Volume2, Number 1 March 2011 Home Departments UK Art Scene Sketches Contours Detours About AFAS Printed Back Issues 16th Amelia Show St John's Concours Maher Profile Hale Revisit UK Art Scene Select Issue Auctions were the highest profile part of the motoring art scene in 2010. The only collective art show I know about was held by The Guild of Motoring Artists with assistance from Ford. Sheridon Davies keeps me informed of the Guild's news and Sheridon has recently produced a series of paintings celebrating the great British summer. I particularly liked this one of ladies looking at flicker photo machines with an Austin Seven chummy car in the foreground. (a) Otherwise it has been left to individual artists to take stand space at automobile events where in general they are mixed in with automobilia and general vendors, not a very satisfactory state of affairs. To my knowledge the only motoring artists to have a 'one man' show during the year were the father and son team of Michael and Graham Turner. Of the current UK based AFAS artists Barry Rowe, Peter Hearsay, Craig Warwick and Gary Whinn, we have seen only a few original paintings coming through auction. Art by Craig Warwick being the most prolific mainly through the disposal of the collection of Neil Eason-Gibson who was the chief Executive of the RAC Motorsport Association. Neil had a collection of motoring art which included several of Craig's driver's portraits with cars in the background, most of which were completed some time ago. This collection was sold by Bonhams at Brooklands in December Probably the most interesting accumulation was the series of paintings by a very talented amateur artist Margery Balfour-Browne depicting events at the Brooklands track prior to 1910. The highest realisation of around $12000 was the view of the cars in the paddock, initialled and dated 1908. (b) The collection of watercolours had been on display at the Brooklands Museum in 2006 as part of an exhibi tion of the artist's work. Of the artists we traditionally associate with Brooklands – Gordon Crosby, de Grineau and Nockolds we have seen relatively little major work. The best Crosby was a sketch of a veteran Renault ascending the Shelsley Walsh speed hill climb completed in 1939 which sold for $1500 (c). In Bonhams December sale there was a very nice de Grineau composite picture entitled 'Scenes Impressions of The Trial' showing sketches of cars in various situations during a trial circa 1912. This was signed John Bryan as the artist styled himself prior to the First War. The realisation of $1400 must have been disappointing for the vendor. (d) The best Nockolds paintings appeared in a provincial saleroom, Lawrences of Crewkerne, and these were from the estate of Bil l Craig a Bugatti racer. There were two paintings of the driver at Brooklands one racing and one record breaking. The racing painting has subsequently reappeared in Bonhams auctions. Another painting to do the auction round was by another Brooklands era artist – H J Moser. This painting dated 1934 initially appeared in H & H Auctions where it was described as a 'Grand Prix Bugatti at the Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb' and fetched $2500. It later appeared in Bonhams described as 'Bugatti T51 – Donnington Grand Prix 1934', in this instance at a higher estimate it did not sell. This was potentially a lot higher value picture, but the colours were very soft and not the bright colours typical of Moser and the proportions of the gate to the right of the painting were disturbing. (e) This was a relatively early painting for Moser before he became associated with Speed magazine, which commenced in mid 1935, producing many striking front cover designs. Dion Pears (died 1985) was a very prol ific artist and we continue a good supply of his art on both sides of the Atlantic. Much of the work is of poor quality but we occasionally see better pieces such as this Ferrari and 'D' Type Jaguar at Le Mans painting, which appeared in H&H auctions selling for $1300. (f) Terrence Cuneo is another deceased artist principally known for his art of state occasions and railway paintings. In the 2004 issue of AFAS Bulletin I wrote an article about his motoring art. Bonhams had two of these pictures commissioned by Ford dating from the early 1950's in their December sale. One showed an overhead view of the Dagenham factory, the other was a painting of the end of the production line with cars, vans and trucks being produced alongside. The overhead factory view sold for nearly $30000 and the production scene $18000 (g) Dexter Brown's work is always very popular in auction both in his own loose style and that of his 'alter ego' of de Bryune. The best Dexter Brown price for his picture of a 'D' Type Jaguar was $5000, (h) ...whereas a de Bruyne of a bathing party with a Renault car in the background fetched over $7000. (i) The Dion Pears - Ferrari image was supplied by H & H auctions, all the other images are courtesy of Bonhams auctions.   Both of these were relatively small paintings and not the large canvases that he often paints. Of interest in one of the car auctions was Dexter Brown's Jaguar XK120 racing special that he raced as a youth, and he was timed at 153 mph at the 1970 Ghent Speed Trials in Belgium. We now know where he gets his impressions of speed! We rarely see original art in auction from two other wel l known motoring artists, Alan Fearnley and Nicolas Watts. However we do see quite a few of their prints. An Alan Fearnley oil painting of a couple walking to thei r Bugatti car titled 'Theatreland' realised nearly $5000 (j) An acrylic study of Fangio driving a Maserati by Nicolas Watts was also bid to a similar figure. (k) In most major auctions there continues to be a painting from Michael Wright, possibly the most eye catching was his art of the works Aston Martin DB2 on the 1952 Alpine Trial which sold for over $3000. (l) We have seen very little of American artists in the 2010 UK auction results. The only original Peter Helck item seen was a poor preliminary pencil sketch on tracing paper of two Pope Toledos. Overall 2010 has been a very interesting year with quite a good diversity of motoring art coming through to auctions albeit with few major pieces. This is slightly surprising as the better material has continued to sell well at the expense of the lower end of the market. For more information on UK artists take a look at my website www.motoringart.info.   16TH AFAS AMELIA EXHIBITION Visit with AFAS artists that showed their new work at the 16th Annual AFAS Amelia Island Concours Art Show. ST. JOHN'S... A NEW BEGINNING Continuing the Meadow Brook Concours legacy in an outstanding new location in southern Michigan. CHARLES MAHER PROFILE Elected to membership in 2009, we feature the work of the Society's newest member Britain's Gary Whinn. TOM HALE REVISIT It has been twenty years since our last feature of painter Tom Hale's work... here's a fresh look. UK ART SCENE Noted automotive art commentator and expert Tony Clark returns to offer his views on the continental art scene.                           Sketches    Detours    Contours    About AFAS    Journal Back Issues    CONTRIBUTORS FOR THIS EDITION: Tony Clark Jack Juratovic Tom Hale Dennis Hoyt Charles Maher Jim McCarter Kevin Wilson and AFAS members Advertise with us  Contact Us  Privacy Policy  Terms of Use  Disclaimer  afasJournal.com Copyright 2010-2011 Knightbridge Publishing Inc, All Rights Reserved General Manager: Lindsay Evans Creative Head: Michael Koka Publisher: Jay Koka Knightbridge Publishing Incorporated PO Box 395, Waterloo, ON, N2J 4A9 Canada Site design, management and hosting by WEBVUES   The AFAS logo is the property of the Automotive Fine Arts Society LLC. Used with permission. The images presented throughout this publication are protected by copyright, the property of the various artists and are used with permission. 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