The rise of the regions

Gorringe’s in Lewes continue to carve out an exciting niche in Modern & Contemporary Art. Their December sale includes a particularly intriguing work by Duncan Grant. When Grant was commissioned to paint the murals at Berwick Church in 1941, he threw himself into the project, preparing plans and sketches even before the commission was formally approved.

Occasionally these preparatory works surface at auction, and one such example is now coming under the hammer: Study for Head of Christ in the wall-painting in the Church at Berwick, near Firle, Sussex, 1941. This was a study for Grant’s Christ in Glory, completed in 1942 and installed above the chancel arch the following year. According to Peter Blee, rector of Berwick Church and author of a 2019 book on the murals, the figure combined elements of self-portraiture with Byzantine iconography. The naval uniform makes the image all the more intriguing.

The same sale includes several exquisite Whitefriars glass pieces: four examples of Geoffrey Baxter’s celebrated ‘banjo vase,’ a mid-century design classic. Baxter’s bold, textured forms, influenced by Scandinavian glass but given a jazzy British twist, became best-sellers in the 1960s and 70s. The standout here is an uncatalogued yellow example, thought to be a one-off, perhaps made from stained-glass stock and originally belonging to a Whitefriars employee.

The executive director of Gorringe’s, Oliver Searle, is excited by the long-running auction house’s entry into the market. “Our inaugural Art & Design Post 1880 sale in September demonstrated the growing strength of the Modern British and contemporary art market beyond London,” he told ROSA, “with excellent prices achieved for works by artists including Maggi Hambling, Duncan Grant, Myles Murphy, Eric Slater, and William Gear. The sale attracted a notable rise in new client registrations and saleroom visits, underlining the increasing appetite for high-quality modern and contemporary works among regional collectors”.

Tony Cumbo, auctioneer and expert at Bellmans, agrees. London’s headline-grabbing evening sales may dominate attention, he notes, but they represent only a fraction of the wider picture. Increasingly, collectors and new buyers are recognising the accessibility, expertise, and value offered by regional houses. Recent results underline this confidence. At Bellmans’ Modern & Contemporary Art sale, a Modernist cityscape by Czech artist Vlastimil Beneš, Žižkov (1969), smashed its £8,000 estimate to realise £33,540. It was a striking example of how quality works can command serious attention well beyond the capital. It will be interesting to see how much Grant’s study achieves at Gorringe’s winter sale. Watch this space! JW