William McCance Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, Sculptor, Illustrator

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  • William McCance (1894-1970) Coastal land
    Apr. 16, 2026

    William McCance (1894-1970) Coastal land

    Est: £300 - £500

    William McCance (1894-1970) Coastal landscape oil on panel board of a small rural sea inlet, the reverse painted with a boat in a harbour scene, framed unsigned, boats in harbour with traces of signature 29 x 22cm. Provenance Great Western Auctions, 17th/18th June 2022, lot 1036. Private collection. Provenance Private collection. Artist Resale Rights apply

    Kinghams Auctioneers
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Dec. 04, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £2,000 - £3,000

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) TENT SHELTER ON THE LAWN, SUMMERHILL, LYME REGIS Signed with initials and dated '24, oil on board 25.5cm x 33cm (10in x 13in) Exhibited: Cyril Gerber Fine Art, Glasgow, William McCance: Paintings, Drawings and Watercolours, September 1989

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Dec. 04, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £800 - £1,200

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) LUCY READING Signed and dated 1927, pencil 22cm x 17cm (8.75in x 6.75in) Exhibited: Cyril Gerber Fine Art, Glasgow, William McCance: Paintings, Drawings and Watercolours, September 1989

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Dec. 04, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £800 - £1,200

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) SEATED WOMAN Pencil, authenticated by the Artist's widow, Dr Margaret McCance, on the label verso 32cm x 25cm (12.5in x 9.75in) Exhibited: Cyril Gerber Fine Art, Glasgow, William McCance: Paintings, Drawings and Watercolours, September 1989  This work has been dated to c.1919.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £1,500 - £2,000

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) CONTEMPLATIVE FIGURE - 1945 Signed and dated lower right, oil on board  29.5cm x 38.5cm (11.5in x 15in) From the Estate of William McCance. Exhibited: Reading Guild of Artists, under title ‘Spacial [sic] Composition, Contemplation,’ no. 2;Dundee City Art Gallery, under title 'Contemplative Figure, no. 29. (lent by Dr. Margaret McCance).The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) LUCIFER NO.3 - 1945 Signed and dated ‘45 lower left, pencil inscription verso ‘Lucifer no 2’, corrected to no.3, watercolour wax resist with pencil and ink the sheet 34cm x 43.5cm (13.5in x 17in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The 1935 fireclay sculpture Rhythmical Figure (lot 2) features in McCance’s 1945 watercolour wax resists Lucifer Nos. 1 & 3 (lots 1 & 32) and his 1946 oil painting Seated Figure with Fruit (lot 3). McCance depicted his own sculptures in his paintings from as early as 1920. The first known example of this productive inter-media dialogue is believed to be the 1921-22 sculpture Cat (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160) which features within his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). Sculpture could be easily manipulated in the studio to test various configurations, and proved conducive to the vorticist style McCance propounded in the 1920s, which promoted underlying geometric volumes.McCance ceased sculpting and painting in the early 1930s, owing to the significant workload at the Gregynog Press. It was not until 1933, having departed the Press and relocated to Wolverhampton, that he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £1,500 - £2,000

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) FORBIDDEN FRUIT - 1946 Signed and dated lower right, oil on board 37cm x 51cm (14.5in x 20in) From the Estate of William McCance.  Exhibited: Reading Guild of Artists, cat.1 (label verso lists artist's Henley address); Dundee City Art Gallery, cat. 31 (lent by Dr. Margaret McCance).Forbidden Fruit (lot 30) features in a 1946 oil painting of the same title (lot 31). McCance depicted his own sculptures in his paintings from as early as 1920. The first known example of this productive inter-media dialogue is believed to be the 1921-22 sculpture Cat (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160) which features within his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). Sculpture could be easily manipulated in the studio to test various configurations, and proved conducive to the vorticist style McCance propounded in the 1920s, which promoted underlying geometric volumes.McCance ceased sculpting and painting in the early 1930s, owing to the significant workload at the Gregynog Press. It was not until 1933, having departed the Press and relocated to Wolverhampton, that he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £600 - £800

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) FORBIDDEN FRUIT Signed with initials to lower back edge, red clay sculpture 28cm x 30cm x 15cm (11in x 12in x 6in)  From the Estate of William McCance. Forbidden Fruit (lot 30) features in a 1946 oil painting of the same title (lot 31). McCance depicted his own sculptures in his paintings from as early as 1920. The first known example of this productive inter-media dialogue is believed to be the 1921-22 sculpture Cat (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160) which features within his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). Sculpture could be easily manipulated in the studio to test various configurations, and proved conducive to the vorticist style McCance propounded in the 1920s, which promoted underlying geometric volumes.McCance ceased sculpting and painting in the early 1930s, owing to the significant workload at the Gregynog Press. It was not until 1933, having departed the Press and relocated to Wolverhampton, that he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) FOUR NUDE STUDIES - 1930 Each signed and dated to the lower edge, pencil and charcoal, mounted together in pairs (4) each image 33cm x 18cm (13in x 7in); 34cm x 18cm (13.25 x 7in); 35.5cm x 23cm (14in x 9in); 35.5cm x 19cm (14in x 7.5in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £200 - £300

