Collecting 101

Representation on the Market

It is a truth universally acknowledged that men largely outnumber women in fine art sales, and this holds true within the field of Modern British & Irish Art. We regularly see only a small handful of women artists in each sale, such as Dame Barbara Hepworth and Bridget Riley who are now household names.

However, shifts in market representation are taking place. In 2021, for instance, Bonhams held its first inaugural auction showcasing women British artists of the 20th century, titled Blazing a Trail: Modern British Women, with the fourth edition taking place on 18 September 2024. The auction saw exceptional demand, with 63% of sold works achieving a hammer price above the high estimate and auction records achieved for Anna Zinkeisen, Jessica Dismorr and Ithell Colquhoun.

Modern Women

Emily Young

Heralded as one of Britain’s greatest living stone sculptors, Emily Young practices 'free sculpture', where she approaches each block of stone without any pre-conceived ideas or preparatory drawings, but rather allows the material to speak for itself and guide the form that emerges. Using that most ancient of mediums, her unique vision is at once contemporary and antique.

Young’s sculpture is held in many public and private collections around the globe, and she has exhibited at prestigious institutions including The Getty, California, the Imperial War Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Young is one of several contemporary female names – along with Elizabeth Magill, Nicola Hicks and Sophie Ryder – who are becoming increasingly in demand at auction.

Anna Zinkeisen

Anna Zinkeisen was one of the most well-known and highly regarded names of the 1920s and 30s in Britain, both for her artwork and her presence as a London socialite. Following several successes at art school, Zinkeisen designed for Wedgwood ceramics, before beginning her artistic career in earnest. During the Second World War, Zinkeisen worked on the casualty ward at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, tending to her patients during the day, before using the empty operating theatre as a space to paint in the evenings. Much of her work carries the influence of war, and at times exhibits a starkly Surrealist tendency.

In our inaugural Blazing a Trail: Modern British Women auction in 2021, Bonhams achieved the auction record for a work by the artist, with the beautiful work Julia and Starkey, a portrait of Zinkeisen’s daughter, Julia Heseltine.

Dame Elisabeth Frink

Frink is largely known for her representations of the human form (predominantly men) and animals (particularly horses) in sculpture but she was also a distinguished printmaker and created beautiful works on paper which are appealing to entry level collectors. She was associated with the ‘Geometry of Fear’ group in the post-war period alongside important names such as Reg Butler, Bernard Meadows, Kenneth Armitage and Eduardo Paolozzi. In 1977 Frink was elected to the Royal Academy and even considered for the role of first female president of the institution, but she turned the post down. She enjoyed commercial as well as critical success during her lifetime and gained a huge following with major public commissions and retrospectives, and the demand for her work is as strong as ever.

Prunella Clough

Prunella Clough is widely considered to be one of the most significant British artists of the modern post-war period, though as is often the case, did not achieve the same level of recognition as many of her male peers at the time. Initially linked to artistic movements such as Neo-Romanticism, much of her work from the 1950s onwards took on an increasingly abstract approach, and drew inspiration from across London's industrial wastelands and bombsites, such as docks, power stations, factories, and scrapyards, to create evocative urban imagery.

Clough’s work is included in such esteemed museum and gallery collections as Tate, Pallant House Gallery and Hepworth, Wakefield, and reaches significant prices at auction.

Winifred Nicholson

Winifred Nicholson was married to Ben Nicholson, one of the most important names in Modern British Art, until they divorced in 1938 and he married Barbara Hepworth. As an artist she developed her own unique style, which is visibly influenced by the natural landscape and particularly the sea.

Along with Ben Nicholson she was associated with the St Ives school that included painters Christopher Wood and Alfred Wallis but she also spent time in Paris and, following the divorce, the remainder of her life in Cumbria. Her work is housed in such esteemed collections as that of Jim Ede at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge, Tate Britain and Tate St Ives and reaches significant prices at auction.

Vanessa Bell

Vanessa Bell was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group which was known for its free thinking attitudes, scandalous love triangles, and literary output as well as its art. She was the sister of Virginia Woolf and studied at the Royal Academy. Along with Duncan Grant, with whom she had a child (Angelica Garnett), she was the most distinguished artist among the group, as reflected in the prices and demand still seen at auction today. Following the outbreak of the First World War, she moved to Charleston House in East Sussex where she painted with Grant and worked on designs for the Omega Workshops (established by Roger Fry). She is perhaps best known for her portraits, still lifes and the interiors at Charleston, which are open to the public.

Sophie Ryder

Sophie Ryder is a contemporary sculptor whose work incorporates various materials. She is well known for her Lady Hare series which sees her combine the head of a hare with a female body, and other pseudo-mythical creatures. She is one of several contemporary female names – along with Elizabeth Magill, Nicola Hicks and Emily Young – who are becoming increasingly in demand at auction. In 2022 we set a world record at auction for her work with Lady-Hare with Dog sold for £94,800 inc. premium.

A Time for Change

There are many other women artists within this discipline who were associated with the major movements of the 20th century but who sadly live in the shadows of their male contemporaries. However, with signs of stronger prices and more exhibitions than ever before dedicated to women artists, there is change building and a correction in the startling disparity between the genders, at least on the art market, seems inevitable.

Further names to keep an eye out for at auction and exhibitions include Gwen John, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Mainie Jellet, Evie Hone and Norah McGuinness, Sandra Blow, Gillian Ayres, Mary Potter, Mary Newcomb, Sheila Fell, Marlow Moss, Mary Martin, Winifred Knights, Evelyn Dunbar, Margaret Mellis and Jessica Dismorr, among others.

Advice for Collectors

Our advice to collectors is to really get to know the subject first by reading around it and looking at as many exhibitions/works as possible. There is constantly new literature and appreciation emerging as momentum around the movement for more equal representation builds. Identify a school or artist that you are passionate about and then consult a specialist to buy the best example you can, whatever your budget. Always make sure you look into the work to evaluate its provenance, condition, exhibition history and where it sits in the artist’s career as these factors can impact the value of a work.

If in doubt, ask a specialist!

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