Prints, Paintings and Sculpture from the Estate of the Late Wilfred and Jeannette Cass

25 October 2022

Clockwise left to right: Henry Moore (British, 1989-1986) Seated Figure Holding Glass (1974), Resting Girl (1974), Elephant Skull PLIII (1969), Seated Figure - Line Drawing (1974) and Mother and Child Seated (1975).

Bellmans is honoured to be offering a selection of paintings and sculpture from the Estate of the late Wilfred and Jeannette Cass which were displayed at their stunning Bauhaus-style home, Hathill Copse on the North-Eastern edge of the Goodwood estate. The superb modernist house, designed in 1975 by architects John and Heather Lomax, to plans inspired by Serge Chermayeff, provided precisely the setting that Wilfred and Jeannette were searching for; “As my wife and I headed towards our seventies together, we knew it was time for a dramatic change. We wanted a new home in the country, and we wanted to create a project together that would not just occupy our time, but become our passion.”

Clockwise left to right: Jean Derval (French, 1925-2010), Fountain Group (detail), Ronald Brooks Kitaj (American, 1932-2007), Plays For Total Stakes and Karlheinz Goedtke (German, 1915-1995), Four Horseman.

That passion was The Cass Sculpture Foundation, a charitable foundation to promote the work of young sculptors to a global audience. In 1996, four years after its founding, the charity won the National Arts Collection Funds prize for "Promoting Enjoyment of the Visual Arts" and in 2006 Wilfred was awarded a CBE.

Wilfred was born in Berlin in 1924, a descendant of the famous Cassirer family. After working as a research engineer in London and studying communication technology at Regent Street Polytechnic he, along with his son Mark, set up Image Bank UK, part of The Image Bank which was successfully sold to Getty Images in 2001. From 1987 Wilfred was Chairman and Chief Executive of Moss Bros Plc and the company’s fortunes were turned around under his leadership.

Art was always central to Wilfred and Jeannette’s life. His uncle Paul Cassirer had been a highly successful dealer handling the works of Cezanne and Van Gogh and he and Jeannette associated with some of the most important names in modern British art counting the likes of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Michael Ayrton and Elizabeth Frink amongst their closest friends.

Left to right: Peter Blake (British, B.1932), Rose, David Hockney (British,B.1937), Pool Made with Paper and Blue Ink for Book and Jean Derval (French, 1925-2010), Fountain Group.

Highlights from the collection include a seminal Hockney print Pool Made with Paper and Blue Ink (£20,000 -£30,000 + BP) a fine selection of prints by Henry Moore, a stunning watercolour by Peter Blake (£3,000 - £5,000 + BP), as well as works by RB Kitaj, Marino Marini, and sculpture by Jean Derval, Karlheinz Goedtke and Livio Seguso; all will be included in the forthcoming sale of Modern British & 20th Century Art at Bellmans Sussex on 15th November 2022.

Article courtesy of Michael Grist, Bellmans' Senior Picture Specialist

Modern British and 20th Century Art | 15 November, 2pm

Now available to browse and bid online