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) THREE RED NUDE STUDIES - 1930 Each signed and dated, pencil and coloured chalk (3) 52.5cm x 40cm (20.75in x 15.75in); 52.5cm x 40cm (20.75in x 15.75in); 46cm x 30.5cm (18in x 12in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) TWO NUDE STUDIES - 1930 Signed and dated lower edge, pencil and charcoal, mounted together image sizes 34cm x 17.5cm (13.25in x 7in); 33cm x 17.5cm (13in x 7in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £1,000 - £1,500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) FORCE X, OR DIKS RAC (THE ACCIDENTAL APPROACH) - 1961 Signed and dated ’61 lower right, inscribed verso, oil on board  61cm x 45cm (24in x17.5in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. Literature: Patrick Elliott, Wiliam McCance, 1894-1970, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1990, p.17, pl.12. Diks Rac is ‘car chase’ written backwards.Inscriptions verso read: Car Skid or one up for the roadDiks Rac, The Accidental Approach Re-titled: Force X, after May Abbott talkWoman's HourOct 20 1964W McCance28 AvenueGirvan.The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £400 - £600

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) TWO PRINTS: THE CENSOR - 1949 & THE CENSOR NO. 2 - 1950 The Censor: Linocut in four colours, 1/30, signed, dated '49, titled and numbered in pencil the margin;Censor No.2: Linocut in four colours, Artist's Proof, signed, titled and editioned in pencil to margin (2) 34cm x 25cm (13.5in x 9.75in) and 32cm x 23.5cm (12.5in x 9.25in) From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) DESIGN FOR CENSOR NO.2 - 1945 Signed and dated in ink lower left, inscribed in pencil verso ‘Design for Censor 2, no,11’, watercolour wax resist with ink, pencil and coloured pencil the sheet 43.5cm x 34cm (17.5in x 13.5in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) DESIGN FOR CENSOR NO.1 - 1945 Signed and dated in pencil lower left, inscribed verso ‘Design for Censor 1’, watercolour wax resist with ink and pencil the sheet 43.5cm x 34.5cm (17.25in x 13.5in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) MYTHOLOGICAL DESIGN NO.2 - 1945 Signed lower left, inscribed verso ‘Mythological design 2’., watercolour wax resist with ink, pencil and coloured the sheet 43.5cm x 34cm (17.25in x 13.5in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. Artist has amended label verso to indicate this is no. 1.It is possible that the ‘Subjects’ of this composition constitute stylised portraits of McCance and his wife, the celebrated wood engraver Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980).The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) A MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECT - 1945 Signed and dated 1945 in black ink lower right, inscribed ‘A Mythological Subject’ and ‘13’ to sheet verso, watercolour wax resist with ink and pencil the sheet 43.5cm x 34cm (17.25in x 13.5in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. Annotated Artist's label verso titles this work ‘Mythological Subject No.1’, corrected with pencil inscription to no.2.It is possible that the ‘Subjects’ of this composition constitute stylised portraits of McCance and his wife, the celebrated wood engraver Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980).The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £800 - £1,200

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) STILL LIFE (FIGURE AND FRUIT) Signed with initials lower left, oil on board, with further abstract mixed media sketch verso 26cm x 34.5cm (10.25in x 13.5in) From the Estate of William McCance. Exhibited: Dundee City Art Gallery, cat. 30 (lent by Dr. Margaret McCance)The 1935 fireclay sculpture Zephyr (lot 16) of a seated figure with an open mouth features in the 1945 watercolour wax resist Sculpture by a Pool (lot 15) and the painting Still Life (Figure and Fruit) (lot 17).McCance depicted his own sculptures in his paintings from as early as 1920. The first known example of this productive inter-media dialogue is believed to be the 1921-22 sculpture Cat (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160) which features within his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). Sculpture could be easily manipulated in the studio to test various configurations, and proved conducive to the vorticist style McCance propounded in the 1920s, which promoted underlying geometric volumes.McCance ceased sculpting and painting in the early 1930s, owing to the significant workload at the Gregynog Press. It was not until 1933, having departed the Press and relocated to Wolverhampton, that he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £600 - £800

