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  • Archive for September, 2022

    GORRY GALLERY AT TIMELESS – THE IRISH ANTIQUE DEALERS FAIR

    Saturday, September 24th, 2022

    A pair of gouaches from Samuel Dixons mid 18th century “Foreign and Domestick Birds” are among the works being exhibited by the Gorry Gallery at Timeless, the Irish Antique Dealers Fair which continues today and tomorrow at the RDS.  This is Gorry’s first time exhibiting at the fair, which is designed to appeal to a broad audience.  There will be specialist interest too in a c1785 demi lune side table by renowned Dublin maker William Moore.  Contemporary pieces include an original Brionvega RR126 record player and speaker similar to a set in the collection of the late David Bowie. To be displayed by Acquired it will stand alongside mid century pieces like a Camelonda sofa by Mario Bellini.  Gallery Zozimus, which has opened at a new location at Francis St. in Dublin, is at the fair too.

    CARAGH LAKE, REEKS AND KERRY SKIES IN THIS ARTWORK

    Thursday, September 22nd, 2022
    MICHAEL MCCARTHY (B.1941) – Lough Caragh, Co. Kerry (2001). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER

    THIS oil on board of Caragh Lake with the Reeks in the background and an expansive Kerry sky by Michael McCarthy comes up as lot 15 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall online art auction which runs until September 27. Born in Mallow, Co. Cork he moved to Northern Ireland as a child and then to England where he attended Newark College of Art. After years in Australia he became, in 1992, artist in residence with the US Forest Service, spending a year in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He has lived in Ireland since 1997. This work is estimated at 500-750.

    VIEWING OPENS TODAY IN CASTLECOMER FOR FONSIE MEALY SALE

    Thursday, September 22nd, 2022
    One of a pair of Irish Georgian period mahogany tables in the Chinese Chippendale style. UPDATE: THIS LOT MADE 7,000 AT HAMMER

    This table in the Chinese Chippendale style is lot 784 at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth autumn antique sale in Castlecomer on September 27 and 28. The Irish Georgian tables have a rectangular moulded top above an open fret cut frieze. The estimate for the pair is 5,000-7,000. Viewing for the sale of 1023 lots opens today and the catalogue is online.

    LAVERY’S 1919 PORTRAIT OF ANTI-WAR LIBERAL AT WHYTE’S

    Wednesday, September 21st, 2022
    SIR JOHN LAVERY RA RSA RHA (1856-1941) – THE LADY PARMOOR, 1919. UPDATE: THIS MADE 58,000 AT HAMMER

    Lavery’s portrait of The Lady Parmoor is lot 18 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art in Dublin on September 26. According to the catalogue note by Professor Kenneth McConkey the sitter, Marion Emily Ellis became the second Baroness Parmoor in July of that year. The portrait may have been painted as a wedding gift from Charles Cripps, 1st Baron Parmoor. They were both staunch anti-war Liberals. Her mother, Maria Rowntree, was of a Quaker philanthropic York family and Marion had been an implacable campaigner against conscription, narrowly escaping imprisonment for her convictions. During the twenties she and her husband veered increasingly towards the Labour Party, he becoming Leader of the House of Lords and a supporter of Ramsay MacDonald.  The portrait is estimated at 40,000-60,000.

    Artists in the sale include Jack Butler Yeats, Roderic O’Conor, John Lavery, Seán Keating, Norah McGuinness, Harry Kernoff, Mainie Jellett, Colin Middleton, Grace Henry, William Scott, Pauline Bewick, Louis le Brocquy, John Shinnors, Donald Teskey, Joseph Edward Southall and Bob Dylan. Viewing gets underway today at Whyte’s on Molesworth St., Dublin and the sale is at 6 pm next Monday at Freemason’s Hall. In person, online, telephone and absentee bidding is available.

    THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN AT VICTOR MEE’S PALACE COLLECTION

    Tuesday, September 20th, 2022
    Bronze sculpture of boys climbing a ladder made 7,200 at hammer

    This seasonal bronze sculpture of boys climbing a ladder made a hammer price of 7,200 at the opening evening of Victor Mee’s three day Palace Collection sale on September 20. Two Irish Georgian marble statuary fireplaces each made 14,000, a plaster cast statue of Venus of Arles made 4,600,, a bronze sculpture of a majestic stage made 3,600, an Irish Georgian longcase clock by John Irwin of Boyle made 4,000, an Irish Crystal 15 branch chandelier made 3,500 and a 17th century oak refectory table made 3,400. The online sale continues at 6 pm on September 21 and 22.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 16, 2022)

    CASTLETOWN HOUSE PORTRAITS TO HIGHLIGHT BONHAMS SALE

    Tuesday, September 20th, 2022
    William Osborne, R.H.A (1823-1901) – Sarah Conolly, mounted side saddle on a chestnut hunter in a landscape  UPDATE: EACH OF THE PORTRAITS MADE £22,950

    An outstanding and rare pair of equestrian portraits of Thomas and Sarah Connolly of Castletown House by William Osborne are among the highlights of the Elliot Collection at Bonhams next December 6 in The Old Rectory, Chilton Foliat Sale. There are few grander country houses in Ireland than Castletown House and few grander families than the Conollys who in one guise or another occupied the magnificent Palladian mansion for more than 240 years. Built in 1722 for William Conolly, speaker of the Irish House of Commons, the house was, by the mid-19th century, occupied by Tom Conolly, described as ‘the eccentric MP for Donegal’, who lived there with his wife Sarah. He who commissioned these equestrian portraits.

