PICTURES FROM THE JOHN AIREY COLLECTION COME TO AUCTION
Portrait of John Airey (not included in the auction)
The collection includes works attributed to well-known artists George Romney, Victor Dupre, Honore Daumier
This month’s Select Interiors auction at Dore & Rees features The John Airey Collection. Born in Yorkshire, brought up single-handedly by his mother, John’s first job was making prosthetic limbs. He then took up photography and became a darkroom technician for renowned photographers such as Charlie Waite, David Gamble and Ken Griffiths. John became involved in the Pulitzer Gallery in the late 1950’s to early 1960’s. After the death of Dr Pulitzer in 1979, shares in the gallery passed to John although the gallery ceased to operate soon after. John was bought out of his shares with pictures from the gallery.
Pulitzer galleries in London and Bern, Switzerland were owned by Dr Henry Franz Pulitzer (1899 – 1979), an Austrian-born avid art collector and connoisseur. Described by one source as a ‘media mogul’, Dr Pulitzer was appointed adviser on fine art to Peter the Second, King of Yugoslavia, during the course of his career.
The John Airey Collection includes the following works (pictured above):
ATTRIBUTED TO VICTOR DUPRE (1816-1879)
COAST LINE SCENE
Oil on panel
Unsigned, 24 x 32.5 cm
Estimate: £300 - £600
ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE ROMNEY (1734-1802)
SELF PORTRAIT
Oil on canvas
51 x 44 cm
Estimate: £3,000 - £5,000
MANNER OF HONORE DAUMIER (1808-1879)
THE PRINT COLLECTOR
Oil on cradled panel
40 x 31.5 cm
Signed ‘h.d’ in lower left corner
Estimate: £5,000 - £8,000