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) ZEPHYR - 1935 Indistinctly signed with initials to underside, titled and dated to hand-written label on underside, fire clay  14cm x 19cm x 15cm (5.5in x 7.5in x 6in) From the Estate of William McCance. The 1935 fireclay sculpture Zephyr (lot 16) of a seated figure with an open mouth features in the 1945 watercolour wax resist Sculpture by a Pool (lot 15) and the painting Still Life (Figure and Fruit) (lot 17).McCance depicted his own sculptures in his paintings from as early as 1920. The first known example of this productive inter-media dialogue is believed to be the 1921-22 sculpture Cat (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160) which features within his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). Sculpture could be easily manipulated in the studio to test various configurations, and proved conducive to the vorticist style McCance propounded in the 1920s, which promoted underlying geometric volumes.McCance ceased sculpting and painting in the early 1930s, owing to the significant workload at the Gregynog Press. It was not until 1933, having departed the Press and relocated to Wolverhampton, that he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) SCULPTURE BY A POOL - 1945 Signed and dated in black in lower centre, watercolour wax resist with ink the image 27.5cm x 37.5cm (10.75in x 14.75in) From the Estate of William McCance. The 1935 fireclay sculpture Zephyr (lot 16) of a seated figure with an open mouth features in the 1945 watercolour wax resist Sculpture by a Pool (lot 15) and the painting Still Life (Figure and Fruit) (lot 17).McCance depicted his own sculptures in his paintings from as early as 1920. The first known example of this productive inter-media dialogue is believed to be the 1921-22 sculpture Cat (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160) which features within his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). Sculpture could be easily manipulated in the studio to test various configurations, and proved conducive to the vorticist style McCance propounded in the 1920s, which promoted underlying geometric volumes.McCance ceased sculpting and painting in the early 1930s, owing to the significant workload at the Gregynog Press. It was not until 1933, having departed the Press and relocated to Wolverhampton, that he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £1,000 - £1,500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) STILL LIFE - 1947 Signed and dated lower right, oil on board  39cm x 49cm (15.25in x 19.25in) From the Estate of William McCance.  The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £800 - £1,200

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) COMPOSITION WITH SHELL - 1946 Signed and dated lower left, oil on board 38.5cm x 29cm (15.25in x 11.25in) From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £1,000 - £1,500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) SPRING - 1947 Signed with initials and dated lower right, oil on canvas 40cm x 49.5cm (15.75in x 19.5in) From the Estate of William McCance.Exhibited: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, William McCance, 11 October-25 November 1990 The presence of cats is a constant throughout McCance’s oeuvre. One of his earliest known sculptures depicts a vorticist-style cat with an arched back (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160), which McCance then featured multiple times in his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). The National Galleries of Scotland hold a further McCance sculpture dating to c.1922-24 titled Abstract Cat (GMA 3620).  Cats also feature in the work of McCance’s wife, the artist Agnes Miller Parker. A master wood engraver, she also produced paintings, including the celebrated 1930 tempera composition The Uncivilised Cat (The Fleming Collection, 3259).This diverse array of cat compositions from McCance’s studio are rendered with profound affection. His sketches of reclining and sleeping cats (lots 7-8; 10-11) constitute a charming investigation into the animal’s movement and personality - McCance appears to have worked quickly and intuitively in order to complete his sketch before the cat’s position changed. Resting Cat (lot 9) may date to the early 1930s, when McCance and Miller Parker lived in a converted windmill near Wolverhampton, and sculpted with a gritty red clay which he fired at a local brickworks. The painting Spring (lot 12) is typical of the metaphysical themes of life, death and rebirth that appear to have preoccupied McCance throughout the 1940s, catalysed by the Second World War and the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. In Spring a cat, which may itself be a sculpture, feeds a litter of kittens next to a pale piece of bone. 

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) THREE GRAPHITE STUDIES OF CATS SLEEPING Pencil and graphite (3) each sheet 17.5cm x 23cm (7in x 9in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The presence of cats is a constant throughout McCance’s oeuvre. One of his earliest known sculptures depicts a vorticist-style cat with an arched back (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160), which McCance then featured multiple times in his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). The National Galleries of Scotland hold a further McCance sculpture dating to c.1922-24 titled Abstract Cat (GMA 3620).  Cats also feature in the work of McCance’s wife, the artist Agnes Miller Parker. A master wood engraver, she also produced paintings, including the celebrated 1930 tempera composition The Uncivilised Cat (The Fleming Collection, 3259).This diverse array of cat compositions from McCance’s studio are rendered with profound affection. His sketches of reclining and sleeping cats (lots 7-8; 10-11) constitute a charming investigation into the animal’s movement and personality - McCance appears to have worked quickly and intuitively in order to complete his sketch before the cat’s position changed. Resting Cat (lot 9) may date to the early 1930s, when McCance and Miller Parker lived in a converted windmill near Wolverhampton, and sculpted with a gritty red clay which he fired at a local brickworks. The painting Spring (lot 12) is typical of the metaphysical themes of life, death and rebirth that appear to have preoccupied McCance throughout the 1940s, catalysed by the Second World War and the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. In Spring a cat, which may itself be a sculpture, feeds a litter of kittens next to a pale piece of bone. 

