Market News: Rule Britannia

By Colin Gleadell, The Daily Telegraph, November 11th 2014

British artists prosper at the New York sales

There were strong results for 20th-century British artists at the New York sales last week, which augurs well for London’s Modern British art sales later this month. At Sotheby’s evening sale, the first lot was a 30-inch bronze by Barbara Hepworth that had cost the seller $638,000 (£402,000) at auction five years ago. Last week it sold for a double-estimate $1.6 million to Hugo Nathan, a partner in the recently-established Beaumont Nathan art consultancy. A few lots further on, another 30-inch Hepworth sculpture, this time carved in marble, doubled estimates to sell to London dealer Jonathan Green for $2.2 million. Green also had to pay a double-estimate $389,000 for a small geometrical abstract painting by Ben Nicholson. This will fit nicely into the Richard Green gallery’s current exhibition of Ben Nicholson paintings in London. Equally impressive were the results for seven small Henry Moore bronzes last week, all of which sold, some to Green, for double-estimate prices.

Original Article: The Daily Telegraph