & 30). 

For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44  (0)20 7806 5541

Viewing

PUBLIC EXHIBITION: 

Sunday 8th December: 12:00pm to 4:00pm

Monday 9th December: 10:00am to 8:00pm

Tuesday 10th December: 10:00am to 5:00pm

View all lots in this sale