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Margaret Macadam (1902-1991)
Juggler
Watercolour drawing, signed lower right 26cm x 18cm In The Barbarians (1935), set in Paris and on the Riviera in 1922, Virginia Faulkner sets out her account of the Bohemian life of expats and war veterans. The Barbarians, a loose cluster of creative types, comprised painters, a sculptor, a writer, a pianist, and a gigolo. Faulker was only 22 when she wrote the book. Margaret Macadam was a British illustrator active in the 1920s and 1930s. She won a scholarship to the Royal Academy schoos in 1925. Amongst her commercial works are several dust wrapper designs for London-based publishers, including the dust-jacket design for the first edition of Agatha Christie’s first straight novel ‘Giant’s Bread’. Following the discovery of an archive of Macadam’s work in 2016, it was possible to connect her work on Giant’s Bread to other known designs. Condition: Excellent. If you’d like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Falmouth, 1944 (unknown Modern British Artist)
Watercolour 46 x 30cm An evocative painting of Falmouth, the Cornish town shaped by its relationship to the sea. The artist leads us from the warm tones of the stone flags and empty buildings down towards a grey sea and a gently smouldering sky. Ships move in to the port, and a unit of pylons, starkly silhouetted, looks out over the bay. Condition: excellent. If you’d like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Roy Carnon (1911-2002)
All Hallows Church, Tillington, near Petworth
Oil on board 31 x 42cm Signed; in the artist's original frame Condition: excellent. Click to view biographical details and other works by the artist. Carnon attended Chiswick Art School becoming an illustrator. In 1965 he was responsible for visualising spacecraft for "2001: A Space Odyssey", being designer of the iconic 'wheel' spacestation. These drawings are now in the Kubrick archives at UAL. -
Fredda Brilliant (1903-1999)
The Young Atlas
Patinated bronze 52.5 x 41.5 x 27.5 cm ; 16kg. On wooden base Fredda Brilliant was a Polish sculptor and actress, born in Łódź, Poland. She worked in a variety of media and is recognized as an accomplished sculptor, writer, actor, singer and script writer. Throughout her career she traveled extensively working in England, USA, Australia, India, Poland and Russia. Brilliant sculpted some of the greatest figures of her time including Jawaharlal Nehru, V.K. Krishna Menon, Indira Gandhi, U.S. President John F Kennedy, and Buckminster Fuller. She also sculpted her husband, the writer Herbert Marshall. Brilliant's most famous work is a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi which is the centerpiece of the park in Tavistock Square, London, UK. Condition: excellent. -
John Piper (1903-1992)
Bullslaughter Bay
Watercolour, gouache and pastel on paper 27.5 x 35.5cm John Piper CH was an English painter, printmaker, and designer of stained-glass windows. His work often focused on the British landscape, especially churches and monuments, and included tapestry designs, book jackets, screen-prints, photography, fabrics and ceramics. Piper spent a considerable amount of time in Pembrokeshire, frequently returning to the landscape of Bullslaughter Bay; this painting was probably produced there in the mid-1950s. The artist captures an animated, capricious bay, characterised by a distinctive colour palette and stamped with irregular rock formations. Condition: generally excellent. For other works by the artist and biographical details, click here. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Michael Ayrton (1921-1975) Girl Wringing out her Hair Patinated bronze, 1962 26cm in height Michael Ayrton was a British artist and writer, renowned as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and designer, and also as a critic, broadcaster and novelist. This sculpture, rendered in patinated bronze, is a portrayal of an unposed nude, one of Ayrton's favourite subjects. In his book "Drawings and Sculpture", Ayrton muses on his studies of bathers: 'I like to study the nude when he or she is untroubled by my observation, and bathers in general are the only nudes, or semi-nudes, who are not particularly interested in the onlooker.' Provenance: Acquired directly from the Artist by Nigel Balchin, a close friend of Ayrton's, thence by descent to the previous owner. Sotheby's, Lot 128, 11 July 2013. Literature: Michael Ayrton, Drawings and Sculpture, with a Forward by C. P. Snow, Cory, Adams & Mackay, London, 1962, illustrated pl.73 (another cast). If you'd ike to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Sir Terry Frost (1915-2003) Bottle and Statue Oil on board c. 1947 38 x 46cm A distinctive still life featuring bottle, statue, and drapery. Terry Frost was a prominent British abstract artist. Frost is most noted for his simplistic abstract forms and unusual colour; he worked alongside the St Ives group and as Barbara Hepworth's assistant for several years, his artistic style being heavily influenced by them. In 1992 he became a Royal Academician, and he was made Sir Terry Frost in 1998. Bottle and Statue highlights Frost's unique compositional skill. His brushwork makes the statue seem like a real nude, who, framed by turquoise and ochre draperies, examines the still life in the foreground. An early work, painted shortly after the War and prior to his adoption of abstraction. For other works by Frost and biographical details please click here. Condition: A little craquelure in the oil above the statue's head. -
