A rare and early rugby painting by L S Lowry comes up at Sotheby’s inaugural British Art: Modern/ Contemporary live-stream auction in London on June 29. Painted in 1928, Going to the Match is among the earliest known depiction of one of Lowry’s most iconic and timeless subjects – that of spectators thronging to a sporting occasion. Famed for his images of football, it is significant that it is a rugby match he chose to paint first, no doubt testament to the importance of the Rugby League to Northern communities. The red flag seen flying by the ground, as well as the red scarves worn by several of the crowd members, hints at the Salford Red Devils – Lowry’s local team. It is estimated at £2-£3 million.
Edgar Degas’ Danseuse rose (circa 1896, estimate: £2,500,000-3,500,000)and Femme sortant du bain (circa 1886-88, estimate: £1,300,000-1,800,000) will feature in Christie’s 20th and 21st Century evening sale next June 30. Together, they represent Degas’ exploration of two of the themes he found most enduring – that of the dancer at rest and the intimate gestures of a woman bathing. Through the second half of his career, pastel had become Degas’ favoured medium, its materiality allowing him to build up complex layered colour schemes in his compositions. These two works on paper illustrate not only the evolution of Degas’ technique over the course of a decade, reflecting his mastery of the medium, but also the growing importance of working in series within his practice at this time. Danseuse rose and Femme sortant du bain have remained in the same private collection for over 20 years and have not been seen publicly since the 1990s.
Edgar Degas – Danseuse rose. Courtesy CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2021 UPDATE: THIS MADE £3,022,500
Alberto Giacometti’s Homme qui chavire will highlight Christie’s 20th and 21st Century evening sale in London on June 30. Conceived in 1950, and cast a year later, Homme qui chavire pictures a man in the moment before he either falls to the ground, or conversely, rises from the earth to ascend upwards. The unbalanced figure expresses the violence and fatality that man cannot escape: the bent legs, the long arms helplessly arched out, the head thrown slightly back. It is one of the greatest of Giacometti’s now iconic elongated, attenuated figures that emerged after the end of the Second World War. This is one of six recorded casts, with other examples now held in museums including the Kunsthaus, Zurich, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, and Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence. The last example of this important sculpture to be offered at auction was over a decade ago, in 2009, and it achieved $19.4 million. Since that time, Christie’s has set the world auction record for an Alberto Giacometti sculpture with L’homme au doigt which realised over $140 million in May 2015. This one will be offered with a pre-sale estimate of £12-18 million.
Homme qui chavire was formerly in the collection of the American artist Lillian Florsheim (1896-1988). She acquired it in December 1951, from one of Giacometti’s most important dealers, Galerie Maeght. It remained in her collection for the rest of her life, before being sold by her family in 1998, where it was acquired by the present owner. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £14,468,000
Iconic items from the career of music legend Janet Jackson will come under the hammer live and online at a three day sale by Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills on May 14, 15 and 16. More than 1,000 lots from her 40 year career will include historical music video attire like the original Rhythm Nation Jacket from her 1989 musical film short worn in tour and costumes and memorabilia from each of her record-breaking world tours.
Richard Tyler black coat stage worn on 1990 Rhythm Nation World Tour. UPDATE: THIS MADE $81,250
No matter what the weather turns out to be like over the May Bank Holiday weekend the hunter gatherers of the world of collecting will find plenty to occupy themselves with at Aidan Foley’s four day sale online from Sixmilebridge on May 1, 2, 3 and 4. Furniture ranges from a Linley designed sycamore twin pedestal dining table to Victorian card tables and oval gilt mirrors.There is a range of collectibles from U2 ephemera, tour promotional materials and U2 T-shirts to a gold cigarette case inscribed: “to Captain L A Wilkins by Viscount Trenchard and the directors of the United Africa Company Ltd. in commemoration of his actions in escaping from the Germans in France May 1940 – July 1941”. The Highland Cradle by the Cork artist John Brennan is estimated at €1,500-€2,000 and there is art by Louis le Brocquy, Patrick Copperwhite, George Gillespie, Ivan Sutton and others. More than 2,000 lots are scheduled to come under the hammer.
