Fine Art

This late untitled drawing by Arshile Gorky (1904-48) in pencil and crayon on paper was the highlight of a sale of Modern and Contemporary paintings held by Digard (25/20/14% buyer’s premium) on March 28 at Drouot in Paris.

Popular since they were first bought by Grand Tourists visiting Italy, this early 19th century micromosaic panel was a particularly fine example.

One of the top-priced lots in a recent sale held by CRN Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 23 was this work on paper by Alexander Calder (1898-1976).

A classic pale pastel toned still-life by Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) is one of the headline lots in a two-day sale of Modern and Contemporary Art at Farsettiarte in Prato in Italy on May 26-27.

It is a rare event when a painting by Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017) turns up at a German auction, but on June 5, Van Ham can offer his 1996 painting Miami in its Modern and Contemporary sale.

The composition and use of colour make 'Monica nude with Lichtenstein', which is being sold by Ketterer Kunst in Munich on June 9, instantly recognisable as a work by American pop-artist Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004).

This Normandy beach scene by Kees Van Dongen (1877-1968) from c.1948-49 will be offered for sale by Gros & Delettrez at Drouot in Paris on June 20.

High-value Post-war and Contemporary art is increasingly on offer beyond Mayfair and the centre of the capital

French artist Nancy Delouis (b.1941) was born into an artistic family.

Painted just after the Second World War, this Surrealist landscape by John Tunnard (1900-71) depicts a series of futuristic antennae, ancient megaliths and henges – plus the ‘dry tree’ motif the artist used as a symbol of destruction and death.

Art from the collection of Christine Poirot-Delpech was the object of a sell-out single-owner sale at Art Valorem (28.8% buyer’s premium inc tax) at Drouot on April 6.

With the museum dedicated to the French artist Maurice Estève closed for renovation, a St James’s gallery is displaying watercolours this summer.

Two separately consigned Modern Indian paintings were among the notable performers at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in the early spring, one fetching an expected price but the other making a sum that was more of a surprise.

This untitled work from c.1945 by Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) comprises a mahogany relief applied with oil paint. It was offered at Mallams (25% buyer’s premium) of Oxford on May 17-18 as part of its Modern Art & Design sale.

Flying over a £200-300 estimate at a recent sale at Dawsons (25% buyer’s premium) in Maidenhead were two small mixed-media works by Maliheh Afnan (1935-2016).

The American artist Alex Katz (b.1927) is known for his large, brightly coloured and boldly delineated works.

Artcurial has two days of sales devoted to Impressionist and Modern and Postwar and Contemporary art in Paris on June 7-8.

The artist couple Christo (1935-2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009) were obviously in equal measure creative, determined and patient.

The artist Júlio Pomar (1926- 2018) is considered one of the most important modern Portuguese painters.