Lucian Freud, Scillonian Beachscape (1945-46) (£3,500,000-5,500,000). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £4,602,000
Lucian Freud’s fascination with the natural world is underlined by two rare paintings at the 20th/21st century evening sale at Christie’s on February 28. Scillonian Beachscape (1945-46) is one of a handful of works inspired by a formative visit to the Isles of Scilly, accompanied by his close friend, the artist John Craxton. During the trip, Freud created a number of drawings and completed this canvas when he returned to London. Garden from the Window (2002) offers a rare glimpse beyond the studio walls and belongs to a series depicting Freud’s garden at 138 Kensington Church St. in London. Christie’s expect that both works, formerly in the renowned collection of Simon Sainsbury, will resonate with collectors especially given the fact that the National Gallery, London centenary retrospective entitled Lucian Freud; New Perspectives transfers this month at the Thyssen Bornemisza in Madrid.
In 1906 Edvard Munch was commissioned to paint the frieze on Max Reinhardt’s avant-garde theatre in Berlin. Dance on the Beach, the last of 12 canvases and one of the first immersive installations ever, is at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary sale on March 1. This sale boasts a Picasso portrait of his little daughter Maya born to Marie Therese Walther titled Fillette au bateau (Maya). Her birth sparked a creative rejuvenation at a time of personal crisis after a lengthy divorce battle and a worsening political situation in Europe. Picasso painted Maya’s portrait no less than 14 times between January 1938 and November 1939.
Pablo Picasso – Fillette au bateau (Maya) UPDATE: THIS MADE £18 MILLION
René Magritte, Le retour (circa 1950 UPDATE: THIS MADE £6,129,000
Painted around 1950 Magritte’s dove of peace remains a powerful image for our times. There is plenty of confidence at Christie’s that his striking work titled Le Retour will spark universal interest at its Art of the Surreal sale in London on February 28. Over the course of his career Magritte became adept at converting his vision of the mysteries of the world into pictures that, through icon like simplicity, conveyed their messages in ways that are more striking.The bird is one of his poetic motifs. It first emerged in 1940. Le retour offers a dream like variation. The surrounding seascape is bathed in soft light from an overcast sky. Night is replaced by day in the body of the bird. Oliver Camu of Christie’s described this painting as a dreamscape offering a universal symbol of hope, He is confident it will whet a growing global appetite for Magritte.
The lived experiences of women is the primary subject of Irish Gothic, a retrospective by Patricia Hurl at the Irish Museum of Modern Art until July 2. Hurl explores hardship faced by mothers, sisters and friends: women warriors affected by horrific acts, often powerless to ease the suffering of loved ones. Using sketchbooks, diaries, magazine and newspaper cuttings she draws on her own experience to explore the suburban home as an imperfect ideal. This is the first significant exhibition by the Dublin born artist – much admired by colleagues – whose work traverses painting, multi-media and collaborative practice. Hurl is?part of Na Cailleacha, a collective of European women artists, filmmakers and musicians whose concerns embrace the processes of ageing, personal loss, loneliness and stereotypes of the older woman as witch or hag. Pictured here is Living Room by Patricia Hurl (Denis Mortell Photography, image copyright of the artist).
A near pair of Irish late George III side cabinets, c1800
This near pair of Irish late George III satinwood and amaranth and mahogany banded side cabinets made $11,970 at Sotheby’s in New York. The c1800 cabinets were described as in good restored condition. They came up as lot 457 at Sotheby’s Hyde Park Antiques, Past Present and Future sale (Part II). They had previously been with Partridge Fine Arts in London and were last sold at auction at Christie’s in London in 2003.
This stylish pair of early 19th century heavy gates will come up as lot 469 at Fonsie Mealy’s Making Room spring sale in Castlecomer and online on February 15. Originally at Tudenham Park, Mullingar, they are estimated at €2,000-3,000. Viewing for this sale gets underway on February 13 and the catalogue is online. Most lots, from antique furniture, mirrors, lanterns, knife boxes, clocks, chairs, peat buckets and collectibles, are to be sold without reserves.
