# John Banting artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/john-banting/
Profile generated: 2026-05-25T12:47:23.890Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1902-05-12
- Nationality: British, English
- Movements: Surrealism, Bloomsbury Group
- Common media: painting, drawing, commercial and decorative design, book illustration and design

## About John Banting

John Banting (1902–1972) was an English painter, writer, and designer recognised as one of the few genuinely Surrealist artists working in Britain. Born in Chelsea, London, he trained at Vincent Square art school under Bernard Meninsky and at the free academies in Paris before establishing a studio in Fitzroy Street and joining the Bloomsbury Group circle. His designs for Leonard and Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press and for ballets at Sadler's Wells established his reputation in the 1920s and 1930s. After encountering Surrealism in Paris in 1930, Banting adopted its conventions for satirical and political purposes — a direction the novelist Anthony Powell credited as making him "the only true English Surrealist painter." His left-wing convictions led him to Spain during the Civil War and into a committed Stalinist position within the Surrealist movement. He also contributed to Nancy Cunard's landmark Negro anthology (1935) and published his own illustrated satirical work, A Blue Book of Conversation (1946).

## Common works and media

Banting worked across a range of media. Oil and acrylic paintings — particularly surrealist figurative compositions from the 1930s onward — form his core fine-art output. He also produced drawings, prints, and works on paper. Beyond easel art, he created commercial and decorative designs, book jackets and illustrations for the Hogarth Press, and costume or set designs for ballet productions at Sadler's Wells. His written and illustrated satirical book A Blue Book of Conversation represents a crossover between literary and visual work. Collectors may also encounter exhibition catalogues, posters, and ephemera related to the International Exhibition of Surrealism (1936) and his Bloomsbury Group associations.

## Market and appraisal context

John Banting's work appears at auction primarily within Modern British Art and Surrealist Art sales. His paintings and drawings from the 1930s Surrealist period are the most sought-after category, while his commercial designs, book illustrations, and ballet-related works reach a narrower collector base. Provenance linked to notable associates — such as Nancy Cunard, the Bloomsbury Group, or the 1936 International Exhibition of Surrealism — can affect collector interest. As a figure who remained on the margins of mainstream Surrealism, Banting's auction results are modest relative to better-known movement members. Collectors should verify attribution carefully, as his output spans fine art, applied design, and literary illustration. Appraisals benefit from comparable lots at major auction houses and clear identification of medium, date, and provenance.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine published artist-identity research from museum, library-authority, and encyclopedic sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realised prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For John Banting, identity data is drawn from Tate, the Getty ULAN, VIAF, Wikidata, and the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History. Market observations are based on published biographical context and should be supplemented with specific comparable auction results for formal appraisal.

## Sources

- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-banting-691
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6220564
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/17492518/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500028747
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/4238
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Banting