City pictures by British artists Richard Nevinson steal the show at Stansted auction

Three etchings by Christopher R W Nevinson unexpectedly sold for more than £19,000 at a sale this week held by Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers.

The artwork, featuring scenes of Paris and New York, is from the 1920s and by the British artist. Best known as Richard Nevinson, he was a famous First World War artist and many of his works are featured in the Imperial War Museum.

After the war, he travelled to the United States creating art that captured his fascination with the architecture of New York. He is also credited with hosting the first ever cocktail party in London in 1924.

At the auction at Sworders’ Stansted Mountfitchet saleroom, an etching of Paris sold for £2,500, four times the starting guide price of £600. A second image of Paris, which had a starting guide price of £1,000, sold for £4,000, and a drypoint picture of New York made £12,600, more than six times its guide price of £2,000.

Auctioneer John Black said: “It’s great to see work like this reach recognition and become popular among buyers.

“There’s been quite a sudden increase in interest in Nevinson’s work and particularly his New York pictures.

“ They were commissioned by Frederick Keppel, the American print dealer and publisher, who gave Nevinson his first exhibition in 1919.”

The Decorative Art and Design Sale also featured a selection of artwork by local artist, Edward Bawden. His watercolours of local scenes including Audley End were particularly popular among local buyers, but some pieces also sold to London galleries. The Edward Bawden collection sold for a total of £28,000.

An unusual Arts & Crafts style piano, designed by Charles Robert Ashbee and thought to be the last of just five pianos of its type, sold for £10,600.

Sworders’ next specialist auction is the Spring Country House Sale on Tuesday, March 4.