Paisley Art Institute sells over 90 paintings to raise more than £1.5m

A painting of Paisley from the 19th century has sold for more than £500,000 as part of £1.5m fundraiser.

The artwork, one of more than 90 paintings sold by the Paisley Art Institute, depicts socialites at a tennis party in 1899 and fetched a price of £537,700.

Paisley Art Institute, a collective run by artists and art lovers, was formed in 1876 and has been collecting work since 1914.

The art institution decided to sell a quarter of its historic collection amid a row over space allocated in the town’s new museum, and said the £1.5m raised by the auction would support the rest of the collection and its work in its new home in Glasgow Art Club.

Pink and Gold sold for over £250,000 Lyon and Turnbull via Supplied

Among the other paintings sold was a portrait of a woman titled Pink and Gold, which sold for £250,200, while George Henry’s Banks of Allan Water triptych sold privately to a Scottish collector for £237,650.

The total raised from the sale of works was £1.63m at Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh.

Other paintings included Sir James Gutherie’s The Stonebreaker, which sold for £75,200, David Forrester Wilson’s Passing Day selling for £57,700 and Stanley Cursiter’s Lobster Fisherman, which sold for £30,200.

James McNaught, associate director, said: “Lyon & Turnbull was delighted to offer a fantastic selection of works from the illustrious PAI collection.

“The funds raised from the sale will continue the work of the PAI supporting artists across Scotland.”