Blair Hughes-Stanton (1902-1981) Reclining Nude, c. 1936
Tempera on canvas 76.5 x 102cm Signed lower right 'Blair H S'. Provenance: The estate of the artist. A magnificent abstract nude rendered in a dynamic colour palette. This is probably Hughes-Stanton's most important work, and belongs to the nation's great, if brief, period of British Surrealism. The three major elements are distinct: the pastel tones of the window view and wall, the sensual curvatures of the pale nude, and the bold foreground featuring a fantastically accomplished still life of a fruit bowl (which could be a painting in and of itself) and the impressively phallic chair back. This is a brilliant example of erotic modernist abstraction. Blair Hughes-Stanton, son of the artist Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton, was a noted British artist of the interwar period. At the age of 13 he joined the Royal Navy training ship HMS Coway, but at 19 - advised by his father - he abandoned the sea for his paintbox. He studied art at Byam Shaw School (1919-1922) where he was influenced by Leon Underwood (who was a major influence throughout his studying), Royal Academy Schools (1922-23), and Leon Underwood's School (1923-25). He was celebrated mostly for his skills as an engraver, and was a founding member of the English Wood Engraving Society when it was established in 1925. His first wife was the printmaker Gertrude Hermes with whom he illustrated John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress in 1928. In 1931 he became head of the Gregynog Press, later establishing the Gemini Press with his second wife Ida Graves. During the course of his career he worked in various media, though his art frequently focused on the female nude. He taught at Westminster School of Art (1934-39), Colchester School of Art (1945-47); St Martin's School of Art (1947-48); and Central School of Arts and Crafts (1948-80). His teaching career was interrupted by the Second World War, during which he served as a camofleur and then joined the Royal Engineers (ignoring his earlier life in the Navy). Serving in Greece, he was captured as a prisoner of war and was imprisoned in a camp. He returned to England after the war. If you’d like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Louis Osman (1914-1996) Christmas Card, Byford Court, 1985 22 x 31cm Gouache and ink on paper This characterful card was sent by Louis Osman and his wife Dilys, whom he had married in 1940. Written and painted in 1985, it features an ink sketch and gouache painting of the porch entrance to Byford Court, with handwritten notes about the house's significance. Osman moved to Byford Court in 1976, following a brief brush with bankruptcy. Osman attended the Bartlett School of Architecture and the Slade School of Art, and became a Donaldson Medallist of RIBA in 1935. In the late 1930s he took part in the British Museum and British School of Archaeology expeditions to Syria. After war service he worked in London designing buildings, furniture, tapestries, and glass including work in Westminster Abbey, Lincoln, Ely, Exeter and Lichfield Cathedrals. He also did work for the National Trust at Staunton Harold Church in Ashby de la Zouch. Before moving to Byford Court, Osman and his wife lived at Canons Ashby House in Northamptonshire. Whilst there, they made the crown used at the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales. In 1976, they also made the gold enamelled casket holding the Magna Carta on view in the United States Capitol, Washington, DC for the United States Bicentennial. Some discolouration to paper. -
Out of stock
Alfred Wolmark (1877-1961)
Peace Paraded by Conflict
Oil on panelSigned lower left; original frame. An allegorical scene of Peace as a female nude. Alfred Aaron Wolmark was an influential Post-Impressionist painter who studied and exhibited at the Royal Academy Schools and between 1901 and 1936. Wolmark was noted for his use of impasto and for his skills as a colourist. If you’d like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Generally excellent; original frame shows a little wear.60 x 34cm -
Brenda King (1934-2011)
Venetian Schoolchildren (1974)
Oil on board 16.5.x 20.5 cm Signed and dated lower right. Naive scene of school children in a Venetian square in a distinctive 1970s frame. Brenda King was born in Cumbria in 1934. She enrolled at the Lancaster College of Art from 1950 to 1954 before enrolling at the Royal Academy from 1954 to 1957, indeed, going on to exhibit frequently at the RA summer exhibition. She moved to Cornwall in 1975 with her landscape painter husband Jeremy King (b.1933), and the pair shared a studio in St Just, Lands End. Her distinctively naive and playful style, often capturing incidental figures in quaint, pastoral British scenes, is said to have been strongly influenced by the oils and watercolours of Helen Bradley (1900-1979), another Lancastrian. If you are interested e-mail info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056 Condition: Generally excellent, original 1970s frame shows some wear. -
