Iconic Oddbins artwork to go under the hammer

By James Lawrence

Published: 23 September, 2026

A personal collection of Ralph Steadman artwork, retained by a former Oddbins executive, will be auctioned this month.

Renowned for bringing the celebrated illustrator into the wine trade, MD Derek Morrison commissioned Steadman to illustrate the retailer's wine list in the 1980s, at a time when Oddbins was helping to reshape the promotion and sale of wine to UK consumers.

The collaboration was extremely fruitful – Steadman worked with Oddbins for 12 years, subsequently producing two wine books: The Grapes of Ralph and Untrodden Grapes.

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According to the auctioneer Aubreys: "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."

Steadman's illustrations were wonderfully irreverent and highly appropriate to Oddbins' (then) revolutionary approach to marketing and communication.

"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 MD 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."

The auction will take place at Aubreys Guildford saleroom on Thursday 24 September.

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