THE rich tend to go shopping in a recession so why are more of them not buying Irish art, contemporary and classic? This question is a teasing one, especially in a week when the London contemporary art sales have already started to deliver new records for Italian art. In Ireland the quality is there and so are the bargains. There is value in the market. The purchase by Donald Trump of Doonbeg Golf Course on the west coast in County Clare is the latest in a series of high profile investments by wealthy non-nationals in Irish assets. Fota Golf Club in Cork, venue for the Irish Open Golf Championships this year, has been bought by a Chinese investor. The market for Irish art has not benefitted as much as it could have from this trend. The internet is undoubtedly delivering new collectors and buyers to Irish auctioneers, but anecdotally much of this tends to be led by the Irish abroad.
An opportunity to redress this arises at Whyte’s sale of Irish and British art in Dublin on February 24. There are 216 lots on the catalogue. It includes works by Walter Osborne, Sir John Lavery, Dan O’Neill, Louis le Brocquy, Gerard Dillon, Leo Whelan, Harry Kernoff, Barrie Cooke, Cecil King, Markey Robinson, Frank McKelvey, James Arthur O’Connor, William Sadler and George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson. Here are some examples. The catalogue is online.
FIGURES BY A RIVER by James Arthur O’Connor (8,000-10,000). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
ANCESTRAL HEAD, 1965 by Louis le Brocquy (35,000-45,000). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A LADY IN WHITE (A PORTRAIT OF LADY LYLE) by Sir John Lavery (30,000-50,000). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 27,900