Laurence Dunn (1910-2006)
Coal Barge (c.1950)
12.5 x 25 cm Watercolour and ink Signed 'L Dunn' lower left Extensively inscribed to bottom corners, including comments 'coal should be lighter' indicating this is a preliminary watercolour for a future painting. He also makes reference to the continued existence of a 'wartime wooden bulkhead' - added to make the ship more resilient in the event of enemy action. Laurence Dunn (1910-2006) was a well-known British marine artist and writer. The World Ship Society published the following obituary for Dunn: DUNN, Laurence. [December 15 2006 — Lloyds List] Many readers will be saddened by the death of well-known marine artist and writer Laurence Dunn in his 97th year. A man of encyclopaedic knowledge, he began his lifelong love of ships in Brixham, where he meticulously recorded passing traffic with the exquisitely accurate line drawings which later became something of a trademark. While studying at London’s Central School of Art his work was noticed by the Southern Railway, which commissioned profiles of its fleet, and this in turn led to work for Orient Line, where he also designed the well-known corn-coloured hull, and later Thorneycroft, where he helped with shaping draft plans for a new royal yacht. During the second world was he worked for naval intelligence at the Admiralty, where his technique did much to improve recognition standards, and greatly expanded his shipping clientele, becoming personally known to many chairmen. As well as the shipping press he worked for mainstream publications such as Everybody’s, Sphere and the upmarket comic Eagle. Through his many contacts he enjoyed going to sea in a great variety of ships from aircraft carriers to colliers. Laurence wrote several books, starting with ship recognition titles which introduced new standards of layout, but his best known work was probably Passenger Liners, which was widely taken up by the travel trade. His love of Greece, where he was an early publicist of island cruising, let to involvement in reshaping various passenger liners beginning with Greek Line’s OLYMPIA. In later life he designed several sets of shipping stamps for the Crown Agents, produced photographic volumes on Thames and Mediterranean shipping and still found time to enjoy the passing Thames traffic. Our sympathies go to his wife Jennifer, who provided succour to the many ship lovers who beat a path to the welcoming door of their Gravesend home. -
Norman Adams RA (1927-2005)
The Sound of Scarp and Vision of Bernadette (c.1980) (Double sided)
24 x 26 cm Watercolour Norman Adams RA, former professor of painting at the Royal Academy, felt strongly that, "art [without religion] would be a pretty empty vocation." Despite not going to church, nor identifying with any specific belief system, the artist's paintings of the natural world, often dramatic in nature, betray a strong spiritual intensity. On one side of this watercolour Adams has painted a monumental wave crash, captioned 'Southwest Wind - Very Rough Sea The Sea of Scarp.' On the other, is a softer, lilac abstraction entitled 'Vision of Bernadette', a reference to Saint Bernadette's famous visions of Mary at the Lourdes grotto. He studied at Harrow School of Art (1940-46) and then the Royal College of Art (1948-51). His first solo show was at Gimpel Fils in 1952, and his last at the Fine Art Society in 2004. His works included many murals and stage designs. There are many of his major works in the national collection, including the Tate, Leeds Museums, The Whitworth, the Royal College of Art, Bristol Museums, Leicester Museums, The Royal Academy and the Hepworth, Wakefield. -
Nora Davison (1881-1930)
Eton College (c.1920)
31 x 26 cm Watercolour Signed, lower left Nora Davison was a well-known figure around Eton, being responsible for many watercolours. An acclaimed painter of coastal scenes and landscapes she exhibited at inter alia, the Fine Art Society, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, the New Gallery, Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists and Society of Woman Artists. Condition: Generally good - slight loss of colour, mounted to board. -
Hilary Hennes (née Hilary Miller) (1919-1993)
Christmas (c.1940)
54 x 74 cm Watercolour over linocut Miller was born in London, where her father was a curator at the South London Art Gallery. She attended Blackheath High School and, from 1936 to 1940, studied at the Blackheath School of Art and then for a further three years at the Royal College of Art. After graduating, Miller taught at the South East Sussex Technical College and in 1946 married the artist Hubert Hennes. The couple set up home in Oxford, where they both held teaching posts at the Oxford School of Art. Between 1948 and 1967 Miller frequently exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy in London and also illustrated a number of books on gardening and natural history, such as The Living World and Boff’s Book of Gardening. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056 Condition: Good - some creases. -
