Bold paintings on open market

Margaret Barnard's The CrewBold and vibrant paintings by Margaret Barnard, an acclaimed landscape artist and poster designer for London Transport, and those of her husband, Robert Mackechnie, none of which have never before been on the open market, are to be sold in a two-day sale at The Canterbury Auction Galleries next month.

The collection of some 70 paintings, has been consigned by Margaret Barnard’s great nephew, having passed to him by family descent.

Estimates for the 20-plus lots, many containing multiple paintings, are all in the low hundreds, giving collectors and dealers a rare opportunity to obtain unique and never seen before works at extremely affordable prices.

Margaret Barnard (1900-1992) studied at Glasgow School of Art, and held her first exhibition in Glasgow in 1922. She moved to London in the mid-1920s, where she trained art at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art under the influential artist and teacher Claude Flight, a pioneer of linocut art.

She began to exhibit widely, including two shows at the Royal Academy, working predominantly in linocut, but is also known for painting Italian landscapes and the Scottish coastline. Her bold, vibrant technique was typical of the 1920s Art Deco style.

After marrying fellow artist Robert Mackechnie (1894-1975), the couple lived in Italy for a time, returning to England in 1934 and settling in Rye, Sussex. She designed posters for London Transport at the end of the 1930s.

Her work is in the collection of the London Transport Museum; The Rye Gallery; Auckland Art Gallery, and the Museum of New Zealand in Wellington. The collection includes numerous Scottish and Italian landscapes and still lifes, all in oils, together with a linocut of men rowing a boat, titled “The Crew”, which shows the influence Claude Flight had on her work. It is estimated at £200-300.

Works in oils and watercolours by Robert Mackechnie include abstract works and views of Rye, the Island of Mull and Iona and Positano in Italy.

The sale takes place on on February 7th to 8th.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I accept the Privacy Policy

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.