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) THREE GRAPHITE STUDIES OF CATS Graphite on paper (3) two sheets 17.5cm x 23cm (7in x 9in); further sheet 25cm x 20.5cm (10in x 8in), each unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The presence of cats is a constant throughout McCance’s oeuvre. One of his earliest known sculptures depicts a vorticist-style cat with an arched back (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160), which McCance then featured multiple times in his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). The National Galleries of Scotland hold a further McCance sculpture dating to c.1922-24 titled Abstract Cat (GMA 3620).  Cats also feature in the work of McCance’s wife, the artist Agnes Miller Parker. A master wood engraver, she also produced paintings, including the celebrated 1930 tempera composition The Uncivilised Cat (The Fleming Collection, 3259).This diverse array of cat compositions from McCance’s studio are rendered with profound affection. His sketches of reclining and sleeping cats (lots 7-8; 10-11) constitute a charming investigation into the animal’s movement and personality - McCance appears to have worked quickly and intuitively in order to complete his sketch before the cat’s position changed. Resting Cat (lot 9) may date to the early 1930s, when McCance and Miller Parker lived in a converted windmill near Wolverhampton, and sculpted with a gritty red clay which he fired at a local brickworks. The painting Spring (lot 12) is typical of the metaphysical themes of life, death and rebirth that appear to have preoccupied McCance throughout the 1940s, catalysed by the Second World War and the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. In Spring a cat, which may itself be a sculpture, feeds a litter of kittens next to a pale piece of bone. 

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £700 - £900

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) RESTING CAT Fire clay sculpture with wooden base the sculpture 10cm x 27cm x 19cm (4in x 10.5in x 8in)  From the Estate of William McCance. The presence of cats is a constant throughout McCance’s oeuvre. One of his earliest known sculptures depicts a vorticist-style cat with an arched back (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160), which McCance then featured multiple times in his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). The National Galleries of Scotland hold a further McCance sculpture dating to c.1922-24 titled Abstract Cat (GMA 3620).  Cats also feature in the work of McCance’s wife, the artist Agnes Miller Parker. A master wood engraver, she also produced paintings, including the celebrated 1930 tempera composition The Uncivilised Cat (The Fleming Collection, 3259).This diverse array of cat compositions from McCance’s studio are rendered with profound affection. His sketches of reclining and sleeping cats (lots 7-8; 10-11) constitute a charming investigation into the animal’s movement and personality - McCance appears to have worked quickly and intuitively in order to complete his sketch before the cat’s position changed. Resting Cat (lot 9) may date to the early 1930s, when McCance and Miller Parker lived in a converted windmill near Wolverhampton, and sculpted with a gritty red clay which he fired at a local brickworks. The painting Spring (lot 12) is typical of the metaphysical themes of life, death and rebirth that appear to have preoccupied McCance throughout the 1940s, catalysed by the Second World War and the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. In Spring a cat, which may itself be a sculpture, feeds a litter of kittens next to a pale piece of bone. 

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) THREE LEFT-HANDED STUDIES OF CATS SLEEPING Each inscribed ‘left hand’ or ‘left handed drawing’, pencil and charcoal (3) each sheet 23cm x 18cm (9in x 7in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The presence of cats is a constant throughout McCance’s oeuvre. One of his earliest known sculptures depicts a vorticist-style cat with an arched back (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160), which McCance then featured multiple times in his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). The National Galleries of Scotland hold a further McCance sculpture dating to c.1922-24 titled Abstract Cat (GMA 3620).  Cats also feature in the work of McCance’s wife, the artist Agnes Miller Parker. A master wood engraver, she also produced paintings, including the celebrated 1930 tempera composition The Uncivilised Cat (The Fleming Collection, 3259).This diverse array of cat compositions from McCance’s studio are rendered with profound affection. His sketches of reclining and sleeping cats (lots 7-8; 10-11) constitute a charming investigation into the animal’s movement and personality - McCance appears to have worked quickly and intuitively in order to complete his sketch before the cat’s position changed. Resting Cat (lot 9) may date to the early 1930s, when McCance and Miller Parker lived in a converted windmill near Wolverhampton, and sculpted with a gritty red clay which he fired at a local brickworks. The painting Spring (lot 12) is typical of the metaphysical themes of life, death and rebirth that appear to have preoccupied McCance throughout the 1940s, catalysed by the Second World War and the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. In Spring a cat, which may itself be a sculpture, feeds a litter of kittens next to a pale piece of bone. 

