What's Terry's painting worth?

Sotheby's Feb 2005 Terry Frost (1915-2003) is another artist whose work provokes ever-increasing competition. In November last year, Yellow Quay (Sotheby's, lot 93) established a new auction record for the artist, selling for £45,600. Its success has attracted the consignment of a work of similar importance dating from the same year (1952), when Frost was working in St. Ives. Estimated at £30,000-£40,000, Night Harbour shows Frost seeking to express the sense of place and movement found in the harbour of St. Ives in an abstract idiom.

Tate St Ives 10th Anniversary - Art Times Sept 2003 by Irma Cole Creating a balance between the historical and the contemporary is important if the gallery is to continue to sustain critical acclaim and high visitor numbers. However, it is equally important to remember that without a particular group of artists responsible for the town’s unique heritage, Tate St Ives would not exist. With this in mind the Terry Frost show is followed by a Barbara Hepworth exhibition this summer, triggered by the centenary of this great sculptor’s birth.

During the last decade popularity of these St Ives artists has soared. Terry Frost was awarded a Knighthood in 1998 and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham a CBE in 2001. Tate St Ives, like any other powerhouse of culture, is not only capable of regenerating an area, but also has the prestige to raise the market value of the artists it celebrates. Prices for St Ives works continue to increase; a Patrick Heron sold for £289,500 at auction in 2001, a new record for the artist, and following close on its heels was a Peter Lanyon for £212,500. A seminal work by Ben Nicholson from the 1930s-40s would now fetch up to £800,000.

There have been many memorable events during my time at Tate St Ives, but having the privilege of knowing the last remaining pioneers of the 1950s was one of the highlights of my time here. Patrick Heron, Terry Frost, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and John Wells were and still are undoubtedly amongst the most remarkable personalities I have met. This group of artists has a way of elevating the everyday, so you see it again with new eyes, as though viewing the minutiae of natural phenomena through a magnifying glass. Drinking champagne with Terry Frost in his front room, overlooking the sea, I remember both of us marvelling at the fullness of the moon, hanging heavier and closer than I had ever noticed before. When talking about his painting Terry has referred to the sun and moon as his ‘two gods’, and at that particular moment in time I think I knew exactly what he meant.

Guardian 2005 Pippa Stockdale, founder of Bonhams' Vision 21 contemporary auctions, confirmed that the new buyers are going for known names such as Peter Blake, Alexander Calder, Tracey Emin, Mat Collishaw and the photographer Thomas Ruff. Among established Modern Brits, names that are attracting the new investment money, according to Mitton, include Terry Frost, Mary Fedden, Ken Howard and Bernard Dunston. Frankly, I would bet only on Terry Frost. The others could go in and out of fashion.