A Rare Group of Staithes Pictures

A rare group of vibrant British Impressionist paintings relating to the flourishing artistic communities at Staithes and Fylingdales in North Yorkshire are coming up for sale at Tennants Auctioneers on 12^th July, offered as part of the British, European and Sporting Art Sale. Having the been in the hands of the same family since their execution, the collection comprises works by renowned artists Florence Hess and her mentor Mark Senior.

Mrs Sykes, the vendor’s great grandmother, served as cook in the Hess household in Leeds in the early 20^th century, and her daughter spent a great deal of time at her workplace, becoming an informal companion to the young Florence Hess. According to Sykes family history, the pair stayed in regular contact, and Florence gave her friend numerous paintings over the years to mark special occasions, including her wedding.

Born in Leeds, Florence Adelina Hess (1891-1974) studied at Leeds College of Art under tutor Mark Senior (1862-1927), a leading member of the flourishing Staithes School of artists who congregated at the picturesque fishing village on the North Yorkshire Coast. The Staithes artists shunned the academic painting tradition, instead taking inspiration from the French Impressionists, painting en plein air and capturing the lives of everyday people. As Senior’s most notable pupil and assistant and having accompanied him on numerous painting trips to Staithes and the Continent, the influence of Senior’s free-flowing and spontaneous style is evident in Hess’s own work, particularly her liberal use of azure. She later became a member of the Fylingdales Group based on the North Yorkshire Moors, and in 1928 visited the Cornish artists colony in St. Ives.

Highlights of the collection include Hess’s Picnic by the Sea (estimate: £7,000-10,000 all figures exclude buyers’ premium), and Mother and Child in a Sun-Drenched Garden (estimate: £4,000-6,000). The latter depicts the garden at Mark Senior’s home ‘Hillside’ in Runswick Bay on the North Yorkshire coast being enjoyed by a woman and child, thought to be Senior’s daughter Margaret Hudson and her daughter Mary. There will also be a number of small works by the artist, with estimates starting at £180-250. Examples in the collection by Mark Senior include “The Beach”, which is inscribed on the reverse “from Mark Senior to Florence Hess”.

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