LARCHMONT, N.Y. — It measured only 9 by 11 inches, but what British artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s abstract painting titled “Small Vortex” lacked in size, it certainly made up for it in price as it blew past the $4/6,000 estimate to bring $68,750 including buyer’s premium in Clarke Auction’s February 25 sale. The 1951 oil on panel, with its cool blues and whites set against a backdrop of red, brown and orange, came from a Larchmont estate and was featured in the artist’s retrospective exhibition. The firm’s fine art specialist, Nelia Moore, confirmed that the painting sold to an internet bidder from England. Barns-Graham was a founding member of the Penwith Society of Arts when the group split from the St. Ives School in 1949.
 
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