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The personal collection of works by Ralph Steadman, given to Derek Morrison, the Managing Director who helped transform Oddbins into the most talked about wine merchant in Britain, is to be sold at Aubreys Auctioneers in Guildford on Thursday 24th September 2026.
It is a single-owner collection, meaning everything in it comes from one man and one story, and it brings together original works by Ralph Steadman, the artist Derek hired to give Oddbins its wild personality, alongside Derek's own cellar of vintage ports, wines and spirits.
It was Derek Morrison who, in the 1980s, brought Steadman in to illustrate the groundbreaking Oddbins wine list. Steadman travelled the vineyards of France, Spain, Chile and Australia, and the splattered, riotous pictures that followed became inseparable from the Oddbins name and grew into his wine books, The Grapes of Ralph and Untrodden Grapes. The two men worked together for some twelve years.
The friendship shows in the work. Steadman gave Derek the very first signed copy of The Grapes of Ralph, inscribing it, "Since you started it all this is only right, that you should have the first signed copy." In the book itself he dedicated it to "Derek Morrison, Oddbins MD, a generous tyrant of irascible yet thoughtful appreciation, who knows bugger-all about art but knows what's good for him, and it shows." In one picture, Steadman even painted Derek himself into a scene from the book.
This Ralph Steadman auction offers 12 framed original works by the artist together with 25 signed copies, among them a winter vineyard scene of Nebbiolo vines painted in 1990 and the mischievous wine-carrier freewheeling downhill on a bicycle. Ralph Steadman original art rarely comes to market in this quantity, and these Ralph Steadman wine art pieces are joined by lots from Derek's own cellar, including a 1975 vintage Armagnac, a 1977 Croft vintage port, and a Harveys blend bottled to mark the 150th anniversary of the Great Western Railway.
"Every so often something comes in where the story is as good as the object, and this is one of those," said Aubrey Dawson, Owner and Managing Director at Aubreys. "You are not just buying a Steadman. You are buying the pictures that a man kept on his own walls, by the artist he brought to Oddbins, one of them with the man himself painted into it. For anyone who remembers what Oddbins did to wine in this country, it does not get much better."
Ralph Steadman is best known for his work with the writer Hunter S. Thompson, but his wine art earned him a devoted following of its own, and original Steadman prints and paintings rarely come to market with provenance as close to the source as this.
"Dad believed in living life large," said his daughter. "He looked at these pictures every morning over breakfast, eggs and bacon with a glass in hand. The art was loved and it had a life. I hope others enjoy it as much as he did."
The collection can be viewed at Aubreys' saleroom at Loseley Park, Guildford, on Tuesday 22nd September, 10am to 5pm, and Wednesday 23rd September, 10am to 5pm, with bidding live online at auctions.aubreys.com.
Aubreys Auctioneers & Valuers is an independent, family-run auction house at Loseley Park, Guildford, with an office in Mayfair, London, holding monthly specialist sales of jewellery, watches, silver, fine art and antiques, streamed live to international bidders. Free valuations, including home visits across Surrey and London: www.aubreys.com/free-valuation
Contacts: info@aubreys.com · Surrey saleroom 01483 963250 · London office 0207 0500729
Addresses: 18 Loseley Park, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1HS · 12 Hay Hill, Mayfair, London W1J 8NR