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) THREE STUDIES OF CATS SLEEPING Ink, graphite and coloured pencil (3) each sheet 17.5cm x 23cm (7in x 9in) From the Estate of William McCance. The presence of cats is a constant throughout McCance’s oeuvre. One of his earliest known sculptures depicts a vorticist-style cat with an arched back (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160), which McCance then featured multiple times in his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). The National Galleries of Scotland hold a further McCance sculpture dating to c.1922-24 titled Abstract Cat (GMA 3620).  Cats also feature in the work of McCance’s wife, the artist Agnes Miller Parker. A master wood engraver, she also produced paintings, including the celebrated 1930 tempera composition The Uncivilised Cat (The Fleming Collection, 3259).This diverse array of cat compositions from McCance’s studio are rendered with profound affection. His sketches of reclining and sleeping cats (lots 7-8; 10-11) constitute a charming investigation into the animal’s movement and personality - McCance appears to have worked quickly and intuitively in order to complete his sketch before the cat’s position changed. Resting Cat (lot 9) may date to the early 1930s, when McCance and Miller Parker lived in a converted windmill near Wolverhampton, and sculpted with a gritty red clay which he fired at a local brickworks. The painting Spring (lot 12) is typical of the metaphysical themes of life, death and rebirth that appear to have preoccupied McCance throughout the 1940s, catalysed by the Second World War and the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. In Spring a cat, which may itself be a sculpture, feeds a litter of kittens next to a pale piece of bone. 

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £400 - £600

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) TREE STUDY Graphite and coloured pencil on buff paper the sheet 38cm x 25cm (15in x 10in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £250 - £350

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) PORTRAIT STUDY OF AGNES MILLER PARKER Pencil drawing the sheet 22.5cm x 17.5cm (9in x 7in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £700 - £900

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) SELF PORTRAIT - 1962 Signed with initials and dated upper left, further signed, inscribed with titled and dated verso, oil on board  45cm x 35cm (17in x 13.5in) From the Estate of William McCanceExhibited: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, William McCance, 11 October - 25 November, 1990. Inscription verso reads: ‘Painted at Barr by Girvan, September 1962’.The Art Edit presents paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance (1894–1970) and his circle. McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895-1980) moved to London in 1920 and were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts. Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography.In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years.In 1933, having relocated to a converted windmill in Albrighton near Wolverhampton, he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £400 - £600

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) SEATED FIGURE WITH FRUIT Signed in pencil lower left,  oil on board, with a further oil composition verso signed and dated '46 30.25cm x 40cm (12in x 15.75in), unframed  From the Estate of William McCance.  The 1935 fireclay sculpture Rhythmical Figure (lot 2) features in McCance’s 1945 watercolour wax resists Lucifer Nos. 1 & 3 (lots 1 & 32) and his 1946 oil painting Seated Figure with Fruit (lot 3). McCance depicted his own sculptures in his paintings from as early as 1920. The first known example of this productive inter-media dialogue is believed to be the 1921-22 sculpture Cat (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160) which features within his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). Sculpture could be easily manipulated in the studio to test various configurations, and proved conducive to the vorticist style McCance propounded in the 1920s, which promoted underlying geometric volumes.McCance ceased sculpting and painting in the early 1930s, owing to the significant workload at the Gregynog Press. It was not until 1933, having departed the Press and relocated to Wolverhampton, that he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £700 - £900

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) RHYTHMICAL FIGURE - 1935 Signed and indistinctly dated to lower back edge, fire clay sculpture   19cm x 27cm x 21cm (7.5in x 10.5in x 8in) From the Estate of William McCance.Hand-written label affixed to the base lists title, date and medium of the sculpture, indicates that the work was exhibited at Reading, no. 189 (?) and is also inscribed ‘Foyle’s 15.'Literature: Patrick Elliott, Wiliam McCance, 1894-1970, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1990, fig.11. This sculpture of a seated figure dates to 1935, when McCance was living in a converted windmill near Wolverhampton with his wife, the artist Agnes Miller Parker. McCance worked with gritty red clay which he fired at a local brickworks. His figurative sculptures from this period are stocky and curvaceous, and exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson.  Rhythmical Figure’s form is entirely smooth, except for the rough textured skirt and the fine incisions articulating the hands, body and facial features. McCance often depicted his own sculptures within his paintings and drawings, a practice of inter-media dialogue he had developed in the early 1920s. He evidently retained Rhythmical Figure as a studio prop long after it was fired, as it features in his 1945 watercolours Lucifer Nos. 1 & 3 (lots 1 & 32) and his 1946 oil painting Seated Figure with Fruit (lot 3). 

