With big sales in the offing by Whyte’s, Morgan O’Driscoll, de Veres and Adams and Sotheby’s actively seeking works for a major sale in Paris in May the selling year for Irish art really notches up a gear this month. War in Ukraine notwithstanding there is at this stage little to suggest that 2022 will not equal or even surpass the stellar year that was 2021 when the market performed in a rock solid fashion.
The evening sale of Irish and International Art by Whyte’s at Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth St., Dublin on March 7 is on view this weekend. There is work by Paul Henry, Dan O’Neill, Colin Middleton, Sir John Lavery, Roderic O’Conor, Grace Henry, Walter Osborne, Norah McGuinness, Anne Yeats, John Shinnors, Patrick Hennessy, Patrick Scott, Louis le Brocquy, Pauline Bewick, Stephen McKenna and many others. The sale includes a selection of work from the collection of Lady Augusta Gregory with art by John and Jack Yeats, George Russell and Robert Gregory. Among them are portraits of Robert Gregory and J.M. Synge by John Butler Yeats. The most expensively estimated work is Lobster Fishermen off Achill by Paul Henry (€200,000-€300,000). Dan O’Neill’s Girl with Tambourine is estimated at €30,000-€50,000, as is another Paul Henry work, a west of Ireland landscape from 1929. Adam, one of three works from Louis le Brocquy’s Garden tapestries series (1999-2011) is estimated at €30,000-€40,000. A number of works on offer, like Grace Henry’s Fair Day, Connemara (€15,000-€20,000), Figure and Cottages, Carraroe by Charles Lamb (€2,000-€3,000) and Ireland’s Teardrop (The Fastnet Rock) Ciaran Clear’s atmospheric night oil complete with large sailing ship presumably headed out to the Atlantic (€3,000-€5,000), hark back to a vanishing Ireland of yesteryear. There is no shortage of contemporary art including an archival pigment print by the Cork street artist making big international waves Conor Harrington (born 1980) whose Study for the Blind Exit is estimated at €4,000-€6,000 at Whyte’s. On a completely different tack is Sir John Lavery’s 1931 oil sketch for the portrait of Hugh Lowther, the Earl of Lonsdale commissioned by the city of Doncaster. The second son, Hugh was not expected to inherit the title and his wild youth included running away from Eton to join the circus. Later in life Lonsdale promoted Doncaster race course and opened the airport, was first president of the National Sporting Club, inaugurated The Lonsdale Belt in 1909, was a senior steward at the Jockey Club and chaired the Automobile Association and Arsenal Football Club. The Lavery is estimated at €25,000-€40,000.
There will be viewing in Skibbereen on Monday and Tuesday for O’Driscoll’s Important Irish Art auction which gets underway at 6.30 pm on March 8. Morgan O’Driscoll is the online sale specialist and this auction will attract a national and international following. Arthur Maderson, Evie Hone, Kenneth Webb, Markey Robinson, Bridget Flannery, Patrick Scott, Roderic O’Conor, Jack Yeats, Paul Henry, Maurice Wilks, Pauline Bewick, Sean Scully, Brian Maguire, Mr. Brainwash, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Christo, John Behan, Siobhan Bulfin and Helen Walsh are among the artists and sculptors whose work will feature in a wide ranging sale of 264 lots in total.