antiquesandartireland.com

Information about Art, Antiques and Auctions in Ireland and around the world
  • ABOUT
  • About Des
  • Contact
  • Archive for April, 2018

    O’Conor, Henry, Behan, Teskey and le Brocquy at Morgan O’Driscoll auction

    Monday, April 30th, 2018
    With everything from Figures in a pool by  Roderic O’Conor, Cottages by Paul Henry and The Eugenie off Queenstown by George Mounsey Atkinson to John  Behan’s sculpted bull and a painting of a bulldog by Basil Blackshaw Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale of Irish and International Art is at the RDS in Dublin this evening.

    There is art by John Shinnors and Donald Teskey, Percy French and Walter Osborne, Louis le Brocquy and Dan O’Neill.  On the international side there is a screenprint by Damien Hirst, a mixed media work by Joan Miro, a litho of Mao by Warhol and a screenprint and litho by Robert Motherwell.  Other artists featured among 147 lots include Sean Scully, Barrie Cooke, Felim Egan, Kenneth Webb, William Crozier, Alice Maher, and Charles Tyrrell.

    (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for April 27 and April 22, 2018)

    Figures in a pool by Roderic O’Conor  UPDATE: THIS MADE 56,000 AT HAMMER

    The Eugenie off Queenstown (1887) by George Mounsey Atkinson  UPDATE: THIS MADE 11,000 AT HAMMER

    BIBLIOPHILES AND COLLECTORS GATHER HERE

    Monday, April 30th, 2018
    Babe Ruth, Christy Ring, Tolkien and the commonplace book of Fr Thomas O”Keeffe, pp at the South Parish in Cork from 1829 to 1847 all feature at Fonsie Mealy’s Rare Book and Collectors sale at the Ormonde Hotel, Kilkenny at 10.30 on May 2. Among more than 800 lots there is sporting memorabilia including a baseball bat given by Babe Ruth to Frank McGrath, manager of the Tipperary team on their visit to the US in 1926 and a souvenir programme for the opening of the new Glen Rovers club in 1953 signed by Christy Ring.
    A rare 1937 first edition of The Hobbit in good condition is estimated at 20,000-30,000.  There is a first edition of The Dark signed by John McGahern and the first American edition of My Left Foot by Christy Brown.  The commonplace book by Fr. O’Keeffe, friend of the sculptor John Hogan – a remarkable example of whose work exists in the South Parish Church – offers jottings, sermons, an alphabetical list of Cork streets according to parish and a draft to the introduction of the poems of Jeremiah Joseph Callanan (1795-1892).

    (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for April 26 and April 16, 2018)

    A first edition of The Hobbit  UPDATE: THIS MADE 29,000 AT HAMMER

    A programme for the opening of the new Glen Rovers club in 1953 signed by Christy Ring  UPDATE: THIS MADE 280 AT HAMMER

    RYAN’S DAUGHTER AT WHYTE’S ECLECTIC COLLECTOR SALE

    Saturday, April 28th, 2018

    This poster for Ryan’s Daughter is at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on May 5.  Shot on location in Kerry the 1970 film starring Robert Mitchum and Trevor Howard won two Oscars (Best Supporting Actor and Cinematography).

    Directed by David Lean and set in 1917/18  the epic romantic drama tells the story of an affair between a  married Irish woman and a British Army officer during World War 1.  This troubled romance occurred in the wake of the 1916 Rising against a background of moral and political opposition. It was panned by the critics and a box office success.

    The unrestored British quad poster displays signs of use and is estimated at 150-200.  The sale includes historical documents and artefacts,  sporting, film and rock and pop memorabilia, medals, banknotes and collectibles. It will be on view from next Wednesday.

