A second art collection belonging to the Reform-led Kent County Council has gone under the hammer.
Some 169 lots of paintings, drawings, and prints have been sold, with the help of Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers.
The sale took place on 10 March, despite criticism of the decision by Reform’s opponents within the council.
Stuart Jeffery, who leads the Green Party contingent of the authority, had ahead of the sale called for the art work to be “treasured and put on display for the public good”, and accused Reform of demonstrating “utter contempt for the history of our great county”.
But in a previous sale of art owned by the council in July last year, Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services Paul Webb had suggested the decision to sell off works “was a practical one”, with the authority saying much of it had simply been “tucked away in the basement of County Hall”.
Kentish views prove popular
The latest auction saw Kent County Council offer up 367 individual pieces, valued in total somewhere between £50,740 and £79,880.
Last summer, the works offered up by the council were identified as having been purchased approximately 40 years ago, as part of the Kent Visual Arts Loan Scheme for lending to local schools and workplaces.
The latest sale left 45 lots unsold, with Sworders’ director John Black telling Arts Professional: “The most interest generated in the collection were the Tony Ray Jones photographs, which reached a collective total of £13,000.
“Two Kent views by George Mackley, sold for £1500 and £750.”
He continued: “The Robert Tavener’s were all sold and these were mostly Kent views, with a selection of prints and watercolours. Two well contested results from the collection were by non-British artists Samira Abassy (£1100) and Sidney Nolan (£900), an Iranian and Australian artist.”
Black added: “The collection was the second offering by Kent County Council, with the last collection achieving over £40,000.”
Kent County Council has been contacted for comment regarding the motivations behind the sale and its view of the auction’s success.
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