The red/blue tonal palette of two artworks illustrated here is similar. In art market terms the gulf between them amounts to millions and millions of euros and is to all intents unbridgeable. Willem de Kooning, the a Dutch born American based Abstract Expressionist, belongs in the canon of the greats, Gerard le Roux is a practically unknown French artist and sculptor born in 1942 and resident for many years in St. Tropez.
When it comes to the art market comparisons are indeed odious. Untitled IV by de Kooning sold at Sotheby’s in New York for a whopping $18.9 million in November 2021. It was part of the Macklowe Collection, which sold for just under $1 billion, then the most valuable collection ever sold at auction. The sale of the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen for $1.66 billion last November has eclipsed this result since. Despite stellar sales like these the art market operates at many different levels. You do not need to be an RTE “celebrity” in order to be able to dip into it.
The market is for everyone as demonstrated by the second red/blue work Three Women by Gerard le Roux. It comes up at Whyte’s online summer evening art sale on July 10. Colourful, appealing and charming enough to grace any wall it is estimated at a mere €200-€300. An American influence is obvious in two works by him at this sale, lots 316 and 317. There is a similar estimate on Couple on a Beach. The artist spent a number of years in New York. The Mutualart website reports that work by le Roux has been offered at auction multiple times with prices ranging from $127 (€116) to $360 (€329), a record established for a beach scene at Pourville near Dieppe at Pierre Berge and Associates in Paris in 2021.
Summer art sales are brimful of interest and need not break the bank. There is a selection of 337 works to choose from at Whyte’s. The online sale offers an exciting array of accessible art from Ireland and around the world. Among the artists represented are Paul Henry, Jack Yeats, Norah McGuinness, Graham Knuttel, Robert Ballagh, Markey Robinson and Pauline Bewick. Le Grand Pavon (Peacock), a wool carpet by Salvador Dali was produced in 1979 by Ege Axminster, Denmark and comes with an estimate of €800-€1,200. A 1947 lithograph by American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell is estimated at €100-€150, the estimate for Ecce Homo, 16 offset colour lithographs by George Grosz dated 1923 is €2,000-€3,000 and a woodblock print portrait of a man by Otto Dix is estimated at €500-€700.
A view of Kilshannig, Castlegregory, Co. Kerry by Kenneth Webb is estimated at €3,000-€5,000, Mayo, a watercolour by Norah McGuinness, is estimated at €2,500-€3,500, an oil of Tory Harbour by Patsy Dan Rodgers is estimated at €600-€800, as is a watercolour of thatched cottages in the west of Ireland by Frank McKelvey.