A 600,000 fund to allow the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) acquire works by artists in Ireland has been announced today. It will allow IMMA support artists during Covid-19 by buying artworks and also expand the National Collection of contemporary art. IMMA will pay particular focus to artworks that reflect our position as radically inclusive and globally connected and art that can activate impactful conversations about contemporary society. The fund is supported by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin T.D. It is part of a €1m fund that the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has given to IMMA and Crawford Art Gallery to support the arts community nationally in these challenging times.
Installation view of the current IMMA Collection exhibition Ghosts from the Recent Past. Photo Ros Kavanagh.
A a postponed exhibition of 18th to 21st century Irish paintings at the Gorry Gallery in Dublin now runs from October 12-31. With artists ranging from George Barret and Adam Buck to Robert Ballagh this is a particularly fine and wide ranging show. It can be viewed in person or online at www.gorrygallery.ie
William Sadler (1782-1839) – View of Westport House, Co. Mayo with Croagh Patrick in the distance
Rising Kite, Clare Island Cycle by the Limerick artist John Shinnors is a highlight at Dreweatts modern and contemporary art sale in Newbury, Berkshire on October 22. The work is estimated at £10,000-15,000. Dreweatts say that the painting, where abstract shapes are juxtaposed with motifs such as sheep, cattle, lighthouses and kites in contrasting light and dark pigments, is one of the showstoppers of the auction. UPDATE: THIS MADE £40,000 AT HAMMER
A Louis Quinze marquetry commode and a pair of Sevres ormolu mounted urns anyone? They don’t come cheap but they would definitely add a certain je ne sais quoi to any stylish home. Or how about a pair of 19th century mahogany framed long club seats? You could organise a licit rave for two here in times of pandemic, with a socially distant get together and ample room to stretch out and sleep it off afterwards. These precious items are among the rich pickings at the annual James Adam Country House Collections sale on October 13. Because 2020 is 2020 the annual Townley Hall auction takes place at the Adams saleroom at St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, not at the stately home near Drogheda designed by Francis Johnston. The plus is that it is online, so you can partake from your computer, by telephone or by absentee bid. And there is a separate timed online Townley auction which runs to around 3 pm on October 12. The 400 lots on offer on Tuesday range from a Moorish door panel to marble portrait busts, a large Black Forest linden wood bear, Chinese rain drums and an Irish George II rococo wall mirror. There are tables, chairs, portraits, landscapes, marble pillars, globes, maps, porcelain, silver and some very fine items of antique furniture. Two 18th century portraits of Henry VIII, in youth and age, are among a number of lots from Bearforest House in Mallow.Pembroke tables can be plain and functional but the example in this auction is a George III satinwood, rosewood banded and marquetry inlaid piece with an estimate of €6,000-€10,000. An Irish George III side table, complete with shaped apron and scallop shell motif, has an estimate of €15,000-€20,000. The estimate for a pair of George III carved giltwood wall girandoles in the Chinoiserie taste is €10,000-€15,000. A large 19th century giltwood overmantle in the Chinoiserie style comes with an estimate of €30,000-€50,000. The highest estimated item, at €40,000-€60,000,, is a portrait of William III and the Duke of Portland attributed to Caspar Netscher (1639-1684).The Louis Quinze commode is a wonderful bombe piece with shaped marble top. The estimate is €6,000-€10,000. The Sevres urns are estimated at €2,000-€3,000 and Adams estimated the Victorian club seats at €1,500-€2,000.
A pair of George III carved giltwood girandoles from Bearforest House, Mallow UPDATE: THESE MADE 12,000 AT HAMMER
Banksy’s Show me the Monet comes up at Sotheby’s in London on October 21 with an estimate of £3-5 million. It is from the Crude Oils series where the artist remixes well known artworks. Among other works in the series are Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers portrayed wilting or dead; Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks augmented by an angry man in Union Jack boxer shorts moments after breaking the bar window with a chair, and Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe re-faced with Kate Moss. The artist is quoted saying: “If you want to survive as a graffiti writer when you go indoors, I figured your only option is to carry on painting over things that don’t belong to you there either.” According to Sotheby’s Show me the Monet may be interpreted as a comment on consumerist culture, a criticism of the commercialisation of art, a lament for the demise of the environment, or all of the above. Painted in 2005 it will highlight a livestream auction which brings together two sales of Modern and Contemporary art held in sequence in Paris and London.
Given that 2020 vision turned out foggy it is good to see postponed Irish art going ahead. At the eleventh hour Whyte’s had to reschedule their sale of Irish and International Art scheduled for September 28. It is due to take place at Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth St. on October 19. The highlight is A Sunny Day, Connemara by Paul Henry (€150,000-€200,000).and there is work by artists like Roderic O’Conor, William Orpen, William Leech, Mary Swanzy, Mainie Jellett, Norah McGuinness, Maurice MacGonigal, Harry Kernoff, Francis Bacon, Colin Middleton, Gerard Dillon, Dan O’Neill, Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Camille Souter, Donald Teskey and many others. The sale is on view at Whyte’s from October 12 and both the catalogue and the auction are online.
Coastal Report. by Donald Teskey. UPDATE: THIS MADE 23,000 AT HAMMER
A pair of portraits of William III and the Duke of Portland attributed to Caspar Netscher is, at 40,000-60,000, the most expensively estimated lot at the annual James Adam Country House Collections sale. The full length portraits are contained in contemporary carved giltwood frames. It comes up in Dublin on October 13. Around 800 lots of Irish Georgian furniture, paintings and collectables will come under the hammer in two days of sales. Part I is a timed online auction which runs to October 12, Part II will be held at the Adams salesroom at St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin.
ATTRIBUTED TO CASPAR NETSCHER (1639-1684) Portrait of William III. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The re-scheduled Irish and International Art auction at Whyte’s on October 19 will be a virtual sale. It will be conducted by an auctioneer in the auction room with absentee, telephone and online bids and no public attendance. Under Level 3 restrictions to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus no indoor public events can take place in Ireland. This includes public auctions. The sale will be broadcast at bid.whytes.ie and invaluable.com. Viewing at Whyte’s on Molesworth Street, Dublin will be by appointment from October 12-19. Among the lots on offer is Triptych by Francis Bacon, a lithograph numbered 98 from an edition of 180 with an estimate of 15,000-20,000.
FRANCIS BACON (1909-1992) – TRIPTYCH, 1983-84 UPDATE: THIS MADE 44,000 AT HAMMER
A total of 280,000 people tuned in to Christie’s 20th century evening sale from New York last night. The sale, live streamed from the Rockefeller Center, realised US$340,851,500. The auction of 59 lots was sold 96% by value and 84% by lot. The top lot was Cy Twombly’s Bolsena which made $38 million, STAN, a T-Rex skeleton made $31,847,500 and there was a world record of $28,650,000 for a watercolour by Cezanne.
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) Nature morte avec pot au lait,
A rare bottle of old Irish whiskey sold for a hammer price of €5,200 at Victor Mee’s online auction of the McCabe Collection in Co. Cavan today. Dating from the 1880’s the bottle of Cassidy and Co. Monasterevin Whiskey is rare. It is in an unopened hand blown bottle with some evaporation at shoulder level. The Cassidy family made whiskey at their Co. Kildare mill from 1784 until 1921. Businessman Paddy McKillen has restored the Ballykelly mill and plans to open a distillery and visitor centre on the site.
