“Boxted Mill Pool” by the war artist John Northcote Nash (1893-1977), sold for £38,000 in the Modern and Contemporary Art Sale at Tennants Auctioneers on 3rd October (all figures exclude buyer’s premium). Nash captured the English countryside in the wake of the First and Second World Wars in a lyrical, evocative style that was a deeply felt response to the land he loved, and the solace nature can offer after the horrors of war. “Boxted Mill Pool” was painted close to his home at Bottengoms Farm in Essex and was included in the 1967 Royal Academy exhibition on the artist. A quiet and peaceful scene, devoid of human activity, it is painted with an almost dream-like quality with the elements of the sky, foliage and water picked out in feathery brushstrokes that soften the composition. This is rural England in a disappearing world, a quiet oasis chasing away the shadows of war.
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Landscape by War Artist John Northcote Nash Sells for £38,000
The painting came from the collection of Humphrey Boyle, art collector and founder of the renowned fabric and wallpaper company Zoffany. Boyle founded Zoffany after he was inspired to create his first collection by the historic fragments of wallcoverings and silk discovered at the 16th century Temple Newsam near Leeds, when he was part of the team responsible for restoring the Jacobean house. The collection also included further outstanding lots in the sale, for example “Critics” by Austin Wright (1911–1997), which far exceeded presale estimates to sell for £12,000. Wright, who lived and worked in Yorkshire, became known for expressive, often abstract sculptures inspired by the human figure, plants and the Yorkshire landscape. Selling well above estimate, too, was “Old Quarry” by Prunella Clough (1919-1999), which sold for £9,000. Clough was one of the most significant female artists in post-war British art, known for abstracted depictions of factories, machinery, fishing boats and the urban landscape in a distinctive muted colour palette.
Leading works from other vendors in the sale included “Nature Morte à la Poule” by Henri Hayden (1883-1970), a Polish painter and member of the Parisian avant-garde scene in the early 20th century, which sold for £7,500. Good works by Northern artists included “Evening Hillside” by Geoffrey Key (b.1941) (sold for £5,500), and “In the Vale” by Simon Palmer (b.1956) (sold for £2,800).
Amongst the prints in the sale were “Train Tracks” by Bob Dylan (b.1941), from one of Bob Dylan’s most sought-after series (sold for £7,000), and the 1956 print “La Corrida” by Pablo Picasso, which reflects Picasso’s abiding interest in traditional Spanish imagery in his depiction of a bullfight (sold for £6,000).
The Modern & Contemporary Art Sale achieved a total hammer price of £188,770 for 126 lots and a 92% sold rate.