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Jun. 25, 2025

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £400 - £600

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) LUCIFER NO.1 - 1945 Signed and dated ‘45 upper right, inscribed in pencil verso ‘No. 1, Lucifer, Resist’, watercolour wax resist with ink and pencil the sheet 34cm x 43.5cm (13.5in x 17.25in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The 1935 fireclay sculpture Rhythmical Figure (lot 2) features in McCance’s 1945 watercolour wax resists Lucifer Nos. 1 & 3 (lots 1 & 32) and his 1946 oil painting Seated Figure with Fruit (lot 3). McCance depicted his own sculptures in his paintings from as early as 1920. The first known example of this productive inter-media dialogue is believed to be the 1921-22 sculpture Cat (National Galleries of Scotland, GMA 5160) which features within his 1922 painting Primeval Movement (private collection). Sculpture could be easily manipulated in the studio to test various configurations, and proved conducive to the vorticist style McCance propounded in the 1920s, which promoted underlying geometric volumes.McCance ceased sculpting and painting in the early 1930s, owing to the significant workload at the Gregynog Press. It was not until 1933, having departed the Press and relocated to Wolverhampton, that he began to work on figurative red clay compositions which he fired at a local brickworks. Their curvature and solidity exhibit an affinity with the contemporary output of Henry Moore and Frank Dobson. These sculptures feature repeatedly throughout McCance’s still life paintings of the 1940s, and while McCance’s style had by this point changed substantially, his use of sculptural studio props endured.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • McCance, William (1894-1970)
    Feb. 05, 2025

    McCance, William (1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £400

    McCance, William (1894-1970) Collection of books from the library of William McCance, Scottish artist and controller of the Gregynog Press Including: 9 books printed under McCance's supervision at Reading University School of Art (Muriel Kent, Our Village by Mary Russell Mitford, 1948, linocut frontispiece; J. M. R. Cormack, Notes on the History of the Inscribed Monuments of Aphrodisias, 1955, one of 250 copies; K. G. Burton, The Memorandums of John Watts Esq. Mayor of Reading 1722-23 and 1728-29, 1950, one of 120 copies, inscribed ‘Please return to W. McCance, Reading University’ on front pastedown; and similar); Gaudier Brzeska, a Memoir by Ezra Pound, 1916 (first edition, 4to, original green cloth, with William McCance's large linocut bookplate, designed and cut by himself, 12.5 x 9cm); The Fleuron No. 2, 1926 (4to, original quarter cloth, ownership inscription of William McCance to front free endpaper); Vincent Steer, Printing Design and Layout, c.1930 (4to, original cloth, ownership inscription ‘W McCance, Typography Dept’ to front free endpaper, annotations identifying typefaces to half-title and title-page, 2 leaves of manuscript notes laid in); and 27 others, general literature including paperbacks and reprints, either with McCance's ownership inscriptions or gift inscriptions to McCance (often naming him as ‘Mac’), 4 of which inscribed to McCance and his wife Agnes Miller Parker, one work (Robert Gibbings, Sweet Thames Run Softly, 1940) inscribed ‘To Willie, from Agnes, Xmas 1940’, together with one work (John Donne, Love Poems, Zodiac Books, 1950) inscribed ‘To Dearest Agnes, with much love Edna, Xmas 1952’ (40) Mrs Margaret McCance, second wife of William McCance. William McCance married Agnes Miller Parker in 1918. In 1930 he was appointed controller of the Gregynog Press, in Powys, Wales, remaining in the position for three years. In the 1940s and '50s he served as lecturer in typography and book production at the University of Reading, living during that period at Pheasant's Hill, Hambleden, Buckinghamshire.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) THREE CAT SKETCHES Pencil sketch (3) each 17.5cm x 23cm (7in x 9in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit is delighted to present paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance and his circle. The collection includes a portrait of McCance’s first wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), cards printed and inscribed by artist friends, and designs produced during McCance’s tenure as Controller of the Gregynog Press. All works come from the Artist’s Estate and have never before appeared on the market. Like any modernist worth his salt, William McCance sought to document twentieth century industrial life. His subject is often domestic, but is realised using a vorticist schematisation which promotes underlying geometric volumes. Thus, organic forms assume an almost mechanised quality: a human figure is transformed into a strange automaton; a grove of trees is delineated as if it were a cluster of factory pipes. McCance moved to London in 1920 with Agnes Miller Parker, where they were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts; Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography. In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years. By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) THREE RED NUDE STUDIES - 1930 Each signed and dated, pencil and coloured chalk (3) 52.5cm x 40cm (20.75in x 15.75in); 52.5cm x 40cm (20.75in x 15.75in); 46cm x 30.5cm (18in x 12in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £500 - £700

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) THREE DRAWINGS: SCRUBBING; WORKING; SLEEPING Pencil on paper (3) 30.5cm x 40.5cm (12in x 16in); 40.5cm x 30.5cm (16in x 12in); 32cm x 22cm (12.5in x 8.75in) From the Estate of William McCance.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) TWO STANDING NUDE STUDIES - 1930 Each signed and dated to the lower edge, pencil and charcoal, mounted together each sheet 36.75cm x 24cm (14.5in x 9.5in) From the Estate of William McCance.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) THREE WOOD ENGRAVINGS MOUNTED TOGETHER llustration to 'Clych Atgot' (a);Illustration to ‘Clych Atgot' (b);Memorial to Sir John Rhys, signed in print (3) image size 13cm x 9cm (5in x 3.5in); 4.25cm x 5.5cm (1.75in x 2.25in); 10.25cm x 8.5cm (4.25in x 3.25in), each unframed From the Estate of William McCance. Exhibited: Dundee City Art Gallery, William McCance Exhibition, cat.no.50

