# Cedric Morris artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/cedric-morris/
Profile generated: 2026-05-27T19:44:12.878Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1889-12-11
- Death date: 1982-02-08
- Nationality: British
- Movements: British figurative painting, 20th century
- Common media: oil painting, illustration

## About Cedric Morris

Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris (1889–1982) was a British painter, illustrator and plantsman born in Swansea, Wales. Best known for his vivid flower paintings, portraits and landscapes, Morris developed a distinctive figurative style that remained independent of the major modernist movements of his era. He studied and worked in Paris and London before settling in East Anglia, where he co-founded the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing with Arthur Lett-Haines at Benton End, Hadleigh. Among his notable students was Lucian Freud. Alongside his painting career, Morris was a celebrated horticulturist who bred award-winning garden plants, particularly irises. He held the title of 9th Baronet. His work is held by major public collections including Tate and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

## Common works and media

Oil paintings on canvas and board are the most frequently encountered medium. Common subjects include flower still lifes (particularly irises, poppies and tulips), bird portraits, landscapes of the Suffolk and East Anglian countryside, and figurative portraits. Works range from small intimate studies to larger exhibition-scale canvases. Illustrations and works on paper also appear occasionally at auction.

## Market and appraisal context

Cedric Morris paintings appear regularly at auction, with strong representation in Modern British and Post-War sales. His flower paintings, especially iris and bird subjects from the Benton End period, tend to attract the strongest collector demand. Portraits and landscapes also appear with some frequency. Collectors should consider provenance linking works to the East Anglian School, the condition of the paint surface—Morris often worked on board—and whether the subject is a characteristic flower study or a less common genre. No published catalogue raisonné is currently available, so attribution relies on stylistic analysis and documented provenance.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine researched artist identity with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices and comparable lots when those records are available. Information on this page is drawn from public museum and library authority sources including Tate, Getty ULAN, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, and Wikidata.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/57836
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-cedric-morris-bt-1667
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5057131
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/5874041/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500021653
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedric_Morris
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84050762
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/48174