More than 400 items drawn from the collection of the late artist Howard Hodgkin will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s London this autumn. Lots in the sale, scheduled for 24 October, include a painting by Patrick Caulfield (Sweet Bowl, 1966; est £300,000- £500,000); 18th-century Ottoman candlesticks (est £3,000-£4,000) and a bust of King George II by John Michael Rysbrack (1739; est £80,000-£120,000).
The diverse collection—encompassing Turkish, Indian and Islamic tiles, calligraphy, Mughal treasures, sandstone reliefs, Persian carpet fragments, and Renaissance pietra dura pieces—filled the Georgian house he shared with Antony Peattie, his partner of 33 years, near the British Museum. Numerous elephant prints and objects linked to the crime writer Agatha Christie will also be auctioned.
Peattie told the BBC: "[Hodgkin] collected in order to feed his soul, which meant he was then able to work. He called it grist to the mill.” He adds that proceeds from the sale will enable him to honour the artist who died in March, aged 84. “Howard left a letter of wishes in which he left a lot of money to a lot of people, which I can only fulfil once there’s a sale,” he says.
Sotheby’s
Works by the artists Robyn Denny, Peter Blake and Stephen Buckley, all friends of Hodgkin, will also go under the hammer. Two paintings by the Indian artist Bhupen Khakhar, who Hodgkin championed, have been consigned: De-Luxe Tailors (1972; est £250,000-£350,000) and an untitled watercolour (est £10,000-£15,000).
“He did so much for Bhupen. It makes sense that De-Luxe Tailors, one of his early masterpieces, should be in Hodgkin’s collection,” says Frances Christie, Sotheby’s head of Modern and post-war British art.
Sotheby’s
“This is an artist’s collection; there were so many dialogues between objects and therefore across geographies and across art histories,” she adds. “It will hopefully be a revelation to many people. This personal collection that he chose to live with really gives an insight into the thoughts, interests and passions that fuelled [his] pictures.”
Two early works by Hodgkin are included in the Sotheby’s sale: Travelling (1961; est £150,000-£250,000) and Bedroom (1960-1; £250,000-£350,000). The exhibition Howard Hodgkin: Painting India runs at the Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire until 8 October.
