Lot 48

Private collection, Melbourne
Thence by descent

Comprising:
(i) Robert Adams, (Screen Form)
(ii) Alan Davie, (Bird Through Wall)
(iii) Merlyn Oliver Evans, (St Ives Beach)
(iv) Duncan Grant, (Interior)
(v) Peter Lanyon, (The Returned Seaman)
(vi) F. E. McWilliam, (Woman of Belfast)
(vii) Bernard Leach, (Drawing for a Pot)
(viii) Ben Nicholson OM, (Abstract 1936)
(ix) John Piper, (Annunciation to the Shepherds)
(x) Michael Rothenstein, (Sunrise at 36,000 ft)
(xi) Henry Moore OM CH, (Silhouette Figures with Border Design)
(xii) Dame Barbara Hepworth, (Moon Landscape)

Other examples of this portfolio are held in the collections of the Tate Britian, London; The British Museum, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.

The Penwith Portfolio is an influential collection of prints created by members of the Penwith Society of Arts, an artists' cooperative based in St Ives, Cornwall.
Founded in 1949 by modernist figures, the Penwith Society was established to support the burgeoning modern art movement in Britain. The Penwith Portfolio, often referenced for its role in advancing British abstraction and innovation, includes works from prominent mid-20th-century artists whose approaches to form, colour, and texture contributed to the growth of post-war British art.

The portfolio features twelve prints, including etchings, lithographs, and screenprints, showcasing a wide range of styles from abstraction to constructivism and organic forms inspired by the Cornish environment. Each piece reflects both the artists' engagement with the physical landscape and the modernist emphasis on structure, movement, and abstraction, making it a valuable document of post-war British art evolution.

Today, the Penwith Portfolio is not only significant as an art historical artifact but also as a representation of community-driven artistic development. Its contributions are widely recognised in public collections and continue to influence contemporary artists to in the legacy of British modernism.
Hannah Ryan, Prints & Multiples Specialist