Disappointed Love by the Irish artist Francis Danby (1793-1861) in the collection of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum forms a backdrop to a new exhibition on Taylor Swift at the museum until September 8. The Taylor Swift songbook trail celebrates the creativity of costumes, lyrics and videos with 13 stops across four floors of the museum. At stop eight is a cream Zimmerman dress from Swift’s personal archive worn in the video for Willow from the Evermore album with Danby’s subject and painting offering a perfect backdrop. Curator Kate Bailey considers Danby’s painting to be entirely in tune with Taylor Swift’s vibe. The idea of a Swift themed display occurred to her in April shortly after the beginning of the Eras tour. It has been the fastest moving project Bailey has ever worked on. But beware. There are more than seven miles of corridors in this fabulous museum. You have been warned.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) – Landscape with Cottages and a Hay Barn, (1641). Etching with touches of drypoint on paper. Image, National Gallery of Ireland
An etching by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) – Landscape with Cottages and a Hay Barn (1641) – has been acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland and is the first work on paper by Rembrandt to enter the national collection. The gallery is celebrating its 170th anniversary by announcing recent acquisitions, free tours and releasing free tickets to ‘Women Impressionists’ for Culture Night 2024. Hughie O’Donoghue’s monumental Original Sins (2022), commissioned under the Decade of Centenaries Programme, has been acquired as a heritage gift under Section 1003. A vibrant oil on canvas by Dairine Vanston, On Huband Bridge, Dublin (1974), records a Dublin landmark just a few minutes’ walk from Vanston’s home and studio on Mount Street Crescent, but suggests more tropical climes.
A new strategic plan for 2024-2028 includes a range of priorities which will build on the Gallery’s existing work and help it evolve to best serve its collections and audiences, in the future. Four new priorities have been identified: Developing and caring for our living collections for public benefit; a National Gallery for all; excellence in Corporate Services and Strategic Partnerships to grow national and international partnerships and income streams across the public and private sectors.
Hughie O’Donoghue (b1953) – Original Sins series in the Shaw Room of the National Gallery. Photo courtesy National Gallery of Ireland.
AN ARTS AND CRAFTS OAK DRESSER. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER
The timeless aesthetic and commitment of the Arts and Crafts movement is evident in this oak dresser which comes up as lot 277 at the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin on August 28 with an estimate of 1,000-1,500. This is a timed online sale with 401 lots and it will be on view at St. Stephen’s Green from Saturday, August 24. There is art, silver, collectibles, antique furniture, Oriental rugs, porcelain and even a collection of Scottish Freemasons regalia belonging to life member William Kirkhope. The catalogue is online.
ALICIA BOYLE (Irish 1908 – 1997) ‘A Boat (ashore) in a West of Ireland landscape’. UPDATE: THIS MADE 150 AT HAMMER
This 1950 mixed media work by Alicia Boyle is lot 56 at the modern and contemporary art online auction at O’Reilly’s of Francis St., Dublin which runs from August 7-14. The estimate is 150-250. Boyle’s work is in numerous collections including Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Crawford Gallery, Ulster Museum, Nottingham Castle Museum, National Gallery of Ireland and the National Self Portrait Collection. The catalogue for the sale is online.
Marina Abramovic – Performance for the OceansPhotograph by Marco Anelli
Performance for the Oceans (2024) is the result of a collaboration between the Serbian conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramovic and Blue Marine, a charity dedicated to protecting the ocean and tackling overfishing. The work, filmed on Fire Island in New York, depicts Abramovic giving her unconditional love and energy to our oceans, stressing the urgent need for their preservation.
The charity has partnered with Christie’s on Blue: Art for the Ocean. More than 20 world leading artists are donating works to be auctioned within Christie’s 20th/21st Century Marquee Week sales next October to coincide with Frieze Art Fair in London to benefit Blue Marine’s projects around the world. Blue Marine’s mission is to combat overfishing, in order to help life in the ocean perform its vital function of stabilising the Earth’s climate. Among other artists involved are Yoshitomo Nara, Edmund de Waal, Lydia Blakeley, and Jonas Burgert.
IVAN SUTTON (B.1944) – FASTNET ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,000 AT HAMMER
This oil on canvas board of Fastnet Rock Lighthouse off the coast of Cork is at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall art auction, which ends this evening. Estimated at 1,500-2,000 it is a popular lot and has already achieved 25 bids. The sale offers a wide variety of art and artists and includes works by Annemarie Bourke, Mike Fitzharris, William Conor, James Humbert Craig, Paula Rego, Tony O’Malley, Blaithin O Ciobhain, Norah McGuinness, Cecil King, Evie Hone and many others. The catalogue is online.
Sotheby’s Maison is the new Asia flagship of the world renowned auction house in the heart of Hong Kong. The two-storey 24,000 square foot space designed by Rotterdam-based architecture studio MVRDV presents a dual concept: the ground floor houses a dramatic state-of-the-art space designed for immersive experiences and moments of profound contemplation, where museum-grade exhibitions and performances will be staged, alongside Sotheby’s signature auction exhibitions spread throughout the year. The first floor features Sotheby’s concept store, a curated retail experience exploring an array of cross-category art, luxury and collectibles spanning 80 million years of history and offered for instant purchase.
