Ottocento Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Adrian Heath (British, 1920 – 1992) Squared abstract Pencil, pastel, gouache and watercolour Signed with Initials and dated `AH 78` (lower right) 8.3/4 x 7.3/4 in. (22 x 19.5 cm) Ad...

Graham Vivian Sutherland (British, 1903 – 1980) ‘Thorn cross’ Pencil on paper 6.1/2 x 5.1/2 in. (16.5 x 14 cm)

Henry Moore O.M., C.H. (British, 1898-1986) Four Ideas for Sculpture Signed and dated ‘Moore/81’ (lower right) Pencil, watercolour, crayon, charcoal and ball point pen on paper 24.5 ...

William Scott (British, 1930 – 1989) Lyrical Pencil on paper Signed ‘W Scott’ (lower right), further inscribed and dated ‘October 23 1988 / Lyrical… by William Scott’ (on the reverse...

Arthur Berridge (British, 1902-1957) Abstracted figures #1 1950 Charcoal 14.1/2 x 21.1/2 in. (36.8 x 54.7 cm.) Provenance: David Lay, Penzance Born in Leicester in 1902, Berrid...

Arthur Berridge (British, 1902-1957) Abstracted figures #2 1950 Blue crayon 14.1/2 x 21.1/2 in. (36.8 x 54.7 cm.) Provenance: David Lay, Penzance Born in Leicester in 1902, Ber...

Edmond Xavier Kapp (British, 1890 – 1978) Toccata 23 Ink on paper Signed and dated ‘Kapp 76’ (lower right) 9.1/2 x 14 in. (24.3 x 35.5 cm.) Edmond Kapp was born in Islington, London, on 5 November 1890, of American and German Jewish parentage. He gave himself the middle initial ‘X’ – sometimes said to stand for Xavier – to distinguish himself from his father Emil Kapp, who was a wine merchant. However, his parents called him ‘Eddie’ while his wife and friends knew him as ‘Peter’. During his early years, Kapp was continually ill and, while convalescing, entertained himself by drawing at home. As his health improved, he attended Dame Alice Owen’s School, Islington (1903-10), with periods at Berlin University (1909) and L’Institut Français pour les Etrangers, Paris (1909). He then read Languages at Christ’s College, Cambridge (1910-13), though spent most of his time writing and drawing. Kapp took a studio in London, and worked intensively until the outbreak of the First World War, contributing to the Daily News, the Onlooker and other periodicals. During the war, he served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment on the Western Front, and then in Intelligence, rising to the position of Staff Captain on Haig’s Staff. Finally, he founded and directed the Neutral Press Counter-propaganda Section. In 1919, Kapp returned to London and, after abortive periods at three art schools, worked alone. In that year, he made his name with an exhibition of caricatures, held at Furst’s Gallery, London, and accompanied by a catalogue introduced by Max Beerbohm. This soon led to contracts with three London periodicals and a book of caricatures, Personalities, published by Martin Secker. Through the 1920s and 30s, his drawings of musicians and other personalities appeared in a wide variety of periodicals, most notably Time & Tide; were collected in further volumes; and were exhibited at the Leicester Galleries. He considered himself to be a ‘character-portraitist’, producing images of psychological not satirical power, and disliking the term ‘caricature’. Between the wars, Kapp developed other aspects of his artistic talents, the desire to study and the search for subject matter often taking him abroad. For instance, work at the British Academy, Rome, under Antonio Sciortino...