    “These portraits will certainly be the most important equine works by Osborne to appear on the market since they were acquired in 1992. I expect them to generate a great deal of interest – both from collectors of important Irish paintings as well as equestrian art,” Charlie Thomas of Bonhams said. The owners of the Old Rectory felt a warm affinity with Ireland. The memorable dining room was inspired by the important Print Room at Castletown House, and they commissioned murals for their bathrooms from the renowed Irish mural artist and decorative painter Michael Dillon. The portraits are each estimated at £20,000-30,000.

    ANDY WARHOL PORTRAIT OF GRACE KELLY AT DUBLIN FAIR

    Monday, September 19th, 2022
    Andy Warhol – Grace Kelly,

    A portrait of Grace Kelly by Andy Warhol will be offered by Gormley’s at Timeless, the Irish Antique Dealers’ Fair at the RDS in Dublin from September 23-25 with a preview on September 22. Warhol’s portrait of the actress is based on a still from her first film, Fourteen Hours, in 1951. Gormley’s has priced the screenprint at €200,000. The artist completed the edition in 1984 two years after the actress’s death, aged 52. 

    “Grace Kelly is extremely popular with collectors and investors as there are very few on sale at any one time,” Oliver Gormley said. “We sold one in 2019 for €136,000 and we expect this to sell for around €200,000 at Timeless, which reflects the appreciation in value for Warhol and high-end contemporary art”.

    OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENTRY LEVEL COLLECTORS

    Sunday, September 18th, 2022
    Georgian lowboy (€300-€400). UPDATE: THIS MADE 470 AT HAMMER

    All auctions with antique furniture offer plenty of opportunities for entry level collectors.  The sort of value to be had is underlined at Woodwards sale in Cork on September 24. A selection of Georgian, William IV, Victorian and Edwardian furniture is all available at under €500. Many of these built to last venerable old pieces would have cost more two decades ago than they do today and defy every current trend simply by getting cheaper. If auction history teaches us anything it is that antique pieces from particular eras have to survive a period of unfashionability and a tendency to break them up. The time to come back into some sort of vogue is overdue.

    What is slightly puzzling is that in an era like this one when anything goes antique furniture is not at all unfashionable.  The best interiors are routinely drawn from many sources – eclectic if you like – and the stylish modern home offers huge scope for individual taste and style in furniture, art and collectibles. Even if we are about to be bled dry by energy costs and inflation we need to feather winter nests for the coming winter. Here are some examples from Woodwards with estimates in brackets:  Georgian lowboy (€300-€400);  concave cabinet (€300-€400); George II card table (€400-€500); Edwardian demi-lune card table (€300-€400);  William IV sideboard (€400-€500); Edardian twin pillar dining table (€300-€400); Edwardian sofa table (€300-€400) and a small bachelors chest (€150-€200).  The catalogue is online.

    NEW SERIES BY JOSEPH WALSH AT SOTHEBY’S IN LONDON

    Saturday, September 17th, 2022
    GESTURES CHAIRS BY JOSEPH WALSH

    A new design series by Joseph Walsh – Riverstick, Co. Cork based global design superstar – opens at Sotheby’s in London today.  On show is a selling exhibition of key pieces from his newly developed Gestures series on display for the first time.  The 12 sinuous works include a large dining table, a sculptural bench, free form lounge chairs, dining chairs and various wall mounted sculptural shelves.

    Now in mid career Joseph Walsh is the Eileen Gray of this generation – and not every generation throws up designer innovators of this calibre. A century ago Gray was making lacquered pieces in Paris. This new series by Joseph Walsh, whose work is celebrated by design cognoscenti from Tokyo to Chicago to Paris, is finished in ebonised black. Beginning with charcoal sketches which Walsh translates into scale model studies in wood Gestures has emerged over the past three years. Wood is cut into layers, rebuilt and carved to create an uninterrupted sculptural form and finished in black. Each piece is functional and boldly sculptural. The show at Sotheby’s, which coincides with the London Design Festival, runs until September 29.

    STREET ART BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO OLD CITY WALLS

    Saturday, September 17th, 2022
    Kitsune Jolene working on a piece of street art.

    A growing selection of free art to enjoy on the streets of Cork city.  Ardu – Cork’s contemporary street art project – returns this month with three new large scale murals by Claire Prouvost (Pope’s Quay/Shandon St.), Kitsune Jolene (Sullivan’s Quay) and Vents 137 (South Terrace).  The artists hail respectively from France, Belgium and Cork. Breathing new life into old walls their works will be created from September 18-30.  It will bring the number of enlivening Ardu projects in Cork to 14.