13th Jun, 2026 9:30 GMT/BST
Modern & Contemporary Art
450
Jacob Kramer (1892-1962)
"Ivor Brown" Head study
Signed, inscribed with sitter's name and published in the "Bookman", charcoal, together with a further charcoal and chalk signed example by the same artist depicting a Head study of a young man, 49cm by 37cm and 35cm by 47.5cm respectively (2) (all unframed)
Fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe, Jacob Kramer and his family left the Ukraine, settling in the Jewish community of Leeds in 1900. The son of a court painter, Kramer feld to England. It was a far cry from his middle-class upbringing in Ukraine, and in 1902 he left home at the age of only ten, taking on jobs throughout the North of England and spending six months at sea. During this period, he attended occasional art classes at Manchester School of Art, but his first formal training was at Leeds School of Art from 1908-11, where he received a scholarship to study full-time. Here he also earned the patronage of Sir Michael Sadler.
From 1913-14, he studied at the Slade School of Art where he befriended other leading artists of the day such as Augustus John and David Bomberg. Kramer developed a simple, geometric style derived from a mixture of influences, including those of Rembrandt, the angular cubism of Pablo Picasso, and the semi-abstract work of the Vorticists and Expressionists. He was also friendly with Jacob Epstein and Mark Gertler, but despite this, he preferred not to associate himself directly with any particular movement.
In 1915, Kramer held a solo exhibition with Mathews and Brooke, Bradford and was invited to exhibit with the Vorticists in London. Following this he began to build up his reputation as a leading Yorkshire artist with shows in Yorkshire and London and in 1959 he was elected as president of Leeds Fine Arts Club. 1960 saw a retrospective of his works at Leeds City Art Gallery and six years after his death the City of Leeds Branch College of Art was renamed the Jacob Kramer College of Art. Exhibitions of his work have also been held at the Parkin Gallery in 1973 and Belgrave Gallery in 1990.
Sold for £80
Estimated at £80 - £120
Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 13th Jun, 2026
“Bolton Junction Eccleshill, Bradford”, a rare early mixed media work made by David Hockney when he was just 19, is one of the highlights of the sale. The work was purchased from David Hockney at his end of year show at Bradford Regional College of Art by Malcolm Riley, a tutor at the college and the vendor’s father.
The sale will be a celebration of Northern Art with some of the most significant artists of the region represented, including two drawings by L.S. Lowry, a selection of works by mining artists Norman Cornish and Tom McGuinness, and three paintings by Huddersfield-born contemporary artist Maxwell Doig.
Ceramics by Pablo Picasso will sit alongside pictures by Ken Howard, Spanish artist Carlos Nadal, David Shepherd, and a vibrant ‘Heart Spin’ by Damien Hirst, made to celebrate the opening of Damien Hirst: Requiem, an exhibition at the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kyiv 2009.
A Yorkshire View Part II: The sale will open with A Yorkshire View Part II, a large Private Collection of paintings, principally of Yorkshire or by Yorkshire artists, collected by textiles manufacturer George Hopkinson. Artists represented in the collection include Fred Cecil Jones, Fred Lawson, Jacob Kramer and Philip Naviasky. The Yorkshire View Part I was held at Tennants in 2021, and the catalogue can be viewed HERE.
To be sold in nearly sixty lots, the pictures on offer are just a small part of the collection built up over fifty years from the 1920s to the 1960s by Mr George G Hopkinson, a proud Yorkshireman and textile businessman who was a director of West Riding textile company Hopkinson and Shore and Bradford fashion house Novello’s. Upon his death in 1969, the collection was divided between his second wife, Joan, and the families of his two sons, John and Gary. The paintings presented in this sale formed part of John Hopkinson’s estate. The collection is a legacy from a remarkable individual whose discerning eye played a significant role in promoting Yorkshire-based artists of his time. Read more about the Collector.
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Thursday 11th June - Friday 12th June 10am-4pm and morning of the sale from 8am
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