The highlights are by Yeats but the Ernie O’Malley collection – which comes under the hammer at the RDS next Monday evening – represents a veritable who’s who of Irish art from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. The sale of 100 lots, by Whyte’s in association with Christie’s, includes work by Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, Louis le Brocquy, Colin Middleton and Norah McGuinness.Ernie O’Malley, a revolutionary in Ireland from 1916-1922 who went on to publish two books detailing his experiences, knew all these artists and encouraged and patronised their early careers. He met Yeats in Dublin in 1937 at the home of Constantine Curran and the two became friends, meeting and corresponding regularly. Three Yeats paintings in the sale, The Enfolding Night, 1947, Reverie, 1931 and Evening in Spring, 1937 are each estimated at 500,000-700,000.There are other major Yeats’s in this sale as well as a range of sketches at prices which might encourage new collectors to own a work by the artist. There are two of le Brocquy’s Tinker series from the 1940’s, Tinker Diviner (15,000-20,000) and A Young Tinker Woman (10,000-15,000). Each one dates to 1945.Mainie Jellett’s The Land Eire is from 1940 and estimated at 30,000-40,000 and Colin Middleton’s (Group V) Saint John: Retrospect is estimated at 20,000-30,000. Highlights have already been shown in New York and London and viewing at the RDS is from 10 am to 6 pm daily for the next three days. The auction is on Monday at 6 pm.
