All eyes on Glasgow as city hosts impressive art auction

THE art world's eyes will turn to Glasgow today as a rare painting by internationally acclaimed artist Jenny Saville is among the works due to go under the hammer.

McTear's Auctioneers said that potential buyers from around the world had been "registering in droves to take part in telephone and online bidding" at what they claim will be one of the "most impressive art auctions to be held in Glasgow in recent years".

Bidders from China, America, Europe and Australia have all served notice of their interest ahead of the sale with the promise of a selection of works by some of the UK's most prominent artists. Headlining the 400 plus lots in the sale will be a self-portrait by Ms Saville, who attended Glasgow School of Art, which has been valued at between 50,000 and 70,000.

There will also be a significant collection of works by the "Glasgow Boys" including George Henry, James Paterson, Alexander Roche, William York MacGregor, David Gauld and EA Walton.

Referred to by some as "the one that Charles Saatchi didn't get", the Saville portrait was purchased by a Scottish collector at her debut sell-out exhibition, her degree show at Glasgow in 1992.

Charles Saatchi discovered Saville's work at her post-graduate exhibition following her year at London's Slade School of Art. He famously bought the entire exhibition and then set out to track down and buy every painting Saville had sold in Glasgow the previous year.

He also commissioned her to produce paintings exclusively for him.

Magda Ketterer from McTear's Auctioneers said: "Jenny Saville's contribution to British contemporary art cannot be overstated.

"Like her contemporary, Damien Hirst, she is a key member of the hugely influential YBA (Young British Artists) movement and her work has attracted worldwide acclaim from critics and collectors alike."

Saville's painting style has been compared to that of Lucian Freud and Rubens.

Highlights:

• Study for Crusade, oil on canvas composition by Peter Howson: estimate 7,000-9,000

• Louise, mixed-media figurative painting by Alison Watt, estimate 4,000-8,000

• Man with Child, charcoal and watercolour composition by Scottish colourist Francis Cadell, estimate 6,000-8,000.

• Beauty, watercolour portrait by John Bellany, estimate 1,000-1,200.

• Clematis Flower, pencil study by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, estimate 3,000-5,000.