PAUL HENRY RHA (1876-1958) – TURF STACKS IN THE WEST, c.1934-36. UPDATE: THIS MADE 130,000 AT HAMMER
Turf Stacks in the West by Paul Henry comes up as lot 18 at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art on November 28. Measuring 16″ x 24″ it is estimated at €120,000-180,000. In the catalogue note Dr. Mary Cosgrove writes: “The subject matter and style of this painting points to the 1930s as the date of production, by which time Henry’s work was regularly exhibited in London, New York and Boston as well as at home. It had also been reproduced on internationally distributed railway posters. Although depicting the harsh realities of deforestation, depopulation, emigration and unemployment that the artist knew only too well from working with the Congested Districts Board, Henry’s landscapes appealed to Irish-Americans during the Depression, achieving better prices than in Ireland during its own economic crisis.”
The catalogue cover lot is Louis le Brocquy’s Image of W.B. Yeats, which also comes with an estimate of €120,000-180,000. Viewing for the sale is underway in Dublin and the catalogue is online.
LOUIS LE BROCQUY HRHA (1916-2012) – Image of W.B. Yeats, 1989. UPDATE: THIS WAS WITHDRAWN FROM THE SALE
RITA HAYWORTH Film Poster, “L”Affaire de Trinidad” UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 80 AT HAMMER
This Rita Hayworth film post, L’Affaire de Trinidad”, comes up as lot 215 at Dolan’s timed online November auction with an estimate of 150-220. It is in good condition, unframed with a single fold mark. The sale offers work by 20th century and contemporary artists including Charles Lamb, Mark O’Neill, Flora Mitchell, Arthur Maderson, Markey Robinson (Bronze), Charles Harper, Cecil Maguire, Martin Mooney, Frank Egginton, Arthur Armstrong, Muriel Brandt, Ernest Hayes, Arthur Twells and Modern British artists Helen Tabor and Roger Dellar. There is a selection of Very Rare Midleton Whiskeys which Dolan’s say are prized by collectors across the world, from Ireland to Sydney.
The selection includes antique furniture, rugs, books, silver and collectibles with 344 lots in total. There is art by Susan Cronin, Henry Morgan, John Morris, Norman Teeling, John C Brobbel, Rose Stapleton, Roy Lyndsay, Robert Egginton, Olive Bodeker, Michael Morris, Thelma Mansfield, Mat Grogan, Douglas Hutton and Manus Walsh. The auction runs until November 28.
Harry Aaron Kernoff – Last Bastion of the Old Theatre Royal. UPDATE: THIS MADE £17,640
Last Bastion of the Old Theatre Royal by Harry Kernoff – a rare record of Dublin past – comes up at Sotheby’s timed online Irish art sale which closes this afternoon with an estimate of £15,000-£25,000. Kernoff painted the remains of the Second Theatre Royal, which closed its doors in 1934, and was demolished shortly after. The first Theatre Royal was built 1821 and destroyed by fire in 1880. In 1897, the actor-manager Frederick Mouillot and a group of Dublin businessmen set about rebuilding the historic site, which was eventually redesigned by Frank Matcham. The theatre was noted for its opera and musical comedy, and in later years it was converted into a cinema. Mouillot worked tirelessly to draw in big name stars and companies to perform. In the early 1900s the theatre attracted Edward VII, who attended a state performance, and Charlie Chaplin, who performed as part of a musical act. A third Theatre Royal was built in 1935, and was a lively feature of the Dublin nightlife well into the 1960s.
Kernoff was extremely in the theatrical community and like his contemporary Lilian Lucy Davidson produced theatre designs throughout his career. In Kernoff’s portrayal, the theatre retains a certain a sense of its former glory, towering above the street like a medieval Cathedral.
UPDATE: Village on the Hill by Gerard Dillon made £94,500 over a top estimate of £60,000 and Paul Henry’s Entrance to Killarney Harbour made £75,600 over a top estimate of £60,000.
