A private collection of signed prints by iconic American singer-songwriter and artist Bob Dylan sold for £30,000 at Shropshire’s leading auction house today (Wednesday) as buyers were attracted from across Europe.
11/07/2025
The collection was consigned by a Shropshire collector to Halls Fine Art’s Modern and Contemporary Art and Design Auction at the Battlefield saleroom in Shrewsbury.
The star lot was ‘Side Tracks’, a 131 cm by 100 cm, hand embellished giclee print with watercolour and gouache painted by Dylan on February 21, 1974 in Los Angeles, which sold for £20,000 to a Spanish buyer.
‘Train Tracks in Green’ and ‘Sunflowers’, both from Dylan’s ‘The Drawn Blank Series’, sold for £2,200 and £1,000 respectively, while ‘Favela Villa Broncos’, from ‘The Brazil Series’, found a buyer at £950.
Other leading prices from the collection were £900 each for ‘House on Union Street’ and ‘Bicycle’, both from ‘The Drawn Blank Series’.
A framed Stratocaster electric guitar, bearing Dylan’s ink signature to the scratch plate, with accompanying 'Star Entertainment certificate', sold for £310. More than half of the 20 lots on offer from the collection were sold, with two going to Norway and the majority being sold to bidders in the saleroom.
The prints, which were painted by Dylan during his travels across the America and Europe, carried estimates of between £800 to £1,200. They were purchased by the private collector from Washington Green Fine Art, Birmingham and all in excellent condition.
Dylan’s most popular prints are those from his ‘Side Tracks’ series, based on the ‘Train Tracks’ sketch which first appeared in his ‘Drawn Blank’ series.
‘Side Tracks’ is a running series of more than 300 giclée prints, each featuring the same ‘Train Tracks’ image, which is then hand-embellished by Dylan, making each one unique. All the prints are individually named after a specific location and date, usually corresponding to a concert Dylan played at some point between 1961 and 2013.
Abigail Molenaar, Halls Fine Art’s paintings and prints specialist, said: “The auction highlighted the strong international market for Bob Dylan prints, especially when they have good provenance, are in good condition and ready to hang.
“Bob Dylan is a global popular culture icon who transcends different genres and his work is always collectable. We would like to sell more collections like this one.”
Dylan became the first singer-songwriter to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 and, three years later, held his first comprehensive solo exhibition in the Modern Art Museum Shanghai, which attracted more than 100,000 visitors in the first three months.
He is best known as a songwriter, with his famous songs including ‘The Times They Are a-Changin', ‘Blowin' in the Wind’, ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’.
Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, Dylan’s life is captured in the 2024 biographical musical drama film ‘A Complete Unknown’.
Other leading prices were £1,000 for a Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976) signed lithograph titled ‘On the Sands’ and £850 and £750 for two John Piper (1903-1992) screenprints of ‘Capesthorne’ and ‘Ettington Park’, respectively.
A mixed media, pencil, oil and pastel by Geoffrey Key titled ‘Three Figures’ sold for £600 and Damien Hirst’s screenprint ‘No News Today, The Independent Newspaper 16th May 2006’ signed by the artist and Irish rock star Bono made £440.
An artist’s proof print of ‘Pride in Prejudice by Donald Trump’ with a stylised Penguin book cover by The Connor Brothers, known for their witty, often cynical, commentary, sold for £750.
In the design section, a Danish style desk armchair in the manner of Arne Wahl Iversen sold for £190 and a mid-20th century Danish style teak sideboard and a 1920s gilt wood standard lamp and lampshade attributed to Alfred Chambon (Belgian, 1884-1973), sold for £180 each.
For more information, please contact Abigail Molenaar at Halls Fine Art on Tel: 01743 450700 or email fineart@hallsgb.com
+44 (0)1743 450 700
fineart@hallsgb.com
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