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £200 - £300

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) INITIALS FOR 'THE FABLES OF ESOPE' ‘Series B’, wood engravings, Artist's Proof, numbered 3, 6 and 12/12, signed, inscribed with title and editioned in pencil to lower edge (3); ‘Series C’, wood engraving, Artist's Proof, numbered 12/12, signed, inscribed with title and editioned in pencil to lower edge (1); Further untitled and uneditioned print with initials (1). (5 works total) ‘Series B’ and ‘C’ 26.25cm x 14.5cm (10.5in x 5.75in); untitled print 26cm x 39.5cm (10.25in x 15.5in), all unframed From the Estate of William McCance. These initials were designed and engraved by McCance for the Gregynog Press edition of the Fables of Aesop (1932), which also featured illustrations by Agnes Miller Parker. The Art Edit is delighted to present paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance and his circle. The collection includes a portrait of McCance’s first wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), cards printed and inscribed by artist friends, and designs produced during McCance’s tenure as Controller of the Gregynog Press. All works come from the Artist’s Estate and have never before appeared on the market. Like any modernist worth his salt, William McCance sought to document twentieth century industrial life. His subject is often domestic, but is realised using a vorticist schematisation which promotes underlying geometric volumes. Thus, organic forms assume an almost mechanised quality: a human figure is transformed into a strange automaton; a grove of trees is delineated as if it were a cluster of factory pipes. McCance moved to London in 1920 with Agnes Miller Parker, where they were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts; Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography. In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years. By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) FIGURE IN GREEN AND BLACK - 1955 Signed and dated lower right, monotype print with overlay ink and pencil drawing on brown paper 30cm x 20cm (12in x 8in) From the Estate of William McCance. Exhibited: Reading Museum, 1960; McKechnie Institute, Girvan, 1972; Ewan Mundy Fine Art. The Art Edit is delighted to present paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance and his circle. The collection includes a portrait of McCance’s first wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), cards printed and inscribed by artist friends, and designs produced during McCance’s tenure as Controller of the Gregynog Press. All works come from the Artist’s Estate and have never before appeared on the market. Like any modernist worth his salt, William McCance sought to document twentieth century industrial life. His subject is often domestic, but is realised using a vorticist schematisation which promotes underlying geometric volumes. Thus, organic forms assume an almost mechanised quality: a human figure is transformed into a strange automaton; a grove of trees is delineated as if it were a cluster of factory pipes. McCance moved to London in 1920 with Agnes Miller Parker, where they were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts; Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography. In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years. By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) RECLINING GIANT - 1945 Signed and dated '45 lower right, watercolour wax resist and pencil 27cm x 37.5cm (10.75in x 37.5in) From the Estate of William McCance. Exhibited: Dundee City Art Gallery, cat.no.52; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1990 The Art Edit is delighted to present paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance and his circle. The collection includes a portrait of McCance’s first wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), cards printed and inscribed by artist friends, and designs produced during McCance’s tenure as Controller of the Gregynog Press. All works come from the Artist’s Estate and have never before appeared on the market. Like any modernist worth his salt, William McCance sought to document twentieth century industrial life. His subject is often domestic, but is realised using a vorticist schematisation which promotes underlying geometric volumes. Thus, organic forms assume an almost mechanised quality: a human figure is transformed into a strange automaton; a grove of trees is delineated as if it were a cluster of factory pipes. McCance moved to London in 1920 with Agnes Miller Parker, where they were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts; Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography. In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years. By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) TWO NUDE STUDIES Signed and dated 1930 lower right, pencil and charcoal, and an unmounted companion, pencil and charcoal (2) each 51cm x 38cm (20in x 15in)  From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit is delighted to present paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance and his circle. The collection includes a portrait of McCance’s first wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), cards printed and inscribed by artist friends, and designs produced during McCance’s tenure as Controller of the Gregynog Press. All works come from the Artist’s Estate and have never before appeared on the market. Like any modernist worth his salt, William McCance sought to document twentieth century industrial life. His subject is often domestic, but is realised using a vorticist schematisation which promotes underlying geometric volumes. Thus, organic forms assume an almost mechanised quality: a human figure is transformed into a strange automaton; a grove of trees is delineated as if it were a cluster of factory pipes. McCance moved to London in 1920 with Agnes Miller Parker, where they were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts; Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography. In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years. By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) IMPROVISED SEATED FIGURE - 1955 Monotype, signed with initials in pencil lower left 21cm x 24.5cm (8.25in x 9.75in) From the Estate of William McCance. Exhibited: Reading Museum and Art Gallery, 1960, no.134 The Art Edit is delighted to present paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance and his circle. The collection includes a portrait of McCance’s first wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), cards printed and inscribed by artist friends, and designs produced during McCance’s tenure as Controller of the Gregynog Press. All works come from the Artist’s Estate and have never before appeared on the market. Like any modernist worth his salt, William McCance sought to document twentieth century industrial life. His subject is often domestic, but is realised using a vorticist schematisation which promotes underlying geometric volumes. Thus, organic forms assume an almost mechanised quality: a human figure is transformed into a strange automaton; a grove of trees is delineated as if it were a cluster of factory pipes. McCance moved to London in 1920 with Agnes Miller Parker, where they were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts; Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography. In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years. By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £1,000 - £1,500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) TREES Watercolour and pencil 24cm x 35.5cm (9.5in x 14in) From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit is delighted to present paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance and his circle. The collection includes a portrait of McCance’s first wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), cards printed and inscribed by artist friends, and designs produced during McCance’s tenure as Controller of the Gregynog Press. All works come from the Artist’s Estate and have never before appeared on the market. Like any modernist worth his salt, William McCance sought to document twentieth century industrial life. His subject is often domestic, but is realised using a vorticist schematisation which promotes underlying geometric volumes. Thus, organic forms assume an almost mechanised quality: a human figure is transformed into a strange automaton; a grove of trees is delineated as if it were a cluster of factory pipes. McCance moved to London in 1920 with Agnes Miller Parker, where they were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts; Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography. In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years. By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £400 - £600

