Harold Cohen computer drawing in demand
The most eagerly contested lot in Chiswick Auctions’ recent Prints and Multiples sale was a rare ‘computer drawing’ by Harold Cohen (1928-2016) signed, dated and inscribed in pencil for 1983. It was estimated at £400-600 but sold for £8,820.
Cohen had long been interested in the relationship between computer learning and art and a decade earlier in 1973, had developed an experimental digital drawing programme named AARON. This drawing system, programmed to create biomorphic and botanical forms with a black felt pen, was designed to mimic the actions of human artist.
The work in the sale entitled Untitled Computer Drawing was created in 1983 when the Tate Gallery hosted four AARON drawing machines. Capable of drawing about 12 works an hour, they created hundreds of unique ink drawings during the exhibition.
Elizabeth Brinsdon, Head of Prints and Multiples at Chiswick Auctions said: “The Cohen performed so well due to a 2024 exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The exhibition was based entirely around the AARON drawing machines and shows him as an early proponent of AI art which is now a super hotly contested area of study.”
Original prints by some of the best known British Modern and Contemporary artists excelled across the auction. From the same seller of an original prime period David Hockney California drawing sold for £400,000 by Chiswick Auctions in June came a rare Hockney print. Sold for £50,400, the lithograph Tyler Dining Room (MCA Tokyo 261) is one of 18 artist’s proofs aside from the edition of 98 issued in 1984 as part of the artist’s Moving Focus series. It was acquired be the owner’s father around 2009.
The Moving Focus series – comprising a total of 29 prints spanning intimate portraits of loved ones to complex depictions of interior scenes – is considered Hockney’s most expansive and innovative series of prints. A recurring motif in the series is the chair. Set in Kenneth Tyler’s home, this image with its warped perspective, melting walls and vibrant colour offers a glimpse into the personal and professional relationship between Hockney and his collaborator.
As with the recently rediscovered drawing View from Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica, the vendor had contacted Chiswick Auctions with an online valuation request, including a photo of the print alongside other items of little value. The estimate is £50,000-£70,000.
Hockney has made prints since the late 1950s. Also offered here was A Wooded Landscape, a scene from Fundevogel from a suite of prints titled Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm. An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 100 completed in 1969, it sold for £5,166.
Examples of British Pop included the 1968 Gerald Laing (1936-2011) screenprint Sandra, 1968 from the well-known Baby Baby Wild Things series, numbered 69/200 in pencil, sold for £8,190 while Bridget Riley’s classic Op Art image Start from an edition of 200 printed by Artizan Editions, Hove in 2000 fetched £8,820.
Two works from Patrick Heron’s January 1973 series, prints number 2 and 11, sold at £4,914 and £4,536 respectively. Each signed, dated and numbered from the edition of 72, these images in primary colours were the result of Heron’s fusing of the exciting developments in American painting with a distinctly European approach to composition. He called it “wobbly hard-edged painting.”
Gillian Ayres was equally inspired by abstract expressionism. The complete suite of four hand-painted acrylic and carborundum prints, Muscari 2005, were particularly desirable as they were all unique hand-painted works made in addition to the numbered edition of 18. Purchased from the publisher Alan Cristea Gallery in 2006, they sold for £10,080.