Fletchers Shamrock Table from 1852 and a magnificent contemporary table set by Joseph Walsh – both masterpieces made in Cork – are among the highlights at Sheppards two day Great Irish Interiors online sale next Wednesday and Thursday (April 28-29).
Shamrock table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 69,000 AT HAMMER
John Fletcher was a cabinet maker at 71 Patrick St. in Cork in the 19th century. His remarkable nationalist table is shaped like a shamrock with a central inlaid motif of a female figure of Erin in flowing robes leaning on a harp. It is composed of 13 different woods. When it was sent to America after failing to sell at the Irish Industrial Exhibition of 1852 the Cork poet Daniel Casey wrote a lament. The table – now estimated at €80,000-€120,000 – was exhibited to acclaim at the New York Exhibition of 1853.
Joseph Walsh Prism table and figure of six chairs. UPDATE: THIS MADE 60,000 AT HAMMER
The art of contemporary maker Joseph Walsh is exhibited regularly to similar acclaim these days in America and everywhere else. The work of Joseph Walsh is in the Permanent Collections of The Metropolitan Museum and The Cooper Hewitt in New York, The Centre Pompidou in Paris, our own National Gallery and many other prestige collections. His Prism round dining table and six Figure of Six chairs is estimated at €40,000-€60,000.
With everything from an African Ashanti headrest to a Clonmel longcase clock to crystal chandeliers, a 19th century Irish cased brass theodolite, antique furniture, art and a papier mache and leather artwork of James Joyce seated in a chair by Graham Knuttel the sale at Sheppards is brimful of interest. The catalogue is online.
The eighth virtual fair by Hibernian, which gets underway today, offers a broad selection of antique furniture, art, jewellery and collectibles as well as several house contents.
18th Century 1790 Georgian giltwood and gesso pier table and mirror.
The Stubborn Donkey by Simeon Stafford, sometimes described as Cornwall’s Lowry, comes up as Lot 83 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online art sale on April 26. The estimate is €1,000-€1,500. Born in 1956 the artist, who is from Duckingfield, a small town bordering the Pennines, was introduced to L.S.Lowry after winning the Robert Owen School Award for Art and the Manchester News Portrait Award. Lowry became a friend of the family and encouraged him to study art. The catalogue is online. UPDATE: THIS MADE 950 AT HAMMER
This pair of French 19th century bedside lockers will come up at Victor Mee’s two day online auction from Belturbet, Co. Cavan on April 28 and 29. The sale will feature contents from the home of the late collector Noeleen Adams and features Waterford Crystal chandeliers, antique furniture, ceramic, silver and decorative items and garden furniture. The lockers, with rouge marble tops, are estimated at €400-800. UPDATE: THESE MADE 950 AT HAMMER
The Irish trade bought a fine .275 bolt-action sporting rifle by John Rigby & Co. at an auction by Gavin Gardiner in England yesterday. Built in 1924 for the Earl of Altamont it was estimated tat £3,000-5,000 and sold for £6,250.
The Earl of Altamont succeeded to the Marquessate in 1935 having served in the 2nd Dragoon Guards during World War One, where he was awarded the Military Cross. Upon his return he ran the family estates and succeeded his father. He died in 1941 and the rifle passed to the Knatchbull family on his death, through the marriage of his sister, Doreen Browne, to Michael Knatchbull, 5th Baron Brabourne. John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, married the Hon Patricia Mountbatten in 1946, daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten and the rifle was passed down through the family. John Knatchbull had a successful career as a television and Oscar nominated film producer and survived the 1979 IRA bomb that killed his father-in-law, Lord Louis Mountbatten, as well as his mother and young son.
.275 bolt-action sporting rifle by John Rigby & Co.