The inaugural ground floor exhibition showcases a diverse curation of exceptional Buddhist sculptures spanning ancient Gandhara to the Ming court, through the turbulent era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, as well as the two Song periods. The exhibition offers a comprehensive view of the development of Buddhist art and its profound impact on the lives of millions of believers over two millennia. On the same floor two masterworks on loan from the Long Museum bring together Gerhard Richter’s Eisberg and an exceptionally rare Ru ware brushwasher made circa 1100 in China.
Sotheby’s kicks off the season in September with The Hong Kong Sales, followed closely by The Luxury Sales and Asian Art in November.
Bodhi: Masterpieces of Monumental Buddhist Art Photo credit: Stefan Ruiz
Francis Bacon, Human Presence at the National Portrait Gallery in London from October 10 will be the first exhibition in nearly 20 years to focus on the artist’s portraits. Through five key phases, – Portraits Emerge, Beyond Appearance, Painting from the Masters, Self-Portraits and Friends and Lovers – the show will chart the evolution of Bacon’s practice and explore how he embraced and challenged traditional definitions of potraiture. With more than 50 rarely seen works from private collections around the world it explores an engagement with portraiture from the 1940’s with a focus on self portraits and images of key sitters including lovers and friends. These will be displayed alongside rarely seen photographs and portraits of Bacon from the gallery’s collection by leading 20th century photographers like Cecil Beaton, Arnold Newman and Bill Brandt. The first major exhibition of portraits by Bacon at the National Portrait Gallery runs until January 19, 2025.
A 17th century Tibeto Chinese meteorite iron phurba, or dagger.
Irish auctioneers Sheppards of Durrow are likely to be propelled into tv stardom thanks to the Country House Auction, a series of four one hour programmes on Channel 4. The show, which is about to be broadcast, captures all the suspense and excitement of a live sale Sheppards conducted at Castle Durrow early last November.
While Sheppards, Durrow and its castle are the stars of the show a sacred Tibetan meteorite iron Phurba, which made €140,000 at hammer over an estimate of €20,000-€30,000, is the star of the auction and the opening episode. There is much excitement around a Neoclassical chimneypiece in Carrara marble, a gold Cartier collar, a guitar signed by the Rolling Stones and a five stone diamond ring. There is focus too on the owners of 18th century Castle Durrow opening their doors to a public auction for the first time in an opening episode gorgeously narrated by Hattie Morahan which show Durrow and its world renowned auction house in a most beautiful light. The first episode is on August 13 at 9 pm.
Ardent by Kenneth Webb will be featured by The Purple Onion Gallery
Antique furniture, art, jewellery, vintage fashion, rugs and collectibles will be in full supply at the packed to the rafters Birr Vintage Week antique and art fair on August 5 and 6.
Among more than 30 dealers from right around Ireland in attendance will be Treasures Irish Art of Athlone, Greene’s furniture and jewellery of Drogheda, Ashbrook Antiques of Roscrea with French furniture, Eily Henry vintage of Stradbally, Co. Waterford, Sandra Hogan of Cork with silver and jewellery, Eddie Moylan of Listowel with clocks and watches and Anne Hawkins of Dublin with vintage costume jewellery.
This gives an idea of the nationwide breadth and depth of this long running Bank Holiday fair, founded by the late antique dealer and auctioneer Ena Hocter and organised for many years now by Hibernian Antique Fairs.
A selection of vintage Irish banknotes which Robert Hutchison will bring to the fair.
The fair, which takes place at the County Arms Hotel in the heart of Birr from 11 am to 6 pm on the two days, offers something for everyone. Along with antique furniture and art it will include rarities like a highly collectible early Birr currency token and items to jog the memory like a selection of old Irish banknotes which Robin Hutchison will feature along with a selection of militaria and coins.
The artist Mark O’Neill is perennially popular. Treasures Irish Art will offer a selection of his paintings at their stand in Birr. Treasures have mounted an exhibition of art by Mark O’Neill at their newly opened expanded antique shop in Athlone, just a short walk from their former premises. In an era when so many antique shops have closed it is heartening to find a new one.
Ashbrook Antiques of Roscrea will bring this Louis XV style side table with carrara marble top
Fairs plugged the gap opened up by shop closures and offer a valuable showcase for dealers at a time when retail is among the sectors under huge pressure.
Annamore Antiques from Co. Wicklow will offer a selection of Persian rugs and 18th century artefacts. There will be a selection of furniture and small items at La Belle Epoque, Raymond Byrne of Co. Roscommon will feature porcelain and china and Edward Elliman of Dublin will bring militaria. Watches, wine and that great new collectible, Irish whiskey, are among an eclectic mix of collectibles to be worn, imbibed and generally enjoyed.
The 56th annual Birr Vintage Week runs until August 10 with a packed programme of events in a vintage town with a fine selection of 18th century architecture.
