Hockney proves the cat’s whiskers

ONE does not usually associate ceramics with David Hockney, and his experiments with the medium in his late teenage years rarely appear at auction. But one, in the form of a startled-looking cat, popped up at Bonhams in London and went for an impressive £33,600 – five times more than expected.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th May 2011, 01:00 BST

A rare, signed proof copy of the mid-1980s’ lithograph, An Image of Celia, in the original frame, hand painted by the artist, sold for £66,000. The Picasso-like image is of Hockney’s close friend and muse, the textile designer Celia Birtwell.

Family likeness

I ADMIT to never having heard of Arthur E Grimshaw... but his surname and the moonlit docks scene attributed to him in a Sotheby’s catalogue provided sufficient clues. Sure enough, Arthur E was the little-known artist son of John Atkinson Grimshaw, one of whose paintings, Hull Docks at Night, is estimated at up to £300,000 in the same May 17 sale.

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Arthur painted in his father’s style but without his technical mastery or feeling and this is reflected in the pre-sale estimate for his 1911 canvas, Dock Scene, Glasgow: £10,000-£15,000. Not a bad price, all the same...

Arthur Grimshaw (1868-1913) is not believed to have exhibited in London but with the revival of interest in his father’s work, Arthur’s paintings now appear on the capital’s art market. I understand he was also a composer and organist at the Roman Catholic Church in Leeds.

Pointed reminder

THAT Civil War sword discarded by a Royalist soldier at Naseby, in 1645, and previewed here, was soon snapped up at the Harrogate Antique and Fine Art Fair. A Yorkshire collector, living within 20 miles of the venue, paid the full asking price of £10,500.

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