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Heart of Darkness – an etching by Sean Scully UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER
Bidding on the current Irish art online auction by Morgan O’Driscoll runs until September 9. The sale features work by Sean Scully, Mainie Jellett, Donald Teskey, Francis Tansey, Kenneth Webb, Nano Reid, Dan O’Neill, Graham Knuttel and many other artists. The catalogue is online.
A surreal collection described by Christie’s as a true theatre of the imagination that perfectly captures its founders’ creativity and intellectual curiosity comes up in Paris on September 24. A total of 150 lots from the collection of Paul and Jacqueline Duchein of Montauban will come under the hammer. Artists featured include Marie Toyen, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Wolfgang Paalen, André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Victor Brauner, Josef Sima and Man Ray. Their collection combines Surrealism with folk art, Art Brut, and tribal art and their home, illustrated here, would become a cabinet of curiosities, rapidly earning a reputation as the city’s second major museum alongside the Musée Ingres Bourdelle. Highlights of the sale include Flux et reflux de la nuit by Marie Cermínovà, also known as Toyen (€800,000–1,200,000), and Trois monstres ou la Horde, a remarkable oil on canvas painted by Max Ernst in 1927 (€400,000–600,000). The global estimate is €4.6-7 million.
Guercino & Gris: Conserving Canvas from Different Eras, which explores historical and modern conservation treatments on works of art, has just been released by the National Gallery of Ireland. It focuses on three works from the National Gallery of Ireland’s collection: Saint Joseph with the Christ Child (c.1637), by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino (1591-1666), and two collages A Guitar, Glasses and a Bottle and Carafe, Cups and Glasses (1914), by Juan Gris (1887-1927), which was initially one double-sided artwork.
The 64-page hardback publication explores structural conservation treatments on works of art and the changing approaches to these treatments over time. It discusses treatments and processes informed by research carried out by the National Gallery of Ireland’s new Scientific Research Laboratory, and how scientific advancements in conservation are contributing to the care of the collection. The publication marks the completion of the conserving canvas project at the National Gallery, made possible by a grant from the Getty Foundation. It is available to purchase online and in-shop at the gallery priced €29.50.
Father Francis Browne, S.J. (Irish, 1880–1960) – “Full Speed Ahead for… ,” RMS Titanic Leaving Queenstown (Cobh), County Cork, April 1912. © Fr Browne SJ Collection / Davison & Associates Ltd
The first major US exhibition of the work of Father Browne opens today at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at Notre Dame University in Indiana, formerly the Snite Museum. The exhibition Through the Lens of Fr. Francis Browne SJ: The Photographic Adventures of an Irish Priest will run until December 1. His work documents Ireland’s involvement in some of the most memorable events of his era.
In April 1912, Browne received a gift of a ticket for the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. He took his camera along on the journey from Southampton, England, to Cherbourg, France, then to Cobh, County Cork. Browne debarked in Ireland before the Titanic sailed to disaster in the North Atlantic. Afterwards, his photographs of the liner, her passengers, and crew appeared in newspapers and magazines worldwide. After his ordination in 1915, Browne became a chaplain in the Irish Guards. He worked in France and Flanders for the entirety of World War I, and was allowed to carry his camera with him. Often on the front lines, ministering to the wounded and the dead, he was wounded five times. After the war, the Church sent Browne to Australia to recuperate from the effects of poison gas. He photographed his travels to the other side of the world and back to Ireland. In 1925 he became Superior of Saint Francis Xavier Church in Dublin. Over the balance of his career, he traveled extensively in Ireland and England to preach at Jesuit gatherings, missions, and retreats. He also pursued his hobby of observing the rapidly changing life across Ireland.
Sir John Lavery – The Ratification of the Irish Treaty in the House of Lords, December 1921
A re-discovered study by Sir John Lavery of The Ratification of the Irish Treaty in the House of Lords, December 1921 will come up at auction in England in November. The Treaty passed for ratification from the Commons to the Lords on December 16, 1921. It was a moment when the British Empire changed from the rapid expansion from the 1870’s to steep decline in the 20th century.
By then in his ’60’s Lavery, who had been knighted for his services as an official war artist, sought assistance from Sir Patrick Ford and Lord Birkenhead to paint while the house was in session. Armed with these sketches he began work immediately on the large version now in the Glasgow Museums. Lavery frequently gifted his preparatory sketches and gave this one to sculptor George Henry Paulin in gratitude for his portrait of Lavery, a cast of which is in the Glasgow Museums. The study has remained with the family and it will lead Bellmans auction of Modern British and 20th century art on November 21 with an estimate of £20,000-£30,000 (€23,460-€35,190).
It could make more. At Dreweatts in the UK earlier this year a Lavery study for The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement sold for £155,200 with fees (€182,050) over a top estimate of £25,000 (€29,330) after a long bidding battle.
Lavery’s view on Irish independence was clear. In 1910 he wrote to his friend and pupil Sir Winston Churchill, then Minister for the Colonies, that he believed Ireland: “will never be ruled by Westminster, the Vatican or Ulster without continuous bloodshed … and leaving Irishmen to settle their own affairs is the only solution”.
