Sworders – Modern & Contemporary Art
Tuesday 7 October 2025  10am GMT
sworder.co.uk

STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET, UK — A chair used by the great Anglo-German artist Lucian Freud as a boy comes up for sale at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, on October 7. The Midcentury child’s cane chair accompanied by photographs and documents relating to the Freud family is expected to sell for £2/3,000 as part of a Modern and contemporary art auction.

Freud was born in Berlin, the second son of Modernist architect Ernst Ludwig Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. In 1933, as the political situation in Germany deteriorated under Nazi rule, the Freud family left Germany as émigrés for London. Lucian was just 11 years old.

Among the furniture that made the journey was this small cane chair, dating from the 1920s and reflecting Bauhaus design principles. Given Ernst Freud’s dual career in architecture and furniture-making, it is plausible the chair was one of his own creations.

The previous owner, a family friend, received the chair in 1989 in the will of Lucie Freud (Lucian’s mother).

Leading the sale with an estimate of £25/35,000 is Andy Warhol’s “Liz” (F. & S. II. 7). Conceived in 1964, this offset lithograph in colors is from the edition of approximately 300 printed on wove paper by Total Color and published by Leo Castelli Gallery, New York. It is signed and dated “Andy Warhol ’69” in ballpoint pen.

David Hockney (b 1937) is represented by his signed and dated “1973” etching and aquatint “The Student – Homage to Picasso.” In this self-portrait, Hockney show himself approaching Picasso, represented as a giant sculptured head on a column, in the manner of a student carrying his portfolio for inspection. Numbered “76/90” from an edition published by Propylaen Verlag, Berlin, it has expectations of £10/15,000.

“Give or Take III,” a bronze with gold and rich brown patination by Louise Bourgeois, is number 16 from an edition of 25 conceived in 1992 and cast in 1993. It has an estimate of £12/18,000, while the lithograph in colors, “The Story of Red and Blue #2” by Keith Haring, 16/200 and dated 1989, is expected to bring £1/1,500.

From an unnumbered edition of 200, is “La Mariée” (The Bride) after the Marcel Duchamp painting of 1912. The etching was created entirely by hand by the artist and printmaker Jacques Villon in 1934 as part of a series of 40 prints after Modernist paintings commissioned by prominent Parisian publisher Bernheim-Jeune. Villon was Duchamp’s older brother who adopted a pseudonym to distinguish himself from his siblings. The work, estimated at £8/12,000, is signed by both men. It has a provenance to the Librarie Galerie Benjamin Pitchal, Belgium.

A more traditional French impressionist work is “Boulevard de la Madeleine, le Soir” by the ever-popular “Parisian Poet of Painting” Edouard Léon Cortès (£8/12,000). This textbook oil on board street scene is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the Comité Édouard Cortès in April 2025. The painting will be included in the supplement to the catalogue raisonné of Edouard Cortès currently in preparation.

Sworders is at GES and Sons Limited on Cambridge Road. For information, www.sworder.co.uk.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Liz, offset lithograph in colours, 1964, sheet 58.7x 58.7cm, Estimate £25,000-35,000
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