Next month, auction house Bonhams will put a series of soccer-inspired artwork on the virtual block. Its online sale, Football: The Beautiful Game, brings together more than 100 works related to the sport, from depictions of grassy playing fields to action-packed tackles.
The collection was assembled over 25 years by gallerist Chris Beetles at the behest of a chairman for an FA Cup-winning team who prefers to remain anonymous. The impressive array of paintings and drawings was exhibited last year at London’s Chris Beetles Gallery with a price tag of £1.5 million ($1.9 million). But as no buyers stepped forward, the collection is once again going up for sale.
“There are many pleasures in the life of an independent art dealer but probably none as fulfilling as sharing a collecting obsession with a wealthy client and close friend,” said Beetles in an introduction to the sale’s catalogue. While dining at London’s Le Caprice restaurant more than two decades ago, the gallerist and the former chairman of a Premier league team made the decision to begin accumulating soccer-related artwork reflecting the sport’s excitement and social elements—not an easy task. “It is a rare event to find an original work of art featuring football, and it is unlikely that an accumulation of similar historical quality could be achieved over another 25 years,” said Beetles.
Ranging from early 19th-century works to those from the present day, the collection features pieces by more than 50 artists. The top lot is Charles Cundall’s A Cup Tie, a 1926 painting depicting a game between the amateur English Corinthians team and Manchester City. The work is expected to fetch between £100,000 ($126,000) and £150,000 ($189,000). While the match in question ended in a draw, the spectators, not the game, are the real focus of the painting.
Onlookers are also emphasized in Carol Weight’s Cup Tie, which depicts a stadium so crowded that some soccer fans are perched on its top guardrails. Meanwhile, viewers get a close-up perspective in paintings by William E. Narraway, whose works The Tackle and The Header emphasize the action and movement of players.
A whimsical take on the sport is found in several lots by Louis Wain, the British artist known for his depictions of anthropomorphized cats. In some illustrations, the artist’s soccer-playing cats are worse for wear after a tough game. The auction additionally includes numerous cartoons from the likes of Ronald Searle, Arnold Roth and H.M. Bateman, the latter of whom depicted a soccer club chairman sitting atop a pile of money in a 1910 watercolor.
Many of the paintings included in the sale were part of a 1953 exhibition organized by the Football Association, which held a competition for soccer-focused artwork to celebrate its 90th anniversary that year. But the collection curated by Beetles isn’t limited to paintings and illustrations—there’s a James Butler sculpture in the shape of a soccer player and a carved oak panel from H. Gore celebrating a 1936 kick-off match.
Why are depictions of soccer so rare in art?
Artists have long focused on “upper class” sports like cricket, shooting and horse racing to appeal to wealthier clients and patrons, according to Beetle. “Until recent decades when football became the nation’s favorite sport and the democracy of wealth had given it superstar status, it has always been regarded as the working man’s pastime,” he said. “Indeed, I have sold more croquet pictures in my dealing life than football.”
Football: The Beautiful Game will be open for bidding from December 4 through December 13.
