PAUL HENRY (1876-1958) – A Western Landscape (1919). UPDATE: THIS MADE 75,000 AT HAMMER
There is a slightly ominous air about this 1919 Western Landscape by Paul Henry. It comes up as lot 20 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art sale. The sale takes place on April 18. Viewing at the RDS in Dublin gets underway tomorrow and will run until 5 pm on Monday April 17. This work was painted at a time when Henry and his first wife, Grace, were considering abandoning Achill Island, which had been their base since 1910, and moving eastwards. Grace was delighted with the prospect of the move, but Paul was downcast, for he remained enchanted with Achill. According to a note by the late art historian Dr. Brian Kennedy: “The heaviness of this scene, therefore reflects the artist’s mood at the time and, although he was not then to know, the period also represented the beginning of a decade of financial and domestic difficulties that eventually ended in his separation from Grace in 1930. This picture, therefore, was painted at a turning point in Henry’s life.” The estimate is €80,000-120,000.
Irish blue limestone fire surround. UPDATE: THIS MADE 15,000 AT HAMMER
An Irish blue limestone fireplace with a frieze pediment, carved shamrocks and a Sile na Gig will lead the James Adam Irish vernacular sale in Dublin on April 12. This category is new to the Adams calendar and reflects the changing tastes and eclectic collecting habits of Irish auction goers. This is an auction with something for collectors seeking treasures from a broad range of sources from film buffs to architectural historians to Irish country life enthusiasts.
An early 19th century dresser from the set of The Banshees of Inisherin. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
There is a focus on traditional country made furniture, pottery, metalwork, treen and collectibles like an early 18th century Irish Penal Cross carved from yew wood (€5,000-€7,000). The sale will feature original furniture from the sets of the Oscar nominated film The Banshees of Inisherin, as well as paintings by Irish artists with traditional interiors and objects. Wonderful Irish craftsmanship is demonstrated in both glassware and silverware. An early 19th century painted pine dresser with a moulded cornice, three shelves and a fiddle front base is at €3,000-€4,000 the most expensively estimated piece from the film set. Among other lots from the film are a 19th century painted pine knife box, a wooden salt box, a settle bed and an early 19th century settle press, a compact painted pine cupboard, a pine rack, a set of merchant/library steps, a dowry chest, a low stool, a pair of naive landscapes, a marriage dresser, spongeware potato bowls, a kitchen seat and a cupboard. Many are painted in strong tones of blue, brown, red and green.
Irish Claddagh shawl. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,000 AT HAMMER
Craft design is showcased by textiles like woollen blankets and tweed. A magnificent Claddagh shawl is featured as lot 90. In Derek Hill’s Still Life Study with Artist’s Materials on a Chair a painted pine Irish kitchen chair is depicted against a creamy background with artist’s brushes and paraphernalia on the seat. Hill is most associated with the Tory Island group of painters. Giant Muldoon at the West End Village, Tory Island by James Dixon is the catalogue cover lot for the auction. Other artists include Markey Robinson, Cecil Maguire, Maurice Wilks, Marjorie Henry and an evocative 1889 work by Tom Mitchell titled “The Eviction” in which a seated elderly man awaits the arrival of the bailiffs with a shotgun in his hand. There is a Tara brooch, Irish dish rings, triple neck ring glass decanters from the 17th and 18th century, a c1785 Irish silver sugar bowl by John Warner of Cork, a spinning wheel, milk crocks, Carrigaline Pottery, a bog oak carved brooch of Blarney Castle and advertising material like old enamel signs.
Derek Hill HRHA (1916- 2000) – Still Life Study with Artist’s Materials on a Chair. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,200 AT HAMMER
Still Life Study with Artist’s Materials on a Chair by Derek Hill comes up as lot 142 at the James Adam Irish Vernacular auction on April 12. The sale will be on view at Adams on April 7, 8 and 11 and the catalogue is online. This oil on canvas is estimated at €4,000-€6,000.
Harry Kernoff – La Place du Tertre Montmartre at Sotheby’s Irish art sale in Paris. UPDATE; THIS MADE €50,800
Art by Harry Kernoff, Hughie O’Donoghue and Rowan Gillespie will feature among a strong selection at Sotheby’s second Irish art sale in Paris in May. Highlights from the auction will be on view at Sotheby’s on Molesworth St. in Dublin on April 3, 4 and 5. Already consigned are works by William Leech, Roderic O’Conor, John Yeats, Louis le Brocquy, Sean Scully, Patrick Scott, Basil Blackshaw, Camille Souter, LM Hamilton, Jack Coulter, Maser and Richard Hearns.