FRANCISCO JOSÉ DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES – Portrait of Doña María Vicenta Barruso Valdés, seated on a sofa with a lap-dog; and Portrait of her mother Doña Leonora Antonia Valdés de Barruso, seated on a chair holding a fan
This double portrait smashed the previous record for Goya when it made $16,420,000 at Christie’s Old Masters sale in New York. Portrait of Doña María Vicenta Barruso Valdés and Portrait of her mother Doña Leonora Antonia Valdés de Barruso was the top lot in a sale of 49 lots which brought in $44.2 million. The grand total for Classic Week came to $92 million. Old Masters brought in $76 million across a number of sales including the collection of J.E. Safra, Masterpieces from a New York collection, Old Master and British drawings and sales of prints, paintings and sculpture.
Glow, a magical carpet hand tufted with pure wool and luminescent filament designed by Dorothy Cross made €19,000 at a charity sale by Whyte’s entitled Island. On offer was a series of 13 unique one off rugs or wall hangings by some of Ireland’s best known artists and designers. Each piece was hand tufted by Ceadogán Rugmakers at their studio in South East Wexford. Whyte’s conducted the timed on-line sale free of charge in order to maximise the proceeds for The McVerry Trust and For The Birds. The total hammer price for the 13 works was €156,000. Every one sold. Seán Scully’s Wall Fez which made €85,000.
Glow appears plain white in daylight but an image of a tangle of trees emanates as darkness falls. Dorothy Cross lives and works in Connemara, Ireland. Her work ranges from object to opera: working with sculpture, photography and video.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 25, 2023)
Fragments: Lost Stories of Ancient Women is the title of the 2023 annual lecture at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. This year the series celebrates St. Brigid’s Day, the new permanent holiday in Ireland on the first Monday of February. Few historical facts are known about St. Brigid. When it comes to ancient women’s lived experience, all we have are fragments. A scrap of a handwritten letter from mother to daughter, preserved two millennia in a fortuitously arid microclimate. A tiny metal amulet worn around the neck, bearing a rolled-up incantation to protect the wearer from menstrual pain. One or two verses, ignored by readers of the canonical gospels, implying that a woman may have personally bankrolled the earliest Jesus movement. Evidence for ancient women is virtually inaccessible compared to evidence for (elite) ancient men, but it is there if we are just willing to dig a little.
The online lecture will be delivered by Dr. Sara Parks, historian on women and gender in antiquity, on February 8. Dr. Parks will address the Chester Beatty Library’s ever increasing online and global audience from Nova Scotia, Canada where she is assistant professor of religious studies at St. Francis Xavier University.
A pair of mahogany pedestals, urns and covers UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
A pair of George III mahogany pedestals, urns and covers will lead the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin on February 14. Each six sided urn is complete with boxwood strung turned tops and finials. The estimate is €4,000-€6,000. This 494 lot auction opens with 134 lots of silver and jewellery headed by a single stone princess cut diamond ring of 2.5 carats (€4,000-€6,000). There is temptation for collectors too in a Florentine style pietra dura rectangular table top. Inlaid with various kinds of marble and hardstone with an abundance of flowers, foliage and birds it is estimated at €2,500-€4,000.
A pietra dura table top UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
One well placed eye catching piece can change the atmosphere of a room and a sale like this is the exactly the sort of place to let your imagination run riot. There is a wide range of affordable choices from a pair of polished brass amphora shaped table lamps (€300-€500), a Persian rug (€1,500-€2,500) and a pair of 19th century cut lustre candlesticks (€50-€100) to a Meiji period Japanese carved ivory okimono of a fruit vendor (€300-€400) and a 19th century ebonised Anglo-Indian fold over card table (€300-€500). There are longcase clocks, porcelain parrots, sets of prints, clock garnitures. dining chairs, bookcases, cabinets, chandeliers, brass fenders, library chairs, fire screens and an Irish silver champagne bucket. The most expensively estimated art lot is a painting of horses with domestic fowl in a farmyard by J F Herring jnr (1820-1907) (€2,500-€3,500). The sale offers some Irish School and continental landscapes, a number of portraits, genre scenes, Snaffles prints, Spy prints, busts and bronzes. The catalogue cover lot is a pair of bronze and gilt decorated busts of Ramses, the great Egyptian Pharaoh and the Goddess Isis after Pierre Eugene Emile Hebert (1828-1893) (€1,500-€2,500).
