London – Sennen Cove by Laura Knight, (1877-1970) sold for £500,250 at Bonhams Blazing a Trail: Modern British Women Artists sale in London on Wednesday 29 September. Estimated at £60,000-80,000, it was the top selling lot in this innovative sale, which showcased the work of British women artists, both established and less well known.

Probably painted in the early 1920s, Sennen Cove was a typical and charming example of Laura Knight's Cornish work. She and her husband, fellow painter Harold Knight, retreated from their London home to West Cornwall each summer, painting in Sennen, Lamorna and Mousehole.

The 63-Lot sale made a total of £1,587,273 with 81% sold by lot and 90% sold by value.

Other highlights of the sale included:

• Fisherman by Prunella Clough (1919-1999). This newly discovered work was probably painted between 1946 and 1951, when Clough made frequent visits to Southwold, on the Suffolk coast, where her parents had acquired a second home. It was here that her fascination with fishermen began and many of her finest pictures from this period are of this subject. Sold for £62,250 (estimate: £20,000-30,000).

• Poet Warrior by Emily Young (born 1951). Young began her career as a painter, studying at Chelsea School of Art and Central St Martins in London before travelling extensively. By the 1980s she had started to carve stone, a medium she has since dedicated herself to for the last forty years. Sold for £131,500 (estimate: £50,000-70,000).

• Revision of January 10 by Bridget Riley (b 1931). Sold for £106,500 (estimate: £50,000-80,000.

• Mrs Ody by Jessica Dismorr (1885-1939). The subject of this portrait was Mrs Ann Ody, the first wife of Dismorr's solicitor. Sold for £19,000 (estimate: £6,000-8,000).

• Opportunity by Evelyn Dunbar (1906-1960), Painted in 1936, this newly-discovered work was a strongly coded personal statement, reflecting her on-off relationship with fellow artist Charles Mahoney. Sold for £9,200 (estimate: £5,000-8,000).

Bonhams Director of Modern British and Irish Art, Christopher Dawson, said of the 63-lot sale: "Laura Knight's Sennen Cove is an exceptional painting by an acknowledged master, and I am not surprised that it created such demand. It was also very encouraging to see spirited bidding and high prices for pieces by lesser-known British women artists such as Jessica Dismorr. One of our aims with Blazing a Trail was to provide an opportunity for talented, but perhaps overlooked, women artists to take their place alongside more established names, and in that I think we have been successful."

30 September 2021