    UPDATE; THIS MADE 700 AT HAMMER

    IRISH AND INTERNATIONAL ART AT MORGAN O’DRISCOLL DUBLIN SALE

    Friday, April 27th, 2018

    The sale of Irish and International art by Morgan O’Driscoll at the RDS on April 30 features  147 lots with artists from Hughie O’Donoghue and John Kingerlee to Roderic O’Conor and Paul Henry.  On the international front there are lithographs and screenprints by  artists like Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Robert Motherwell and a mixed media work by Joan Miro.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    WILLIAM CONOR (1881-1968)At the Races, Comber, Co Down  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,400 AT HAMMER

    MICHAEL FOLEY (B.1963)Patera Calidum (2018)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,700 AT HAMMER

    DAMIEN HIRST (B.1965) BRITISHUntitled Gold Gift Spot (2008)  UPDATE: TH SMADE 4,400 AT HAMMER

    WILLIAM SCOTT (1913-1989)Composition from Thirty-Five Artist’s (1982)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,200 AT HAMMER

    WIDE VARIETY AT FONSIE MEALY RARE BOOKS AND COLLECTIBLES SALE

    Thursday, April 26th, 2018

    THE 1888 MEDAL FROM THE FIRST HURLING MATCH IN THE US  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,900 AT HAMMER

    The wide variety of books and collectibles at Fonsie Mealy’s sale in Kilkenny on May 2 includes a souvenir of the first hurling match in America in 1888. This is in the form of a silver medal by E. Johnson of Dublin inscribed GAA 1888.  The medal, inscribed “First Prize, Peter Kennedy” is estimated at 2,000/3,000. A first edition of a 1597 English Herbal by John Gerarde is estimated at 700-1,000 and Col. Robertsons Observati0ns on The Attack and Military Defence of Ireland with hand coloured folding maps has an estimate of 800-1,200. An Irish Parliamentary Party banner inscribed Ballybricken for Redmond is estimated at 500-700 and the official programme of the Cork V. Dublin hurling final of 1927 known as the Thunder and Lightning final which Dublin won is estimated at 600-800.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for April 16, 2018)

    The programme for the Thunder and Lightning final of 1927  UPDATE: THIS MADE 700 AT HAMMER

    AN EARLY ENGLISH HERBAL. UPDATE: THIS MADE 900 AT HAMMER

    HIGHEST ESTIMATE EVER PLACED ON WORK OF ART AT AUCTION

    Tuesday, April 24th, 2018

    Amedeo Modigliani Nu couché (sur le côté gauche) Signed Modigliani (lower left)

    Modigliani’s largest painting – Nu couché (sur le côté gauche) – is estimated to sell for more than $150 million at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale in New York on May 14.  This is the highest estimate ever placed on a work of art at auction.  Nu couché was acquired by the present owner at auction in 2003 for $26.9 million.  The seller is believed to be Irish bloodstock billionaire John Magnier  who owns Coolmore Stud, the world’s biggest breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. His wife Susan co-owns a promising three-year-old colt  named Amedeo Modigliani.  It was previously owned by casino mogul Steve Wynn.

    In 2015, another reclining nude from the series sold at auction for $170.4 million, at the time marking the second-highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction.

    Painted a century ago, Nu couché is the greatest work from the iconic series in which Modigliani reinvented the nude for the Modern era. Upon their debut exhibition in 1917, these striking and sensual images stopped traffic – quite literally – and prompted the police to close the show. Today, the series is recognized as one of the seminal achievements in Modern painting. The shock and awe that Modigliani’s nudes continue to elicit was evident most recently during Tate Modern’s celebrated retrospective of the artist’s work that included Nu couché.   The work is the largest painting of Modigliani’s entire oeuvre – measuring nearly 58 inches / 147 centimeters across – and the only one of his horizontal nudes to contain the entire figure within the canvas.

    Most of the 22 reclining nudes from the series are found in museums, with particular depth in the United States: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York each hold three examples. Outside of the United States, institutions with reclining nudes include the Long Museum in Shanghai and The Courtauld Gallery in London.