Edmond Xavier Kapp (British, 1890 – 1978) No Question! Ink on paper Signed and dated ‘Kapp ‘71’ (lower left), titled on the reverse 14.3/4 x 11.7/8 in. (37.5 x 30.3 cm.) Edmond Kapp was born in Islington, London, on 5 November 1890, of American and German Jewish parentage. He gave himself the middle initial ‘X’ – sometimes said to stand for Xavier – to distinguish himself from his father Emil Kapp, who was a wine merchant. However, his parents called him ‘Eddie’ while his wife and friends knew him as ‘Peter’. During his early years, Kapp was continually ill and, while convalescing, entertained himself by drawing at home. As his health improved, he attended Dame Alice Owen’s School, Islington (1903-10), with periods at Berlin University (1909) and L’Institut Français pour les Etrangers, Paris (1909). He then read Languages at Christ’s College, Cambridge (1910-13), though spent most of his time writing and drawing. Kapp took a studio in London, and worked intensively until the outbreak of the First World War, contributing to the Daily News, the Onlooker and other periodicals. During the war, he served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment on the Western Front, and then in Intelligence, rising to the position of Staff Captain on Haig’s Staff. Finally, he founded and directed the Neutral Press Counter-propaganda Section. In 1919, Kapp returned to London and, after abortive periods at three art schools, worked alone. In that year, he made his name with an exhibition of caricatures, held at Furst’s Gallery, London, and accompanied by a catalogue introduced by Max Beerbohm. This soon led to contracts with three London periodicals and a book of caricatures, Personalities, published by Martin Secker. Through the 1920s and 30s, his drawings of musicians...

A really eye-catching black and white figurative work by Modern British artist Ewart Johns (1923 - 2013) Ewart Johns (British, 1923 – 2013) Sketch for two women sitting Felt tip on...

A really eye-catching black and white figurative work by Modern British artist Ewart Johns (1923 - 2013) 'A Homage to Picasso' Ewart Johns (British, 1923 – 2013) Homage to Picasso P...

A brightly coloured and joyful abstract pastel work by Modern British artist Ewart Johns. Ewart Johns (British, 1923 – 2013) Red Garden Pastel Signed with initials and dated ‘EJ 87’...

A really striking and original work by mid century Modern British artist, Ewart Johns (1923 - 2013). This eye-catching piece depicted in contrasting yellows and blues was executed i...

This is a beautiful and fine avant-garde finished drawing of abstract forms by the French female artist, Dora Maar. Dora Maar was a distinctive artist in her own right marked by str...

A beautiful and peaceful abstract still life painting done in pastel. Vibrant colours such as red, yellow, blue and green burst through the picture to create a living and loving peac...

Adrian Heath (British, 1920-1992) Squared foliage Gouache on paper Signed and dated `Heath 64’ (lower right) 29.1/2 x 21.3/4 in. (75 x 55.3 cm.) Born in Burma, Adrian Heath moved to...

Lynn Russell Chadwick, CBE RA (British, 1914-2003) Abstracted figure Ink pen and wash Signed and dated `Chadwick 66’ (lower right) 24 x 18.1/4 in. (61 x 46.3 cm.) Lynn Chadwick was ...

William Black (British, Fl. 1963 – 69) Landscape abstraction Watercolour and ink on paper Signed, inscribed and dated ‘Landscape abstraction William Black 63’ (lower edge) 8 x 11.1/4 in. (20.3 x 28.3 cm.) William Black is a little known and underrated member of the St Ives artist group who, having worked as an architect after the Second World War, went on to work as an artist following the inheritance of money in the early 1950s. He was a self taught artist, producing numerous deconstructivist sculptures in the 1960s. He moved to St Ives in Cornwall where he knew artists such as Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo. There is a clear architectural element to the sculptures that he made . They illustrate an assemblage of fragmented shapes and forms of a deconstructivist nature. William Black’s artwork is very much rooted in the time and Cornish School so one can see elements from those such as Wilhelmina Barns Graham...

William Black (British, Fl. 1963 – 69) Doorway Ink and watercolour on paper Signed, inscribed and dated ‘Doorway William Black 64’ (lower edge) 7.1/2 x 4.7/8 in. (19.2 x 12.4 cm.) (to site edge) William Black is a little known and underrated member of the St Ives artist group who, having worked as an architect after the Second World War, went on to work as an artist following the inheritance of money in the early 1950s. He was a self taught artist, producing numerous deconstructivist sculptures in the 1960s. He moved to St Ives in Cornwall where he knew artists such as Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo. There is a clear architectural element to the sculptures that he made . They illustrate an assemblage of fragmented shapes and forms of a deconstructivist nature. William Black’s artwork is very much rooted in the time and Cornish School so one can see elements from those such as Wilhelmina Barns Graham...

