The next Live Auction at Summers Place is on Tuesday October 23rd, with a Sealed bids Auction closing at 5pm Wednesday October 24th
All items will be on view from Friday 19th until the day of sale, from 10am-4pm
The October sale at Summers Place Auctions in association with Sotheby’s includes an iconic bronze head by Dame Elisabeth Frink. It is the artist’s copy of one of four giant male heads each 4ft high originally commissioned in 1986 for the Montague Centre in Worthing, West Sussex .
Gifted to the architect of the Montague Centre and it was originally patinated a white colour by Frink herself in 1991 to match the rolling chalk downs near the architect’s house in Wiltshire.
Dame Elisabeth Frink, DBE, CH, RA, is, together with Dame Barbara Hepworth , Britain’s most celebrated woman sculptor of the 20th Century. The male form and in particular the male head formed a major part of her oeuvre.
She is also best known for her bronze outdoor sculpture which has a distinctive cut and worked surface, which was created by her adding plaster to an armature which she then worked back into with a chisel and surform. The original white patina unusually applied by the sculptor herself has now mellowed into a glorious variegated whitish green colour. It carries an estimate of £150,000-250,000.
Also included are nine outdoor sculptures consigned from Monza, Italy. They were collected in the 1960’s-1980’s by Walter Fontana who was President of The Brera Fine Arts Academy and a Senator of the Italian Republic .
Many of the pieces were acquired directly from the sculptors and include a monumental bronze standing 28 feet tall entitled Grand Tensione Verticale (High voltage tension) by the Italian sculptor Toni Fabris and dated 1960, which carries an estimate of £20,000-40,000, as well as a 15 foot high bronze of the fall of Icarus, (Estimate £60,000-100,000,) by the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj, who created the new bronze doors and a statue of John the Baptise for the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome in 2006.
Capitalising on Olympic fever, the sale also features eight contemporary sculptures which were until recently displayed in the athletes village of London’s Olympic Park, of which the most striking is Wilfred Pritchard’s bronze of a skeleton on a gymnast’s horse entitled “Backflip” and estimated at £15,000-25,000.
Continuing the Olympian theme and for the collector of antique sculpture is an over life size carved white marble figure of Prometheus bearing a torch of fire by the celebrated Victorian sculptor William Theed which was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, estimated at £20,000-30,000. As always, however, the sale also includes pieces for every budget including sets of staddle stones at a few hundred pounds as well as plenty of the much loved cast iron benches from the Coalbrookdale foundry priced from £1000 upwards.
Summers Place Auctions will also be holding the auction in their innovative new gallery which has already been nominated for a number of architectural awards.
James Rylands, one of the Directors commented,“ We are now able to display additional indoor sculpture and material in our new purpose built 5000 sq ft gallery, which perfectly complements the 6 acres of landscaped grounds, including our retail garden, making us the premier global location for these long established auctions”.
Summers Place Auctions in association with Sotheby’s
The Walled Garden
Stane Street
Billingshurst
West Sussex RH 14 9AB
Tel 01403331333
Email info@summersplaceauctions.com
Catalogues available by post; £20
Or view online at www.summersplaceauctions.com
Sale enquirie – James Rylands 01403331334 / Rupert van der Werff 01403331333
