London, Tuesday 4 March: Roseberys’ Modern British & 20th Century Art sale is led by the discovery of two works by Isabel Rawsthorne. These important paintings were originally believed by the owner to be by Francis Bacon. The anonymous vendor inherited the works from their grandfather, a former friend of Bacon’s. Following new research by Roseberys, their true attribution has been confirmed. Although best known as Bacon’s collaborator and sitter, Rawsthorne played a central role in Post-War figurative painting, influencing and being depicted by artists such as Jacob Epstein, Alberto Giacometti, and André Derain. The newly attributed works, painted during her mature period, explore themes Isabel would return to throughout her career; animal and vegetal forms and the body in motion. They carry estimates of £8,000-£12,000.
Rawsthorne led an itinerant life, often abandoning her work due to moves or romantic separations. As a result, little of her art is seen on the open market, making new discoveries rare. Despite having few solo exhibitions in her lifetime, interest in her work has grown following a recent biography by Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art 1850-1915 at Tate Britain, and a major feature in the recent exhibition ‘Francis Bacon: Human Presence’ at the National Portrait Gallery.
Born in London’s East End and raised in Liverpool, Rawsthorne won a scholarship to the Royal Academy but left after six months due to financial constraints, becoming Jacob Epstein’s studio assistant. She later immersed herself in the avant-garde circles of Paris and London, forming relationships with Jean-Paul Sartre, Pablo Picasso and Alberto Giacometti. Her intimate relationship with Giacometti was rooted in a shared commitment to representational art, which she maintained throughout her career.
After the war, she settled in London and became friends with Francis Bacon. Bacon painted fourteen portraits of Isabel and they shared a close artistic and intellectual engagement throughout their lives. Bacon and Rawsthorne would go on to share an exhibition at the Hanover Gallery in 1949.
One of the auctioned works, Baboon, signed with a monogram, relates to Baboon and Child (c. 1964) in the Tate Collection. Rawsthorne, who sketched at London Zoo throughout her life, was elected a Zoological Society of London Fellow in 1947. Like Bacon, she saw the baboon as a reflection of man’s animalistic nature, and her dynamic brushwork evokes a tension between physicality and fragility.
The work entitled Stoat with Moon (with ‘Dancers’ on the reverse is from the artist’s ‘Migrations’ series, which reflect her experiences of the Essex countryside, where she lived after the war. Here the scale is simultaneously micro and macroscopic, with vegetal and animal forms floating in abstract shapes of colour that could be a view down a microscope or of a constellation. The form of the stoat floating in a blue sphere is depicted twice, one more detailed than the other, suggesting a developing organism within a cell.
Dancers, on the reverse, stems from her time designing sets and costumes for The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera (1951-1961), introduced to her through her second husband, composer Constant Lambert. Rawsthorne often sketched ballet dancers, capturing the ephemeral quality of movement. Related works, Svetlana Beriosova – Study of Ballet Dancer (1) and Study of a Ballet Dancer (2), are in the Fry Art Gallery collection.
“Isabel Rawsthorne was a painter of great vitality, capturing something essential and urgent in the natural world. Strikingly modern, she is too often overshadowed by the men she inspired. These works are central to her oeuvre, and we are delighted to bring them to auction,”
William Summerfield, Associate Director and Head of Modern British & 20th Century Art at Roseberys.
Other highlights of Roseberys’ Modern British & 20th Century Art sale include an important landscape by Keith Vaughan and Nigerian painter Uche Okeke’s Mural for the Children’s Library in Enugu, from the family of the artist. Following a successful sale in 2024, further works from the collection of Mary and Alan Hobart, founders of Pyms Gallery, will be auctioned, including paintings and sculpture by Mary Swanzy, Leonard Baskin and Sir William Orpen.
Running alongside the sale will be ‘French Naturalist Painters from a Private European Collection’. Previously exhibited with The Fleming Collection in 2012 and held in the same collection for many decades, the auction features works by painters including Willy Eisenschitz, Ginès Parra and Gaston Balande.
About Roseberys
Operating in London for more than 30 years, Roseberys Fine Art Auctioneers is a privately owned specialist fine art and antiques auction house and valuers, located in the heart of South London.
The team of world renowned experts and consultants offer both buyers and sellers a range of specialist art market services and a calendar of over 30 specialist auctions a year covering all areas of Asian Arts, Islamic & Indian Art, Jewellery & Watches, Old Master, 18th & 19th Century Art, Modern British & Contemporary British Art, Urban & Contemporary Prints & Multiples, 20th Century Art & Design, Impressionist, Modern, Post War & Contemporary Art and Decorative Arts, Fine & Decorative sales including Silver, Ceramics, Works of Art and Furniture.
In addition to hosting over 30 specialist auctions annually, Roseberys offers single-owner collection sales. Recent highlights include the Mary & Alan Hobart Collection (founders of Pyms Gallery), an Important Private Collection of Chinese Imperial Porcelain and The George Farrow Collection.
