A WAREHAM auction house's first venture into the modern art market has been hailed a success.

Cottees Auction House, Wareham, sold paintings from three acclaimed modern artists - Paul Nash, Fred Yates and Lawrence Durrell.

Paul Nash, an acclaimed figure in modern art who was a frequent visitor to Purbeck throughout the late 1930s, has work hanging in the Tate Gallery.

Cottees , at its sale earlier this month, sold one of his pencil sketches and an original watercolour for £6,325. The drawing was an early sketch for his major work 'The Whiteleaf Cross' which hangs in the Whitworth gallery, Manchester.

Auctioneer John Condie, of Cottees, said: "I was very pleased by the results of the sale and all the works by the major artists that we featured were a one hundred per cent sell out, proving that small auction rooms can achieve big results."

Two Yates paintings of local interest, featuring the Wellington Clock Tower and the old fishermen's huts near Swanage lifeboat slipway, sold for £1,100 and £1,000

John explained: "Fred Yates was a contemporary of L S Lowry and like Lowry his art recorded a disappearing England of mills and factories, working class holidays at the seaside and the grind of daily routine.

"His style was naive and childlike but the bright colours are reminiscent of his hero Van Gogh."

The third artist featuring at the sale, Lawrence Durrell, was also an important 20th century painter - although he is more famed as a writer.

"Durrell often signed his work under the name Oscar Epfs and several pictures bore this signature, " explained Mr Condie. "Ten original works as well as books and ephemera relating to Durrell sold for a total £7,300."

His brother was Gerald Durrell, the zoo owner, and Lawrence led a bohemian lifestyle in the 1960s and 1970s.