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) PORTRAIT OF AGNES MILLER PARKER; BLUE NUDE IN AN ORKNEY CHAIR - 1930 Portrait of Agnes Miller Parker, charcoal;Blue Nude in an Orkney Chair, signed and dated lower left, charcoal and blue chalk (2) the sheet 26cm x 25cm (10.25in x 9.75in); 50.5cm x 38cm (20in x 15in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit is delighted to present paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance and his circle. The collection includes a portrait of McCance’s first wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), cards printed and inscribed by artist friends, and designs produced during McCance’s tenure as Controller of the Gregynog Press. All works come from the Artist’s Estate and have never before appeared on the market. Like any modernist worth his salt, William McCance sought to document twentieth century industrial life. His subject is often domestic, but is realised using a vorticist schematisation which promotes underlying geometric volumes. Thus, organic forms assume an almost mechanised quality: a human figure is transformed into a strange automaton; a grove of trees is delineated as if it were a cluster of factory pipes. McCance moved to London in 1920 with Agnes Miller Parker, where they were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts; Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography. In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years. By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
  • § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)
    Oct. 02, 2024

    § WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970)

    Est: £300 - £500

    WILLIAM MCCANCE (SCOTTISH 1894-1970) TWO NUDE STUDIES - 1930 Signed and dated lower edge, pencil and charcoal, mounted together image sizes 34cm x 17.5cm (13.25in x 7in); 33cm x 17.5cm (13in x 7in), unframed From the Estate of William McCance. The Art Edit is delighted to present paintings, drawings and prints by William McCance and his circle. The collection includes a portrait of McCance’s first wife Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), cards printed and inscribed by artist friends, and designs produced during McCance’s tenure as Controller of the Gregynog Press. All works come from the Artist’s Estate and have never before appeared on the market. Like any modernist worth his salt, William McCance sought to document twentieth century industrial life. His subject is often domestic, but is realised using a vorticist schematisation which promotes underlying geometric volumes. Thus, organic forms assume an almost mechanised quality: a human figure is transformed into a strange automaton; a grove of trees is delineated as if it were a cluster of factory pipes. McCance moved to London in 1920 with Agnes Miller Parker, where they were amongst the earliest Scots to adopt a Wyndham Lewis-inspired vorticism. Their mutual inclination towards line and pattern lent itself well to the graphic arts; Miller Parker was a talented wood engraver and illustrator, while McCance worked across painting, printmaking, design, sculpture, writing and typography. In 1930 McCance became second Controller of the Gregynog Press, a significant private press in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The Press flourished under his stewardship, and he oversaw the production of several exquisite limited edition publications. Gregynog was unique at the time in that publications were printed, typset, illustrated and bound under one roof. McCance and Miller Parker contributed designs and engravings, as did the artists Gertrude Hermes (1901–1983) and Blair Hughes Stanton (1902-1981), who was also employed at the Press in a directorial capacity. However, owing to fraught relations with the owners of the Press, McCance resigned after three years. By 1943 McCance was lecturer in Typography and Book Production at the University of Reading. The few works from this later period held in public collection indicate a preoccupation with the Venus of Laussel, the c.25,000 year old limestone figure of a female nude discovered in 1911 in a rock shelter in the Dordogne. McCance likely encountered the Venus during a visit to the region after the Second World War, and nude figures with smooth simplified curves inspired by the Venus recurred within his work hereon. McCance parted ways with Miller Parker in 1955, and by 1960 he had retired to Scotland. He died in Ayrshire in 1970.

    Lyon & Turnbull
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