    LONG IRISH WAKE TABLE AT SOTHEBY’S IN LONDON

    Tuesday, April 24th, 2018
    An unusually long Irish wake table comes up at Sotheby’s Collectors Sale in London on May 3. The late 18th century table is ten feet long with double gateleg action and is estimated at £20,000-30,000.
    Wake or hunt tables are versatile and mobile.  The narrow shape when the flaps are down is ideal for holding a coffin.  When it came to the hunt they were carried outside to hold drink.
    Sotheby’s say that many examples are still in situ in houses in Ireland such as Leixlip Castle, Bellamont Forest, Co. Cavan, Mount Stewart, Co. Down and Luggala Co. Wicklow.
    Sotheby’s bi-annual Collections sale offers clients aN opportunity to acquire a wealth of fine and decorative art. With a focus on property sourced from private collections throughout Europe – often with an aristocratic or distinguished provenance – the sale will appeal to collectors and connoisseurs alike.
    UPDATE: THIS MADE £23,750

    AN HISTORIC DAILY MIRROR FRONT PAGE AT JAMES ADAM

    Sunday, April 22nd, 2018

    ‘SINN FEINER’S EXECUTION – CORK HONOURS THE DEAD’  was the headline on The Daily Mirror on November 1, 1920.  The Sinn

    An historic copy of the Daily Mirror  UPDATE:THIS MADE 200 AT HAMMER

    Feiner referred to was Kevin Barry, scheduled to be executed at 8 am on that morning, as Cork honoured its Lord Mayor Terence McSwiney, who had died in Brixton Prison on October 25 after 74 days on hunger strike.

    As a newspaper man it strikes me as an impressive and startling front page, dealing simultaneously with two major stories, composed almost entirely of photographs and captions and full of visual impact. We know the sorry history of these tragic deaths and their historical importance, here they are being played out in real time. A copy of the newspaper is lot 147 at the annual James Adam History Sale in Dublin on April 24 at 6 pm, estimated at just 80-120.
    There is a photo of 18 year old Dublin Medical student Kevin Barry on the top left of the page and a larger image of the coffin of Terence McSwiney at Cork City Hall on the top right.
    The picture on the lower left shows the Lord Mayor’s flower decked coffin on a tug guarded by the military.  The caption details how thousands paid their respects at Cork City Hall.  There are further photographs of an ambulance covered in flowers arriving at City Hall and Sinn Fein volunteers regulating queues of mourners.
    There are 287 lots in the auction including books, drawings, memorial cards, medals, photographs, letters, carvings, postcards, maps and militaria.  The catalogue is online.

    A LE BROCQUY HEAD AT MORGAN O’DRISCOLL’S RDS AUCTION

    Sunday, April 22nd, 2018

    Louis le Brocquy – Reconstructed Head of a Child  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    This artwork by Louis le Brocquy is entitled Reconstructed Head of a Child. It comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International art auction at the RDS in Dublin on April 30. The catalogue note explains how an isolated human presence emerged from le Brocquy’s paintings in the 1950’s, until he felt he had exhausted the idea.  This feeling led to the destruction of a year’s worth of work.

    Then, inspired by a display of decorated Polynesian heads at the Musee de l’Homme in Paris, he found a new way of painting the human head, which is viewed by both Celts and Polynesians as a box that held the spirit prisoner. So he set out to paint the head in a new way, to paint it in pursuit of an archaeology of the spirit. Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) was one of Ireland’s  leading artists. He produced a celebrated series of heads including literary figures like Yeats, Joyce and Beckett.  This one is estimated at 80,000-120,000.
    The catalogue lists 147 lots.  Viewing at the RDS gets underway next Friday.

    TITANIC MENU MAKE £100,000 AT WILTSHIRE AUCTION

    Sunday, April 22nd, 2018

    A menu of the first meal ever served aboard the Titanic made £100,000 at auction in Wiltshire on April 21. It went to a British collector at the auction at Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes. On April 2, on Titanic’s first day of sea trials, officers and crew enjoyed their first meal served in the main dining saloon before being joined by the passengers.  The lunch included consommé mirrette, sweetbreads and spring lamb. The menu belonged to Second Officer Charles Lightoller, the most senior crew member to survive, who gave it to his wife as he left Southampton on 10 April 1912.

    There was global interest in the sale.  A key to the vessel’s chart room sold to a collector from Texas for £78,000.  The badge belonging to drowned steward Thomas Mullen, which was found with his body, sold for £57,000. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “We are delighted with the results of the auction and think the rarity of the objects is reflected in the prices which illustrates the ongoing fascination with the story of the Titanic.”