Describing the offered painting as the Mona Lisa of golf paintings may be a tad extreme; though it would not be inaccurate to call this one of the finest golf paintings currently in private hands.

     This painting, Charles Edmund (C.E.) Brock’s The Bunker was painted in 1894. It is important to note that C.E. Brock was not a golf painter, nor was he a sports painter at all. Brock was a celebrated British painter and illustrator in the late 1800s and very early 1900s. Back in a time when well-known painters were hired to illustrate the pages of popular books, Brock cemented his place in history forever by painting for some of the literary giants of his time, including Charles Dickens. Brock first received a taste of fame when he illustrated Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels at only 24 years of age in 1894 – the same year he painted the Bunker. In fact, Brock achieved so much wealth that he retired from painting in 1910 at the age of 40 and never painted another work in his final 28 years of life. 

     Brock is believed to have only painted three golf paintings in his entire career – The Bunker; The Drive; and The Putt – all of which were painted in 1894 as part of the same series. These paintings were famously acquired together by a Japanese collector in 1991 for an astounding $1.5 million (photo below: Golfiana Magazine, Volume 3, Number 4 (1991)). That pegs the “per painting” sales price for each of the three paintings at $500,000. In our opinion, however, that number is misleading, as any expert will tell you that The Bunker is the most impressive of Brock’s 3 golf paintings, and would surely sell for a substantial premium above the other two works. Outside the world of golf collecting, Brock’s original paintings are rare, but also have an impressive track record of high sales prices in the art world. One non-golf Brock painting to be sold publicly was a much later painting of the Queen Mother which sold for over $150,000 at a Lyon & Turnbull auction in the UK. In fact, the value of Brock’s works in the art world is such that it is debatable whether the offered work is best sold in a golf auction; perhaps instead belonging alongside Master works at a Sotheby’s or Christie’s art auction. But at the end of the day, we really want to see this piece ultimately reside in a prominent golf collection.

     But please don’t let the prior sales figure of $500,000 deter you. This painting is being offered with a very modest reserve price and will be finding a new home at the conclusion of this auction.

    The Bunker by C.E. Brock is an oil painting on board. It measures 12" x 15.5" and has been framed to 17" x 21". The painting is signed “C.E. Brock 1894” on the bottom left. 

             We have included photographs of a few times when The Bunker has been featured in published works. This includes the cover of Golfiana Magazine (1991), the cover of Christie’s Auction Catalog (July 2000), and page 278 of Golf Through The Ages: 600 Years of Golfing Art (2004). While these items are not included in this auction, we will gladly help the winning bidder track down copies for their archives.