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A total of 190 lots will come under the hammer at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art at the RDS in Dublin on May 27.   The sale offers collectors a chance to acquire a wide variety of works in an Irish market where estimates must be realistic and works need to be carefully chosen. This is the season for buyers. The catalogue is on-line. Here is a small selection.

Upper Lough Mask, Co. Mayo by Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964) – 6,000-8,000.

One of a pair of equine works by William BrocasRHA (c.1794-1868). This depicts Col. Westenra’s Freney with Jockey and Attendants on the Curragh, Co. Kildare. The estimate for the pair ifs30,000-40,000.

Fishing Boats off a Harbour by Edwin Hayes RHA RI ROI (1819-1904) – 20,000-30,000.

Errigal from Cashel na-Gor, Co. Donegal by FrankMcKelveyRHA RUA (1895-1974) – 4,000-6,000.

Late Spring by Daniel O’Neill (1920-1974) – 20,000-30,000.

The Strand, Marble Hill, Co. Donegal by Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974) – 2,500-3,500.

The Potato Diggers by Paul Henry at Adams. Click on image to enlarge.

The catalogue cover for Adams sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on May 29 features Paul Henry’s The Potato Diggers.  The 1911 work has been in the same family collection since the 1930′s.  It was last seen in public more than 20 years ago at the Hugh Lane Gallery “Irish Art and Modernism” exhibition.  Described by Dr. S.B. Kennedy as “his masterpiece” the painting is estimated at 250,000-350,000.

The auction catalogue features 179 carefully chosen lots including a second, classical work by Paul Henry of Thatched Cottages with Lake and Mountains beyond. It is estimated at 120,000-160,000.

Different strands of Modernism from artists across Europe are represented in the Branco Weiss collection to be offered at Sotheby’s in London on June 19.  Artists including Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró and Alexander Calder are included in a collection to be offered as a stand alone sale preceding the Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale.  Thirty works will be offered.  Further examples from the collection will come up at the Impressionist and Modern Art day sale, the Contemporary Art day sale, the Swiss Art Sale in Zurich, Sotheby’s Russian art sale and 20th century British art sale in London and the Contemporary Art sale in Paris.

The collection is expected to reach a combined total of around £12 million.  Proceeds will beneft the Branco Weiss Fellowship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.  Weiss was a renowned high tech entrepreneur who established several international high tech companies.  His collection was assembled over 25 years from 1975.

Kandinsky, Wassily., Ineinander, 1928, (£600,000–800,000). Click to enlarge.

Calder, Alexander., Untitled (Tuning Forks), 1939, (£300,000-400,000). Click to enlarge.

Magritte, René – La Bonne Aventure, 1937, (£1 – 1.5 million). (Click on image to enlarge).

A re-discovered seascape by Roderic O’Conor, a painting by Paul Henry last seen in 1973, John Butler Yeats’ portrait of his son William Butler Yeats and a tapestry by Louis le Brocquy are among 30 Irish artworks estimated to bring in around one million euro at Sotheby’s in London on May 23. Here they are.  (Click on any image to enlarge).

Red Rocks and Sea by Roderic O’Conor (£200,000-300,000).

John Butler Yeats (1829-1922) – Portrait of William Butler Yeats 1907 (£40,000-60,000).

Paul Henry (1876-1958) Achill Woman £70,000-100,000).

Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) – Allegory (£60,000-80,000).

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
Number 19, 1948, sold for $58,363,750. Image courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2013.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) – Dustheads sold for $48,843,750. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2013.

Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art auction in New York last night achieved  $495,021,500.  This is the highest total in auction history. The top lot was Number 19, 1948 by Jackson Pollock which was chased by four telephone bidders and sold for $58,363,750. It was last at auction in 1993 when it sold for $2.4 million, and had changed hands since.

Lichtenstein’s Woman with a Flowered Hat made $56,123, 750 and Basquiat’s Dustheads made $48.8 million. All but four of the 70 lots on offer sold.

The auction was notable for the number of bidders willing to climb above $20 million. Jussi Pylkkanen, who was the auctioneer on the evening, commented afterwards that we are in a new era in the art market.