This past November, we celebrated a decade of innovative fundraising with our 10th anniversary auction. From highly collectable Royal Academicians to the most exciting emerging names in contemporary art, this auction marked Art on a Postcard’s largest fundraising project yet. The global online auction ran via Art on a Postcard from 5 – 19 November, with a private view on 12 November at Gathering London.
Since 2014, Art on a Postcard had raised more than £2 million for The Hepatitis C Trust through support from immovable art icons like Damien Hirst, Marina Abramović, Peter Blake RA, Grayson Perry RA, Chantal Joffe RA, Christina Quarles and Claudette Johnson among many others in the charity’s signature postcard auctions, which were also considered an unmissable opportunity for spotting new talent as well as acquiring mini-masterpieces by world-famous, sought-after names.
2024 marked 10 years since Gemma Peppé founded Art on a Postcard to raise funds for the Hepatitis C Trust in response to her decades-long battle with hepatitis C, at a time when there was little information, support or research available. After hepatitis C testing became available, Gemma led the Trust’s Get Tested campaign.
“…an institution in the fundraising world” - Financial Times
Our 10th-anniversary auction came when the Hepatitis C Trust was on the cusp of delivering its life-changing goal of eliminating Hepatitis C by 2030. The Tenth Anniversary Auction featured the provocative Wynnie Mynerva, whose work challenges societal norms around gender and desire and Florine Démosthène, an internationally celebrated artist exploring identity and culture.
The auction also featured acclaimed names like Charming Baker, recognised for his darkly humorous, classically inspired works, and Chris Levine, a pioneer of light art, best known for his iconic portraits of HM Queen Elizabeth II.
Antony Micallef, known for his powerful expressionist paintings that blur the line between painting and sculpture, Emma Cousin, who contributed her surreal, vibrant explorations of human experience, and Mali Morris RA, who offered her luminous abstract pieces that play with complex colour relationships, also contributed.
Further notable contributors included Stephen Chambers RA, whose patterned, geometric works had been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, and Oona Grimes RA, whose multidisciplinary approach spanned drawing, ceramics, and film. Katherine Jones RA, brought her meditative works that blend printmaking and painting, and Mick Rooney RA, his narrative-driven compositions that frequently drew on myth and history. Nathalie
Du Pasquier, founding member of the Memphis Group, contributed vibrant experimental pieces that blurred the boundaries between painting and object. Helen Beard added a fresh perspective with her vivid, textural depictions of intimacy, while David Harrison presented his fantastical and surreal interpretations of the natural world and Roland Hicks brought his meticulous paintings that hovered between abstraction and realism.
Bobbie Russon’s contemplative figurative works and Ryan Mosley’s narrative pieces with rich historical references were also showcased, alongside Emma Richardson's oil paintings which investigated themes of female desire and transcendence, while Clayton Schiff’s haunting figures offered a quiet reflection on human nature.
In addition, bidders looked forward to Hayden Kays’ Pop Art sensibilities, Charlotte Keates’ compositions inspired by modernist architecture and natural environments, Nana Wolke’s film-like analysis of actual and artificial realities, Adrian Dica’s mixed-media works juxtaposing industrial ruins with unexpected elements, and John Stark’s evocative landscapes blending the spiritual and material worlds.
Anne Rothenstein’s delicate, layered oil paintings invited emotional reflection, and Alyson Helyer’s surreal portraits delved into the complexities of human identity. Klodin Erb presented her expressive explorations of gender and identity. At the same time, Anna Rock’s fragmented, pattern-rich compositions blurred the lines between memory and reality, and Atticus Gordon explored the processes of meaning-making in painting.
Curators of the November auction included longtime Art on a Postcard supporter and Soho Revue founder India Rose James, Jealous Gallery founder Dario Illari, artist and founder of The Bomb Factory Pallas Citroen, The Auction Collective founder Tom Best, Benjamin Murphy and Nick J Smith of Delphian Gallery, and Art on a Postcard founder Gemma Peppé.
“I’ve been a big supporter of Art on a Postcard and been to every exhibition since it started so I feel really honoured. In the past I would bid for any tiny little piece that I could. I’d go through the auction lots and see a really big name and I think “god I could never get that in a gallery” - I loved that aspect of their charity.” – India Rose James
Photography by Peter Lally (@mutualblank).
