The Grosvenor School’s best modernist printmakers continue to produce extraordinary saleroom prices at Bonham’s’ London sale on 16 April. Spurred on by the breakthrough sale last year of Gust of Wind for £114,050 ($168,986), all including buyer’s premium), Spowers’ The Giant Stride, a linocut from an edition of 50, sold for £85,250 ($126,330).
Ethel Spowers, 'The Giant Stride', sold for a swinging £85,250 ($126,330) at Bonham’s London on 16 April.
Ethel wasn’t the only artist to achieve such success. Cyril Power’s Whence and Whither? of an underground escalator surged to £97,250 ($144,094) Fellow Brit Claude Flight’s Street Singers sold for £79,250 ($117,424), matching Sybil Andrews’ Speedway, which sold for the same price.
Cyril Power also achieved a great result with another London Underground Scene, Tube Station, from c.1932, sold for £61,250 ($90,762).
Deutscher + Hackett’s Melbourne sale on 24 April features a superb example of this same print now looking very conservatively estimated at $35,000 to $50,000.
Ethel Spowers’ star has risen considerably suggesting it might be timely to give this artist some more attention from the academic world given the standing she is now achieving on the international stage. Australians are perhaps oblivious to the obvious demand for her work some 66 years after her death.
Other linocut successes in the sale for Spowers were The Rain Cloud, 1931, selling for £49,250 ($72,985), The Island of the Dead, 1927, selling for a very lively £31,250 ($46,311), and Wet Afternoon, 1929, for £34,850 ($51,646).
That makes a handsome total of £200,600 ($297,270) in sales of works by Ethel Spowers in one day. We can’t help but take notice of this stunning result for an Australian female artist internationally.
About The Author
Brigitte Banziger and David Hulme are the principals of Banziger Hulme Fine Art Consultants, established since 2003. With their combined experience of over 40 years, they provide private collectors as well as companies and public institutions with independent expert art valuations.
In addition to their appraisals for insurance, family law, deceased estates and market values, they assist clients with transparent advice when buying or selling an individual artwork or an entire collection, for some of Australia’s most significant private collectors.
David Hulme is an approved valuer for the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, and both Brigitte and David are members of the Art Consulting Association of Australia, where David served as President from 2015 to 2019.
David Hulme is a regular art market critic and commentator on the Australian art market and has been interviewed by numerous media, including the 'Australian Financial Review', 'The Australian' and 'The Sydney Morning Herald'. He has also been interviewed on Network 10’s 'The Project', on the ABC’s Radio National Breakfast show with Hamish MacDonald, the ABC’s 'The Business' program amongst many others.
