SONJA LANDWEER (1933 – 2018) – BLISTERED OVOID (c2010). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This monochrome earthenware piece by Sonja Landweer is at Sheppards sale of Important Irish Art on the evening of February 24. Viewing for the 310 lots sale gets underway in Durrow today and the catalogue is online. The auction includes a curated selection of works from the studio of the late Barrie Cooke and Sonja Landweer. It is centred on the Co. Antrim collection of Gerry Cuddy featuring key figures in modern Irish painting. Bistered Ovoid is estimated at €3,000-€5,000.
Roderic O’Conor – Le Loing at Sundown c1902. UPDATE: THIS MADE €245,000 AT HAMMER
Le Loing at Sundown by Roderic O’Conor will lead Whyte’s sale of Irish and International art in Dublin on March 9. The museum worthy work is the catalogue cover lot for the sale. Valued at €150,000-€200,000 it is also the most expensively estimated lot of 129 in the auction. In the autumn of 1902 O’Conor revisited Montigny, a small town on the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau where that he captured the mysterious half light with the sun sitting low on the horizon. O’Conor author Jonathan Benington describes how the works executed at this time were “…characterised by a highly painterly handling of the oil medium, from translucent stains to textured scumblings and thicker calligraphic strokes.”
Liam O’Neill (b.1954) – Turf Cutters. UPDATE: THIS MADE €16,000 AT HAMMER
Turf Cutters by Liam O’Neill is at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online Irish art auction which ends on February 23. Once a source of fuel for home heating and cooking that was widely used in Ireland turf cutting has been banned or restricted on specific bogs. It can no longer be sold commercially, though gifting or exchanging turf between neighbours is permitted. This oil on canvas, which dates to 1994, is estimated at €8,000-€10,000. The catalogue for the auction is online.
Wassily Kandinsky – Le rond rouge (The red circle) (1939). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £12,545,000
Wassily Kandinsky’s large scale canvas Le rond rouge (1939) is a highlight at Christie’s 20th/21st century evening sale in London on March 5. It is considered to be one of the most striking works from the final phase of his careeer. Created while the artist was living in Paris with his wife Nina, Le rond rouge captures the vibrancy and dynamism of his mature abstract language at a moment of profound artistic renewal.
After leaving Germany in 1933 to escape the increasingly hostile political climate, Kandinsky settled in Paris, where he immersed himself in the fervent avant-garde art circles of the city. His Parisian years were also marked by a significant shift in style, as he developed a new visual vocabulary that pushed his work in unexpected directions. It remained in his collection until his death in 1944 and has had an extensive exhibition history. Most recently Le rond rougewas on long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery in London for sixteen years, between 2002-2018. The estimate is £10,500,000-15,500,000.
Lucio Fontana – Teatrino 1964. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
No less than five seminal works by Lucio Fontana from a private German collection, along with pieces by Alberto Giacometti and Sam Francis, will lead the Contemporary evening sale at Sotheby’s in London on March 4. The seven works have a combined estimate of £15 million.
Sotheby’s describe it as the most complete survey of Fontana’s groundbreaking research to come to market in recent memory.
The breadth of Fontana’s experimentation during his most revolutionary years is exposed in work ranging from early punctures that questioned the confines of the picture plane to the dramatic cuts that transformed gesture into a three dimensional space. Most were acquired through the avant garde Galerie Schmela in Dusseldorf, where the inaugural 1957 exhibition included the then unknown 29 year old Yves Klein. Fontana’s first solo exhibition here in 1960 was as influential as it was innovative. His language quickly resonated far beyond Europe, informing the work of artists like Klein, Anish Kapoor, Robert Irwin, Olafur Eliasson and James Turrell. In their own way each extended the spatial and perceptual possibilities opened by Fontana.
Arabella Bishop, Ireland Director at Sotheby’s for many years, has set up as an independent art advisor. With an unrivalled set of experience bringing prime lots to the national and international market she offers extensive expertise across the complexities of the art market. The service is available through www.arabellabishop.com where help with negotiating the best terms and securing optimum deals for clients across all categories is readily available.
The concept of a vampire being long in the tooth is a seductive one but 145 year old Louis de Pointe du Lac is not just any old vampire. The fans of this successful tv icon can hardly contain themselves over an Irish auction which draws to a close from 6 pm tomorrow on February 15.