Sandra Blow (British, 1925-2006) Abstract, 1970 Watercolour Signed with estate stamp (lower left) 11 x 7 in. (28 x 18 cm.) The late British artist Sandra Betty Blow (1925-2006) came...

Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi CBE RA (Scottish, 1924 – 2005) Industrial abstract; and another similar Pencil, crayon and ink on paper 8 x 11.1/2 in. (20.3 x 29 cm.) (both)

Norman Edgar Hubert (British, 1906 – 1985) Geometric abstract in black and white Signed and dated ‘E Hubert 55’ (on the reverse) Gouache on black paper 25.3/8 x 20.3/4 in. (64.3 x 53 cm.) Abstract painter, born Norman Edgar Hubert in Billingshurst, Sussex, and one of the mysterious curiosities of modern British painting. He was at school at Sherborne, and after studying art at University of Reading, 1924–6, was at the Slade School of Fine Art, 1926–9 (gaining a certificate for drawing, 1926–7). Henry Tonks was among his teachers and he shared rooms with William Townsend, in whose journals he appears. Although he socialized with such painters as Geoffrey Tibble, William Coldstream and Rodrigo Moynihan...

Scottie Wilson (Scottish, 1888 – 1972, born Louis Freeman) Ducks paradise Signed ‘Scottie’ (lower right), further signed and inscribed with title on th...

Carl Hofer (German, 1875 – 1955) Abstract figures Pencil on paper 8.1/4 x 9 in. (21 x 23 cm.) With studio stamp (on the reverse) and signature of the artist’s wife Elizabeth Hofer Provenance: These works come from the artist’s second wife Elizabeth and from then by descent. Carl Hofer was a German expressionist painter and the director of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. One of the most important painters of the Expressionist movement, his work was among those that was considered degenerate art by the Nazis. He studied in Karlsruhe under Hans Thoma. He first visited Paris in 1899 making acquaintance with Julius Meier-Graefe. In 1902 he studied in Stuttgardt and became friends with the sculptor Hermann Haller...

Carl Hofer (German, 1875 – 1955) Einflusterung (Whispering) Charcoal and pencil on paper Signed and inscribed ‘Einflusterung’ (lower middle) 17.1/4 x 13.3/8 in. (43.8 x 34 cm.) Provenance: These works come from the artist’s second wife Elizabeth and from then by descent. Carl Hofer was a German expressionist painter and the director of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. One of the most important painters of the Expressionist movement, his work was among those that was considered degenerate art by the Nazis. He studied in Karlsruhe under Hans Thoma. He first visited Paris in 1899 making acquaintance with Julius Meier-Graefe. In 1902 he studied in Stuttgardt and became friends with the sculptor Hermann Haller...

Carl Hofer (German, 1875 – 1955) Abstracted form Pencil and pen and ink on paper Signed with monogram ‘CH’ (lower right) 11.3/8 x 7.1/2 in. (28.8 x 19 cm.) Provenance: These works c...

William Heath Robinson (British, 1872-1944) 'The Friendly Dog' Signed 'W. Heath Robinson.' (lower right) Pen and ink on paper 11 X 8.1/2in. (28 X 21.7cm.) (excluding frame) 46 x 38cm. (18.1/4 x 15in. (including frame) Literature: 'Old Time Stories', Constable and Co. 1921, P. 143 William Heath Robinson was an artist and illustrator mainly associated with his gloriously complicated inventions for simple objectives. The name Heath Robinson has become commonplace in the English language as a result to describe anything mechanical that is eccentric, ridiculously complex and ingenious at the same time . Interestingly one of the automatic analysis machines built for Bletchley Park...