RARE AND EXCITING PICTURE OF A FRANK AUERBACH MUSE TO SELL FOR £100,000 to £150,000 AT BONHAMS

‘Portrait of J.Y.M. Seated, 1976’

Bonhams 20th Century British Art department in London is delighted to announce that as a highlight of the 18th November auction they will be offering for sale an important Frank Auerbach oil painting, dating to 1976. 

Two years following execution, this work was included in the first major retrospective on the artist in 1978 by the Arts Council of Great Britain.  Just two oils of this date by Auerbach have ever appeared at auction making the present work a rare and exciting picture.  Enticingly estimated at £100,000-150,000 and accompanied by enviable provenance, ‘J.Y.M’ marks a unique opportunity to acquire a tour de force by one of Britain’s finest.

Born in Berlin in 1931, Auerbach’s parents sent him to England in 1939 to escape the Nazis.  He took British nationality in 1947 and went on to distinguish himself at St Martins School of Art and later the Royal College of Art. 

David Bomberg and Leon Kossof became early influences and this expressionist leaning is evident in ‘J.Y.M.’.  Juliet Yardley Mills was a professional model and one of three women that the artist painted throughout his career, the other two being his wife Julia and lover Stella.  A figurative painter, he usually took personal friends as his subject although local London environs also held interest for the artist.