Pair of George III giltwood and marquetry demi-lune pier tables, circa 1775, in the manner of William Moore of Dublin. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £52,920
These tables come up as lot 39 at Sotheby’s sale of the collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung in London on December 8 with an estimate of £12,000-£18,000. The pier tables are believed to have belonged to the Earls of Grandison, and if indigenous to their estates at Dromana, Co. Waterford were likely supplied to George Mason-Villiers, 2nd Earl Grandison PC (1751–1800). The 2nd Earl died without sons and thus the title became extinct in 1800.
Dublin Horse Show 1928 by Sir John Lavery. UPDATE: THIS MADE 105,000 AT HAMMER
This 1928 painting of the Dublin Horse Show by Sir John Lavery was once gifted by Hazel Lavery to the Irish playwright Lennox Robinson. It is among the highlights at de Veres timed online auction of Outstanding Irish Art which begins to close from 6 pm today. The auction features a collection of Irish 18th Century Landscape paintings including works by Sir William Ashford, George Barrett, James Arthur O’Connor and Natahaniel Grogan as well as five Irish side tables from a private collection in Cork.
UPDATE: It was a successful evening at de Veres. Among the top hammer prices were: Paul Henry – Cottages by the Lake (€75,000); Roderic O’Conor – Landscape with a view to the sea (€70,0000; Jack B Yeats – The train through the woods (€60,000); William Ashford – Rocky River Landscape (€55,000); William Scott – Deep Blues (€50,000); Sean Keating – Unloading the turf (€50,000) and landscapes by George Barrett, James Arthur O’Connor and James Coy each made €40,000.
The 2023 exhibitions programme announced today at the National Gallery of Ireland includes major new shows by Lavinia Fontana and Sir John Lavery. Lavinia Fontana Trailblazer Rule Breaker will run from May 6 to August 27. Fontana is widely considered to be the first female artist to achieve professional success beyond the confines of a court or a convent and was the first woman to manager her own workshop.
Lavery On Location from October 7, 2023 to January 14, 2024 will focus on some of the key destinations depicted in Lavery’s art from Scotland to Palm Springs. Special features will be the works produced at Grez-sur-Loing – his ‘happiest days’ – and in Tangier. There are also studies from Switzerland, Spain, Ireland and Italy, and depictions of cities from Glasgow to London, Venice, Cannes and New York.
In 2016, the Phoebus Foundation in Belgium undertook a large-scale restoration project focusing on an altarpiece triptych in their collection by Goossen van der Weyden (1455-1543). St Dymphna, The Tragedy of an Irish Princess from January 28 to May 28 at the National Gallery features the altarpiece, the only work of its kind to focus on the life of an Irish saint. Dymphna – a legendary 6th or 7th century Irish saint – was the daughter of a Celtic king. When Dymphna grew to resemble her mother, her widowed father decided to marry her. To escape his incestuous intentions, Dymphna fled Ireland for Geel in Belgium, with her confessor Gerebernus. Dymphna’s father pursued and killed them, and their bodies were buried on the spot by angels. The Church of St Dymphna in Geel, consecrated in 1247, still holds relics associated with the saint.
ANTIQUE ISFAHAN WOOL CARPET, CENTRAL IRAN, CA 1920. UPDATE: THIS MADE 10,000 AT HAMMER
This fine wool carpet from central Iran, circa 1920, is among the top lots at the James Adam sale of the Collection of Mahmut Balkir in Dublin on November 23. The central field is woven with a large flowerhead medallion in blue, red, brown, and navy tones, against a cream ground. It is contained within a broad red ground border decorated with floral vignettes and flowerheads, with guard stripes. The estimate for lot 168 is €15,000-20,000. A third generation rug dealer Mahmut Balkir runs The Oriental Rug Company on Francis St. in Dublin.
The Cork Examiner from March 24, 1848 at Lynes and Lynes. UPDATE: THIS MADE 60 AT HAMMER
An original copy of The Cork Examiner from 1848 with a front page full of auction advertising, a large collection of old GAA hurling and football programmes including the iconic Thunder and Lightning All Ireland hurling final of 1939 (played on the day Britain declared war on Germany), an 18 carat gentlemans Rolex watch and a London 1928 crocodile vanity case with tortoiseshell fittings are among the highly collectible lots at Lynes and Lynes on November 26.