This study by Sir John Lavery of The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement sold for £155,200 with fees (€182,050)
Upholstered Howard style sofa and some maritime art. UPDATE: THE SOFA MADE 2,600 AT HAMMER, THE PAINTING BY HERMAN DIETZ MADE 3,600
In their appealing catalogue for an At Home sale in Dublin on August 28 Adams has very consciously set out to stage antique pieces in fresh contemporary settings. The aim is to highlight the versatility of antique furniture and show how easy it is to adapt to a 21st century interior, not to mention sustainability in a country where the EPA reckons over 1.2 million reusable bulky items, primarily furniture, go into landfill each year.
So how about it? Take a long look at this photograph of an upholstered Howard style sofa (lot 22, estimated €400-€600) in a New England style painted panelled setting under a maritime oil on canvas of the clipper Manalope painted in 1889 by the Russian American artist Herman R Dietz (1860-1923) (lot 21, estimate €2,000-€3,000). Howard & Sons created this iconic chair design in 1866. It is not old and stuffy – timeless and classical is a description that would fit the bill, which in any case will not be large.
The online only sale, on view in Dublin from August 24, presents 394 lots of interesting and affordable furnishings for the home. The idea that you do not need an old house to own antiques should not be a novel one, but at a time of crisis in the antique furniture trade not nearly enough auctioneers in Ireland market furniture in a way that shows this.
Victorian harewood and satinwood Carlton House Desk at Adams. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER
Antique furniture is beautiful and serviceable yet an entire generation of younger buyers appear to be uninterested. In an era when many fine old pieces are practically given away at auction new ways of selling day to day antiques must be found to get this cohort back to the saleroom. A presentation which demonstrates that antique pieces can stylishly embellish a contemporary setting might be the answer. Maybe a sale presented and marketed like this one points to a better way forward.
You could build an atmospheric and comfortable room around a Chesterfield sofa like the one in this sale (€ 800-€1,200) and if you must have a big brand and only a big brand there is a Louis Vuitton trunk on offer (€2,000-€3,000). With estimates from €60 (for a Victorian stationary box) to €3,000-€5,000 for an oil of an American Clipper in full sail by Henry Scott and everything from silver goblets to hall chairs to a Chinese camphor wood blanket chest in between there is much to choose from here.
The Camilla Mirror at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 750 AT HAMMER
Many lots will be sold without reserve at de Veres house contents auction of antique and designer modern furniture, art, collectibles and garden pieces at 25 Wellington Road, Dublin at 2 pm on August 27. The online auction embraces everything from the Camilla mirror designed by Christopher Guy to commemorate the hat Camilla Parker Bowles wore at her royal wedding (€600-€1,000) to a watercolour of Wexford by Maurice MacGonigal, an Afghan carpet and a club fender. There is viewing at the house from August 24 and the catalogue is online.
KEN PARKER – BALLYCOPELAND WINDMILL CO. DOWN. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This acrylic on wooden panels by Ken Parker comes up at Hegarty’s online auction in Bandon on August 28. The sale of 300 lots offers antique furniture including a 19th century Killarney davenport in country house condition (€3,500-5,500), silver, jewellery, garden furniture and 44 lots of paintings. The one illustrated here is estimated at €400-600. The catalogue for the auction is online.
19TH CENTURY PAINTED AND PARCEL-GILT BUREAU BOOKCASE. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,600 AT HAMMER
Auctions deliver unlikely lots and the timed online At Home sale running at James Adam until August 28 is no exception. Take lot 264, this 19th century painted and parcel gilt bureau bookcase. Complete with mirrored doors, slope front, moulded cornice, drawers, gilt handles and lock plates and bracket feet it is painted with Mongolian warriors in the midst of battle. Mongolian warriors were part of a genuine meritocracy, the more heroic their deeds, the more enemies they vanquished the more they were awarded. Funny old world. Then it was women and gold. Now, in the western world on a scale of unattainability, successful young warriors might instead seek a house. The estimate for this unusual object of furniture is 1,500-2,500.
Collection of 10 Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskeys, 2016 to 2024. UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,800 AT HAMMER
Collectible whiskey is a growing trend. The global market for rare Irish whiskey is moving up and this collection of ten bottles of Midleton Very Rare at Dolan’s timed online auction of art, rare whiskeys and antiques is estimated at €6,000-8,000. The sale runs until August 26 and features a selection of single bottles of rare Irish whiskey along with work by 20th century and contemporary Irish and international artists. The catalogue is online.
Marble altar sculpted by J.F. Davis. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400 AT HAMMER
This marble altar, sculpted by John Francis Davis in Cork around 1910, comes up at O’Donovans online only sale of the contents of the Redemptorist Esker Monastery near Athenry in Newcastle West on August 24. A total of 315 lots, including church pews, altars, statues, paintings and household effects will come under the hammer. All are to be sold without reserve. There are two altars and a set of altar rails with Celtic Cross motifs by J F Davis in the auction. No estimate has been issued and there is a stipulation that the altars must be removed without causing damage to the building. John Francis Davis was a stone and marble mason born around 1860 in Kilkenny. He had a workshop near College Road in Cork city until 1914 and many of his commissions were ecclesiastical. He left Cork for Belfast in 1914 and started a new business under the name of JFD Malcolm. UPDATE: The second altar made 1,900 and the set of altar rails made 720 (hammer prices).