In his painting La Place du Tertre, Montmartre Harry Kernoff discreetly places himself wearing his customary trilby hat in a cafe named Jeune Peinture. It is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. Hughie O’Donoghue’s Medusa III (€15,000-€20,000) is from a series in which he engages with the past using personal records of his father’s experience of World War II to create intense and emotionally powerful images. Given that the book was first published in Paris Ripples of Ulysses, Study, 1999 (€10,000-€15,000) by Rowan Gillespie is especially apt. It relates to two life sized James Joyce sculptures, one at the Merrion Hotel, Dublin the other at Regis University, Denver. The artist places Joyce at the centre of his masterpiece, Ulysses, the words of which ripple outwards in 18 concentric circles. The sculpture spins because it is never ending.
Hughie O’Donoghue – Medusa III at Sotheby’s Paris. UPDATE; THIS WAS UNSOLD
Incrementum 2020/2023 by Richard Hearns is estimated at €8,000-€12,000. Born in Beirut during the civil war and adopted as an infant by an Irish UN peacekeeper the Burren based painter has said his dual heritage has inspired his paintings. He is considered to be one of the most exciting abstract painters working in Ireland today by Sotheby’s. The inaugural Irish art sale in Paris in May 2022 saw strong international bidding and a world record for a work on paper by Mainie Jellett. It also led to the return of many Irish artworks to this country. The success of that sale, which coincided with the centenary of the World Congress of the Irish Race in 1922, has spurred Sotheby’s on to repeat it in 2023. All international exposure of Irish art is to be welcomed. Bidding for this sale opens online on May 4 and runs until May 10. The auction will be on view at Sotheby’s, Paris on those dates.
18th Century chinoiserie lacquered two door Cabinet on Stand. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This exceptional 18th century chinoiserie lacquered two door cabinet on stand will come up at Fonsie Mealy’s Borleagh Manor Country House Contents Sale on Tuesday, April 18. The sale is being conducted on the instructions of the executors of the estate of the late Malachy McDaniel Stone and other important clients. It will take place at the Amber Springs Hotel, Gorey, Co. Wexford, with viewing on the premises at Borleagh Manor on the two previous days.
The cabinet interior is fitted with an arrangement of eleven long and short drawers, decorated with landscape and river scenes with figures attending daily chores. The interior doors are decorated with birds, insects and flowers, the exterior with painted oval panels with figures under willow trees. The giltwood stand is profusely carved with scrolling foliage, flowers, cherubs and a central classical female figure. The estimate is €15,000-20,000.
A large-scale painting of a grim reaper figure riding in a carnival bumper car by Banksy entitled “Brace Yourself!” sold for $2,032,000 – over three times its original estimate of $600,000 – at Julien’s Auctions in Hollywood. It was the first time the work came to auction. The buyer was Miguel Garcia Larios, owner of vintage specialist RCNSTRCT Studio in Hollywhood. Banksy created the artwork in 2010 for a local British band known as “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” who shared the same name the artist wanted to use for his about to be released 2010 directorial debut film. To avoid any copyright issues, the band agreed to Banksy’s offer to create a unique painting for the group if they were to change their name to “Brace Yourself!” According to the original email correspondence, Banksy humorously offered to paint a smiley face on Death if the band felt the imagery was too dark. A portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit MusiCares® the music charity.
SEAN SCULLY (B.1945) – Raval Rojo (2004). UPDATE: THIS MADE 580,000 AT HAMMER
Raval Rojo by Sean Scully comes up as lot 31 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art sale on April 18 with an estimate of €400,000-€600,000. Just one day after the catalogue went online it has already received 25 bids and is currently standing at €105,000. It is signed by Scully and dated 9.04. It was purchased by the current owner at the Kerlin Gallery in Dublin in 2005. If memory serves me correctly it was displayed in that show to gobsmacking effect on the rear wall of the rectangular white space at Kerlin. In a catalogue note Aidan Dunne explains: “The Red Ravine referred to in the Catalan title, and the simmering palette of warm earth hues, relate the painting to his Barcelona studio”.