Hilary Hennes (née Hilary Miller) (1919-1993)
The Old Bicycle (c.1940)
46 x 62 cm Gouache on paper Miller was born in London, where her father was a curator at the South London Art Gallery. She attended Blackheath High School and, from 1936 to 1940, studied at the Blackheath School of Art and then for a further three years at the Royal College of Art. After graduating, Miller taught at the South East Sussex Technical College and in 1946 married the artist Hubert Hennes. The couple set up home in Oxford, where they both held teaching posts at the Oxford School of Art. Between 1948 and 1967 Miller frequently exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy in London and also illustrated a number of books on gardening and natural history, such as The Living World and Boff’s Book of Gardening. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056 Condition: Good -
Derrick Latimer Sayer (British: 1917-1992) Rabbits for Beverly Nichols' Cats' ABC
30x21cm Pen and ink Dated 8 vi 1982 Sayer illustrated Beverley Nichols' 'Cats' A.B.C.' and we are delighted to present some of his preparatory drawings here. Search for 'Sayer' in our stock to see more of these utterly charming illustrations - mostly of cats. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good. For biographical details and other works by the artist please click here. -
Adrian Heath Abstract Study III (1975)
Acrylic and pencil on paper 22 x 22cm Heath was born in Burma in 1920 and arrived in England aged five. In 1938 he studied art under Stanhope Forbes at Newlyn and later at the Slade School of Art. While serving in WWII, he was captured and placed in a prisoner-of-war camp in Bavaria. Heath attempted to escape from the camp but was recaptured and placed in solitary confinement; this isolation proved crucial to the development of his artistic style, as he spent much of his time there experimenting with abstract forms. When released from confinement, Heath befriended a fellow prisoner of war: Terry Frost. Together they explored the methods of painting which they had developed during their time in the camps, and following the war both became celebrated artists. We have several Terry Frost pieces available too. In 1949 and 1951, Heath returned to Cornwall. He spent time with artists like Ben Nicholson, Victor Pasmore, and Anthony Hill, and became the main link between the emerging St Ives School of artists and the British Constructivist movement back in London. He is further credited with promoting British abstract art through informal exhibitions in his studio on Fitzroy Street, as well as his manifesto-like text entitled 'Abstract Art: Its Origins and Meaning', which was published in 1953. Over time, Heath's paintings of abstract geometry and symmetry became increasingly dynamic and heavily textured, the result of layering paint on paint over the course of several days. This study features a muted colour palette and abstract asymmetric form. If you'd like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good. Signed lower right. -
Adrian Heath Abstract Study I (1970)
Gouache & ink 35x33cm Heath was born in Burma in 1920 and arrived in England aged five. In 1938 he studied art under Stanhope Forbes at Newlyn and later at the Slade School of Art. While serving in WWII, he was captured and placed in a prisoner-of-war camp in Bavaria. Heath attempted to escape from the camp but was recaptured and placed in solitary confinement; this isolation proved crucial to the development of his artistic style, as he spent much of his time there experimenting with abstract forms. When released from confinement, Heath befriended a fellow prisoner of war: Terry Frost. Together they explored the methods of painting which they had developed during their time in the camps, and following the war both became celebrated artists. We have several Terry Frost pieces available too. In 1949 and 1951, Heath returned to Cornwall. He spent time with artists like Ben Nicholson, Victor Pasmore, and Anthony Hill, and became the main link between the emerging St Ives School of artists and the British Constructivist movement back in London. He is further credited with promoting British abstract art through informal exhibitions in his studio on Fitzroy Street, as well as his manifesto-like text entitled 'Abstract Art: Its Origins and Meaning', which was published in 1953. Over time, Heath's paintings of abstract geometry and symmetry became increasingly dynamic and heavily textured, the result of layering paint on paint over the course of several days. Here, his colour palette surrenders to the compelling geometry of the painting's abstract forms. If you'd like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good.