Gothic Horror, vampire chic, a Louisiana setting and no less than 14 coffins from a fiver up feature in the timed online sale by Sean Eacrett at Ballybrittas, Co. Laois.
A boxed and cased pair of Versace sunglasses.
His latest auction of film paraphernalia is for AMC, the American cable channel. It is described as a prop auction from film and tv shows. Mr Eacrett is precluded from even mentioning Interview with the Vampire, the show that propelled the aforementioned Louis, his vampire lover Lestat de Lioncourt and Lestat’s daughter Claudia to stardom.
But there is no disguising it. The tiniest bit of laptop sleuthing reveals all. Available lots feature the Versace sunglasses worn by Louis, Lestat’s coffin, Claudia’s diary, Lestat’s business cards, Louisiana number plates, copies of The Times-Picayune and all sorts of props used by the characters in the series. The cybersphere is agog. “I need these like oxygen” wrote one breathless fan on Reddit.
Interview with the Vampire is based on the life story of Louis, an affluent black man and brothel owner in New Orleans in the 1910’s as told to veteran journalist Daniel Molloy in Dubai in 2022. He had previously given Molloy an unpublished interview in 1973. It explores New Orleans and surrounding plantation life in the 18th and 19th centuries. The story, based on The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, premiered in October 2022 with two seasons. There was a third in 2024 and there will be a fourth season later this year.
A Times-Picayune dated July 30, 1919
One of the most expensively estimated lots, at €200-€400, is a very large black lacquered high gloss dining table from a Netflix series. A very large oil on canvas of the Dubai skyline is estimated at just €100-€200, as is an L shaped corner sofa, a faux fireplace from Lestat’s house in New Orleans and a silvered six branch chandelier. Most estimates are lower than this. A group of haberdashery hat boxes is among a number of items with estimates of €20-€40. A quantity of water canisters is estimated at €10-€20, as is a group of four heavy timber theatre prop eyes and plenty of other items.
This is a fun sale of 684 lots from an auctioneer who has previously sold props for TV series like Badlands, The Vikings, Game of Thrones. For this auction an undead and decidedly cheerful Sean Eacrett has made a must see 27 second long Tik Tok video of himself emerging from a coffin and donning a pair of sunglasses. Every vampire hates the light. There will be fees of course, but based on low enough hammer prices. Since when are vampires supposed to be nice….
A photograph sent to Christie’s request an auction estimate portal by an unsuspecting owner resulted in a $27.2 million (€23.02 million) sale in New York last week. The previously unknown red chalk study for a foot of the Libyan Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel made nearly 20 times its low estimate and set a record for a Michelangelo drawing. It measures just five and a quarter inches in height. A black chalk study for a leg with bent knee is on the back. Christie’s specialist Giada Damen identified it as an original drawing by Michelangelo, done in preparation for the right foot of the monumental figure at the far east end of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The art brought multiple bidders in the room, on the phone and online to a 45 minute bidding battle at the sale of Old Master and British Drawings.
Henry Moore’s seminal work King and Queen will be a highlight at Christie’s 20th/21st Century: London evening sale on March 5. It has been in the same British collection for the past 70 years. Conceived in 1952–53, the sculpture was first cast in an edition of four plus an artist’s cast. This is the only remaining example still in private hands; all other casts are held in major public collections, including the Moa Museum of Art, Atami; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; the Middelheim Museum, Antwerp; and the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena. Two subsequent casts were produced specifically for the Tate Collection (1957) and The Henry Moore Foundation (1985). The estimate is £10 million – £15 million.
As a cornerstone of the global art world, TEFAF Maastricht presents an unrivalled spectrum of quality and expertise across the fine and decorative arts. The fair is a celebration of 7,000 years of art history, set against the historic and picturesque city of Maastricht. From March 14-19 it brings together 276 dealers and galleries from 24 countries across five continents, offering an unparalleled experience for collectors and connoisseurs alike.
Galerie Canesso at Stand 360 will show this painting by Giuseppe Bonito. It depicts a workshop scene in which the artist, poised at his easel like a performer, demonstrates his craft to an attentive audience. The artist holds a silverpoint or crayon holder and a drawing featuring a reclining Hercules, possibly referencing the Farnese statue, as a guide for his work. The composition, set within a well-appointed studio with hanging earthenware and a large lamp, suggests an important commission, with the principal patron highlighted in white and yellow.