The sale offers many other fine examples of the work of prominent Irish and international artists.
HENRI MATISSE (1869-1954) – Jazz, Tériade, Paris, 1947 the complete set of twenty pochoirs in colors, 1947 $400,000-600,00
A single owner collection with over four hundred lots of Twentieth Century editions is to be sold by Christie’s across a series of live and online sales in April. The sales on April 18-19 are anchored by an unprecedented selection of complete portfolios, including an exceptionally rare example of Barnett Newman’s Cantos ($2,000,000-3,000,000), David Hockney’s A Rake’s Progress ($250,000-3,50,000), and Andy Warhol’s Flowers ($2,000,000-3,000,000),. Modern highlights from the collection include Henri Matisse’s Jazz ($400,000-600,000), El Lissitzky’s Victory Over the Sun ($200,000 – 300,000) and a rich selection of prints by László Moholy-Nagy.
Other artists featured in depth include Donald Judd, Jasper Johns, Josef Albers, Blinky Palermo, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinksy among many others. Assembled over decades many of these works are coming to market for the first time in several years. The collection of one of the most important selections of Prints and Multiples to ever be auctioned is billed by Christie’s as The Sale of the Century: An Important Corporate Collection of Prints and Multiples. The collection is expected to achieve more than $10,000,000.
WATCHING THE BOATS – MARKEY ROBINSON (1918-1999). UPDATE: THIS MADE 800 AT HAMMER
Watching the Boats by Markey Robinson is lot number 8 at Whyte’s Spring online art auction which runs until April 3. The catalogue is online and viewing gets underway on Molesworth St. today. This is a sales designed to encourage both first time buyers and established collectors. The painting illustrated here is estimated at €500-€700.
A 17th/18th century birthing chair at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,800 AT HAMMER
The growing market for collectibles and memorabilia is reflected in an increasing number of sales by auctioneers across the board. A 17th/18th century Irish yew wood birthing stool will lead Sheppards Irish Vernacular Part II sale in Durrow on March 28. This rarity has an estimate of €5,000-€8,000. An 18th century Irish Penal Cross has a well carved figure with a skull and crossbones at the base and is estimated at €2,000-€3,000, as is an 18th century Irish mether, the sort of four handled Celtic friendship drinking vessel on which the design of the Liam McCarthy Cup is based. At Sheppards you can take your pick between an Irish jaunting side car or a classic Honda 50 cc motorcycle. Among the earlier examples of Irish life are an 18th century sycamore hedge chair, a cock fighting dugout stool and a dugout chair. All are conversation pieces.
There are flour bins, griddle pans, copper measures, a one legged milking stool, a metal bound milk churn, pine dressers and tables, bookshelves, plate racks and even an early Irish dugout food cupboard. More and more collectors are opting for objects like these, laden with memory and redolent of a vanished lifestyle or homeplace. Sheppards will offer 368 lots online from Durrow.
A home bar styled as a VW camper van front at Aidan Foley’s sale. UPDATE: THIS MADE 480 AT HAMMER
Further up the country, at Blacklion, Co. Cavan there is viewing today and tomorrow for a retirement sale at McNean antique and salvage which Aidan Foley will conduct online only on March 27 and 28 The catalogue, with 1,232 lots, is online and features lots of enamel signs, road signs, street signs, vintage car parts, pub signs, garden furniture and Victorian mahogany furniture. With everything from a home bar styled like the front of a VW camper van to a decorative dug out canoe to a larger than life unique sculptural carved teak figure of a bull this sale will be a draw. Part one of the auction at McNeans last year drew enormous interest from right around Ireland.
The top lot this time round is a 1970 Rover 3.5 litre V8 (€8,000-€10,000). There are enamel signs advertising Player’s Please and Will”s Capstan cigarettes, once ubiquitous in Ireland. A London Underground Boston Manor sign might do it for all the Irish who once lived in west London and managed to make it home, an antique cast iron clothes wringer might still function and save money for someone energetic and if you feel so inclined you could light up a dark corner with an Esso petrol pump globe. The selection on offer is memory jogging for all sorts of reasons and the market likes it.
In Dublin James Adam plan to hold their first Irish Vernacular sale on April 12. This is a new auction category for Adams and the sale will feature original furniture featured on the set of The Banshees of Inisherin.
