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  • Archive for February, 2018

    PICASSO PORTRAIT TOPS SOTHEBY’S SALE

    Wednesday, February 28th, 2018

    Picasso’s muse leads sale.

    Picasso’s portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter from 1937 was the top lot at Sotheby’s  sale of Impressionist & Modern and Surrealist Art in London tonight.  It sold for £49.8 million.

    The sale totalled £136,001,500 across thirty-six lots. 64% of the lots sold for prices over their pre-sale high-estimates, with an average lot value of £3.8m.

    Painted just months after Guernica and his Weeping Women, this  portrait appeared at auction for the first time. The work was used as a means of exploring his feelings for Marie-Thérèse and his new lover Dora Maar, who emerges in the shadow. There is a conscious blurring of the two styles inspired by the two muses, reaching its pinnacle in the silhouetted ‘other’ that emerges from behind the main subject.

    Alberto Giacometti’s chandelier sold for £7.6 million, Picasso’s Matador made £16.5 million and Bateaux à Collioure  by Andre Derain made £10.9 million.  There were bidders from 35 countries with strong activity from Asia, Russia the US and the UK.

    (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for January 14, January 29, February 6 and February 27, 2018)

    WEATHER FORCES POSTPONEMENT OF AUCTIONS

    Wednesday, February 28th, 2018

    A model of the US vessel Wacosta at Lynes and Lynes

    The Beast from the East bout of bad weather is playing havoc with upcoming auction schedules in Ireland.  Sheppards have postponed their two day sale due to be held in Durrow on March 6 and 7 to March 13 and 14.

    In Carrigtwohill Co. Cork Lynes and Lynes have postponed their sale scheduled for March 3 to Sunday, March 11 at 11 am.

    Meantime the interiors auction featuring items from Dublin hotspots including iconic venues Howl at the Moon, The Shelbourne, The Residence Club and Clery’s due to be held at The Heritage Hotel, Killenard, Co. Laois next weekend has been postponed until March 12 and 13.

    COMBINED TOTAL OF £149.5 MILLION AT CHRISTIE’S IN LONDON

    Wednesday, February 28th, 2018

    Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
    Mousquetaire et nu assis
    © Christie’s Images Limited 2018

    There was a combined total of £149,592,750 at the Impressionist and Modern Art and Art of the Surreal sales at Christie’s in London last night.  This is the second highest result for Christie’s February season in these categories.

    The sales were led by Picasso whose Mousquetaire et nu assis realised £13,733,750 and Figure realised £8,333,750.  No less than five of the top ten results were works by Picasso.

    Dans les coulisses by Edgar Degas realised £8,993,750, Prairie à Giverny by Claude Monet realised £7,546,250, Le groupe silencieux by Rene Magritte realised £7,208,750 and Studie für Landscaft (Dünaberg) by Wassily Kandinsky realised £6,758,750.

    Andre Derain’s view of London from Westminster Bridge failed to sell in an auction that was 78% sold by lot and 91% sold by value.

    (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for February 26, February 5 and February 1, 2018)

    SEMINAL FUTURIST WORK BY BOCCIONI AT SOTHEBY’S

    Tuesday, February 27th, 2018

    Umberto Boccioni Testa + luce + ambiente  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £9.7 MILLION

    The title of this seminal Futurist work by Umberto Boccioni Testa + luce + ambiente translates as head + light + atmosphere. It was painted in 1912, the year the Futurists issued a call to arms for artists celebrating the modern world in a radical way. The short lived and highly influential movement demanded a break with the past centred on a desire to re-enter life through a focus on the speed, noise, machinery and violence of the new century.

    This work centres the human figure in a direct shaft of light, resulting in the fusion of form and atmosphere. Paintings by Boccioni – a leading figure in the Italian Futurists alongside Severini, Balla and Marinetti – are very rare. This one was made just four years before his death at 33 in the First World War. It comes to auction for the first time at Sotheby‘s Impressionist and Modern evening sale in London on February 28 estimated at £5.5-7.5 million.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 6, 2018)

    20th CENTURY AT CHRISTIE’S

    Monday, February 26th, 2018

    THE Impressionist and Modern evening sale at Christie’s in London on February 27 will kick off 20th Century at Christie’s, a series of auctions from now to March 7.  Works from prestigious private collections will be offered, ranging from the structured still-lifes of Giorgio Morandi in ‘The Eye of the Architect’ to the early cubist composition of Georges Braque and Francis Picabia’s playful collage in ‘Abstraction Beyond Borders’, a collection that traces the development of abstraction across Europe in the 20th Century. These are complemented by works by Claude Monet, Théo Van Rysselberghe and Jan Toorop from The Triton Collection Foundation and a rare Oskar Kokoshka from the Reinold Collection. Alongside leading masterpieces from the 20th Century, ranging from Kandinsky to Degas and from Derain to Picasso, the diversity of those developing a radical artistic language at this time is represented by artists including Kees Van Dongen, Georges Vantongerloo, František Kupka and Edvard Munch.   Here are some examples from the evening sale:

    Claude Monet (1840-1926)
    Prairie à Giverny © Christie’s Images Limited 2018  UPDATE: THIS MADE £7,546,250 

    Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
    Dans les coulisses (In the Wings) © Christie’s Images Limited 2018  UPDATE: THIS MADE £8,993,750

    KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968) La femme au collier – fond rouge © Christie’s Images Limited 2018   UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
    Mousquetaire et nu assis
    © Christie’s Images Limited 2018  UPDATE: THIS MADE £13,733,750

    A SALE AT LYNES AND LYNES ON MARCH 3

    Sunday, February 25th, 2018

    A set of Georgian Cork 11-bar chairs from Charleston, home of the late Senator Trevor West at Midleton, is among the highlights of the Lynes and Lynes sale in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork on March 3.  The auction of 470 lots  an antique kingswood bonheur du jour, an Irish dining table with four original leaves, a Georgian fire bellows, R.H, Rylands 1824 History of Waterford and a 1933 handbook for travellers by the Japanese Government Railways, Tokyo. The catalogue is online.

