Unseen Works of Major Modern and Contemporary British Artists to be Sold to Raise Funds for an Edward Bawden Gallery

October 28, 2010

Unseen Works of  Major Modern and Contemporary British Artists to be Sold to Raise Funds for an Edward Bawden Gallery

During the last decade of his life, Edward Bawden CBE (1903-1989) gave an archive of approximately three thousand items to the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.   In Bedford’s planned rebuild of the museum complex, it will create an Edward Bawden Gallery, fitted with purpose-built secure drawers and cabinets giving the public access to this remarkable resource.

In order to raise funds for equipping the gallery, Bawden’s Executor Peyton Skipwith in conjunction with Bloomsbury Auctions, is holding a sale of drawings, watercolours, prints and illustrated books, including works donated by Bawden and his friends such as Eric Ravilious, Douglas Percy Bliss and Charles Mahoney – as well as many younger admirers including David Gentleman, Peter Blake, Bernard Dunstan and Michael Foreman. Most of the pieces offered are fresh to the market. The sale will be held at Bloomsbury Auctions in central London on Thursday 28^th October 2010.

The Cecil Higgins Gallery has a major archive of the work of Edward Bawden spanning all periods of his career from 1922 to his death in 1989; this was made possible by Bawden’s generous gift to the gallery of the contents of his studio. In a letter to the Gallery’s curator he wrote, “My own wish, would be for all the jigsaw pieces of my life’s work to be together, not scattered willy-nilly to any institution that happened to want this bit or that … I must say I would feel immensely happy if I could be allowed to leave my remains to Bedford.”

One of the highlights of the sale is undoubtedly Bunyan’s Dream/The Pilgrim’s Progress, a watercolour by Bawden of his famous tapestry design for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 commissioned by the Cecil Higgins Gallery in Bedford, John Bunyan’s birthplace. During the Second World War, Bawden served as an official war artist and the sale also offers evocative lithographs spanning the troops at Dunkirk to the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq.

Bawden, an award winning painter, printmaker, draughtsman and graphic designer was among Britain’s most original artists. His unique vision of the world spanned over 60 years, during which he produced some of the most influential designs of the 20th century, from advertising material for Shell to ceramics for the Orient Line. The Cecil Higgins Gallery will house a fascinating overview of his linocuts and lithographs, as well as material for the London Underground, Fortnum & Mason, Twinings and NatWest Bank to name but a few. In addition, the archive also embraces Bawden’s working drawings, lino blocks and unrealised project designs, thus offering a complete insight into the work of this leading 20th-century artist and designer.

The sale will be held at Bloomsbury Auctions on Thursday 28^th October at 24 Maddox Street, London W1S 1PP Tel: 020 7 495 9494.  Bloomsbury Auctions offers online bidding and the catalogue will also be available online.

For information please contact Richard Caton   Tel: 020 7495 9494 or email: caton@bloomsburyauctions.com