There is a Victorian dining table, a set of Cork 11-bar chairs, some Georgian Cork dining chairs, two large Waterford chandeliers, a selection of jewellery, a collection of old motoring posters, art and a selection of terracotta garden pots. The auction will be online and viewing is underway in Carrigtwohill. A large variety of more than 500 lots will come under the hammer so the sale will start earlier than usual at 10 am.
This Victorian dining table and the Cork 11-bar chairs will be at the Lynes and Lynes sale. UPDATE: THE TABLE MADE 900 AT HAMMER, THE TABLE 2,200
Willem De Kooning – Collage made $33.6 million a new record for a work on paper by the artist.
The New York sales at Sotheby’s this week made $856.3 million, bringing the yearly total for Modern and Contemporary art to $3.04 billion. Every lot was sold at two of the six sales this week. In some cases bidding was frenzied with more than ten bidders each for eight artists: Salman Toor (15 bidders), Louis Fratino (13), Julien Nguyen (13), Lucy Bull (13), Jean Arp (12), Elaine de Kooning (12), Pierre Soulages (11) and Barbara Kruger (11). major works by Piet Mondrian ($51 million), Alexander Calder ($8.5 million), Joan Miró ($6.5 million) and August Rodin ($2.3 million) all went to buyers in Asia,
Morning Prayer, Cottage Interior, Co. Cork, 1901 by James Brenan at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,500 AT HAMMER
Collectors of Irish art have an array of choice across all price levels in the run up to Christmas. The fun gets underway on Tuesday as timed online Irish art sales at Sotheby’s and de Veres get underway with artists and sculptors from F.E. McWilliam, Rowan Gillespie, Roderic O’Conor, Patrick Scott and William Crozier at Sotheby’s to Tony O’Malley, John Shinnors, Donald Teskey, Sir John Lavery and Colin Middleton at de Veres.
Still Life and Window by Tony O’Malley at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 44,000 AT HAMMER
The selection at de Veres includes a collection of Irish 18th century landscapes and Irish Georgian tables from a private Cork collection as well as oils by Paul Henry, Jack Yeats, Roderic O’Conor and many eminent artists.The online sale at Sotheby’s will introduce a strong representation of contemporary Irish artists and sculptors to worldwide clients.
Irish highlights at Sotheby’s sale of Modern British and Irish art in London next Wednesday include two early oils by Yeats, Going to the Races, 1917 (€230,400-€345,600) and Sunday Morning, 1921 (€172,800-€288,000) and The Fisherman’s Cottage c1950 by Gerard Dillon (€92,170-€138,300).
Woman of Kinsale by Patrick Hennessy at Sotheby’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE £7,560
Viewing for Whyte’s evening sale of Important Irish Art on November 28 gets underway in Dublin next Wednesday. There are major works by Paul Henry, Louis le Brocquy, Mainie Jellett, Walter Osborne, Sean Keating, Mary Swanzy and Roderic O’Conor. Morning Prayer, Cottage Interior, County Cork, 1901 by James Brenan (1837-1907), headmaster at the Cork School of Art in the 1860’s, is the only known oil painting to show a canopy bed with a boarded, canted roof. The art historian Dr. Claudia Kinmonth reports that these highly functional beds endured throughout Ireland well into the 20th century as they enabled poor families to huddle together and stay warm. At a time when TB was rampant they were condemned by medics. Lot 6 is estimated at €10,000-€15,000.
Currachs Returning, Moonlight, Connemara Coast by Ciaran Clear at Morgan O’Driscoll. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,600 AT HAMMER
Artists from Kenneth Webb and Norah McGuinness to Sean Scully and Mainie Jellett will feature among the highlights at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current online sale of Irish art. This continues until November 29 and like all the sales mentioned in this piece, the catalogue is online. The appetising selection includes work by Ciaran Clear, Martin Gale, Charles Harper, George Campbell and Arthur Maderson.
The autumn/winter art selling season will draw to a close with an evening sale of important Irish Art at James Adam in Dublin on December 7. There are 144 lots in total with two works by Yeats and an important triptych by John Shinnors entitled Line. This is a response by the Limerick artist to a painting by the British post impressionist Frank Bramley entitled Domino at the Crawford Gallery in Cork.