    A kingswood bonheur du jour

    A Georgian fire bellows

    SCULLY, YEATS, LAVERY, LE BROCQUY AT WHYTE’S

    Saturday, February 24th, 2018

    Nearly 200 works of Irish and international art will come under the hammer  at Whytes  sale at the RDS, Dublin on February 26.  The most expensively estimated lot is a west of Ireland landscape by Paul Henry, thought to be an Achill scene (80,000-120.000).  Another highlight is le Brocquy’s homage to the poet John Montague. The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 19, 2018)

    UPDATE: Over 80% of lots were sold and the sale realised 820,000.

    NIGHT, 2005 SEAN SCULLY  UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,000 AT HAMMER

    WINTER IN GALWAY, FROM LADY GREGORY’S HOUSE, COOLE PARK, 1944 JACK BUTLER YEATS UPDATE: THIS AMDE 40,000 AT HAMMER

    KAID MACLEANS’ CAMP. A WET DAY SIR JOHN LAVERY RA RSA RHA  UPDATE: THIS MADE 15,000 AT HAMMER

    ROOFTOPS, 1963 STELLA STEYN  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,000 AT HAMMER

    William Scott’s First Triangles from a poem for Alexander  UPDATE: THIS MADE 900 AT HAMMER

    AN AT HOME SALE AT JAMES ADAM IN DUBLIN

    Thursday, February 22nd, 2018

    Irish Regency convex mirror UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,200 AT HAMMER

    More than 500 lots will come under the hammer at the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin on February 25.  Much of the lots on offer come from a Fitzwilliam Place townhouse developed in the 1980’s with furnishing supplied by some of Dublin’s leading antique dealers Chantal O’Sullivan and Gerald Kenyon.  Highlights include an Irish Regency giltwood convex mirror (4,000), a console table with white marble top (5,000), a set of 18 Georgian roll back dining chairs (7,000) and a Wiliam IV extending dining table (6,000).  There is a George III rent table and a French Empire overmantle and among the silver is a c1775 two handled cup and cover by the Cork maker Carden Terry.

    AFTER ANTONIO CANOVA
    Venus and Mars Carrara marble (3,000-5,000)  UPDATE; THIS MADE 16,000 AT HAMMER

    GEORGE III MAHOGANY AND SATINWOOD INLAID RENT TABLE (4,000-6,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,800 AT HAMMER

    A set of 18 George IV dining chairs (7,000-10,000)  UPDATE: THESE MADE 15,000 AT HAMMER

    MASSIVE INTERIORS SALE AT THE HERITAGE, KILLENARD

    Tuesday, February 20th, 2018
    More than 3000 interiors lots will come under the hammer at a two day sale by Victor Mee Auctioneers in partnerhip with Niall Mullen at The Heritage Hotel, Killenard, Co. Laois on March 5 and 6.  The sale will feature contents from iconic Dublin nightspots Howl at the Moon and the Residence Club. It also features documentation from Clerys including the original cheques from the sale of shares in the historic department store building.  There is also refurbished furniture from the Shelbourne Hotel and more than 200 items of Irish folk and pub memorabilia including a restored original Irish phone box from Westmeath.

    “There is a gorgeously opulent and eclectic look to the pieces from Howl at the Moon,” Niall Mullen said.  The nightclub had a major fit out in 2001 by publican Liam O’Dwyer. “Howl’s spectacular five-star furnishings include a two metre by two metre French chandelier, four full-size alabaster pillars, original works by artist Patrick O’Reilly, life-size bronze statues, two full-size bronze doors, a grand piano and a unique collection of Irish whiskey” he said.

    “The Clerys collection is of immense interest, as along with Denis Guiney’s original £241,000 cheque to purchase the entire share capital of Clery and Company in 1941, it includes old photographs, office journals and store record books going back 150 years. There is a beautiful selection of original refurbished furniture from the Shelbourne Hotel, and among the 150 pieces are some striking French bronze chandeliers. We also have the entire contents of the renowned private members club Residence, including the bars, mirrors, glassware and every item of their classic, yet contemporary, styled furniture”.

    Items from the interior of the Residence Club in Dublin

    A two metre tall chandelier from Howl At The Moon
    Pic: Paul Sherwood

    QUINNIPIAC’S GREAT HUNGER COLLECTION COMING TO IRELAND

    Monday, February 19th, 2018

    The Victim by Rowan Gillespie.

    In 2018, Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University will send 50 pieces of art from its acclaimed collection home to Ireland for eight months. The works will go to The Coach House at Dublin Castle and West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen for the exhibition Coming Home: Art and the Great Hunger.

    This major undertaking aims to strengthen the deep cultural connection between Ireland and its diaspora by showcasing the world’s largest collection of Great Hunger-related art never before exhibited on Irish soil.

    Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum Ryan Mahoney said: “The exhibition is coming home for the first time ever. “We’re bringing our collection home to Ireland where it needs to be seen after five years of having it on display here in the US. In that time, we’ve seen tens of thousands of people coming through our doors.”

    Many of the works are graphic, depicting the horrors of the Great Famine. Some focus on the plight of those who travelled on coffin ships from Ireland to the US.

    The show will be at Dublin Castle from March to June and at the West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen from July to October.  It will be on display at the Glassworks in Derry from January to March next year.