Here is a video on Maya Lin’s sculpture at the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side. It is designed by architects Todd Williams and Billie Tsien and ground on the project was broken last September. The Museum building will be a new landmark for the South Side, welcoming visitors to Jackson Park and marking the Center as an historic civic destination. The Museum building’s design embodies the idea of ascension—of a movement upward from the grassroots. Its form is inspired by the idea of four hands coming together; a recognition that many hands shape a place.
Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskeys 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022 (2,200-3,200). UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,900 AT HAMMER
Interest in and demand for rare Irish whiskey’s is growing according to Niall Dolan of Galway based Dolan’s art auction house. He will offer 38 rare Irish whiskeys in a timed summer online auction of Irish art, whiskeys and antiques which runs until August 15. The sale of rare Irish whiskeys draws clients from around the world. There is a good selection of art by well known Irish artists in this auction of 275 lots. The catalogue is online.
George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson – Naval Steam Frigate moored off Queenstown (with Haulbowline in the background)
Links to Titanic and Lusitania are just one part of the extraordinary history of Cork Harbour. There is still time to catch a glimpse of just how deep and wide that history is at the Port of Cork Collection exhibition at the Crawford Gallery which runs until August 28. Last November’s donation of unique maritime artworks from The Port of Cork to the gallery consists of 17 maritime paintings, a 1912 ships register referencing both Titanic and Lusitania, an illuminated address to Charles Stewart Parnell and a silver Admiralty oar from 1686. Art by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson (1806-1884), Henry Albert Hartland (1840-1893), Robert Lowe Stopford (1813-1898) and Sean Keating (1889-1977) offers insights into the operations of the port down through the years.
Dr. Caroline Campbell has been appointed as the first female director in the 158 year history of the National Gallery of Ireland. She will take up her post in November. Dr Campbell becomes the 14th director since the gallery first opened in 1864.
Born and raised in Belfast the incoming director has a career spanning three leading international art museums as a curator and senior leader. She has held positions at the Ashmolean Museum, the Courtauld Gallery and has worked as Director of Collections and Research at the National Gallery, London since 2018.
A graduate of the University of Oxford and the Courtauld Institute of Art, and an alumna of the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York, Dr Campbell has an outstanding reputation for delivering research, engagement and digital programmes, illustrating her wide-ranging expertise in Western Art from the Middle Ages to the present day. She has curated several major exhibitions, published widely, and is active as a trustee of several arts organisations in the UK.
Mary Keane, Chairperson of the Board of Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland, commented: “The Board of the Gallery is delighted to make this announcement today. We are thrilled to have a person of Caroline’s calibre join the Gallery team and look forward to welcoming her later this year. Caroline’s impressive experience, knowledge and passion will inspire both the Gallery team and our visitors, and we eagerly anticipate seeing her vision for the Gallery brought to life in the coming years. Caroline will become the Gallery’s 14th Director, and her arrival will be groundbreaking as she will be the first woman director of the Gallery since it opened in 1864.
The Board would like to thank outgoing Director Sean Rainbird for the innovation and skill he has brought to his role at the Gallery since 2012. It has been wonderful to work with him through the highs and the lows: everything from the once-in-a-lifetime moment of the Gallery reopening following refurbishment five years ago to navigating the challenging pandemic years. We wish him all the very best in the future.”
Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, London, said: “Caroline has an established international reputation as a curator of Renaissance art and she has been an innovative exhibition curator. Since 2018 she has been an excellent Director of Collections and Research at the National Gallery in London. She is a gifted art historian and a highly talented communicator; she is a skilled manager and has an impressive network of professional contacts. Naturally we will miss her in London, but I wish her every success as Director of the National Gallery of Ireland where she will bring new vision and energy to one of Europe’s great national art collections. With Caroline at the helm in Dublin, I look forward to even closer collaboration with the National Gallery of Ireland.”
Marquetry decorated ormolu mounted table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER
Lot 547 at Matthews sale online at Kells, Co. Meath on August 7 is this antique marquetry decorated ormolu mounted table. It is estimated at 1,200-1,800. The most expensively estimated lot at this jewellery, gold and antique sale is a gentleman’s Rolex wristwatch (6,000-8,000) (UPDATE – 6,100 AT HAMMER). The sale is comprised of 560 lots of jewellery, gold and silver and nearly 200 lots of antique furniture, mirrors, rugs, pictures and porcelain. The catalogue is online and viewing gets underway in Kells A at noon on August 5.
YAYOI KUSAMA (B.1929) – Love Was Infinitely Shining. UPDATE: THIS MADE €460 AT HAMMER
Work by the celebrated Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama does not turn up very often at auction in Ireland. This fine China plate, entitled Love was Infinitely Shining is lot 127 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s next online auction of Irish art which runs until August 8. The catalogue for the sale is online. The estimate for lot 127 is 400-600.
JOHN BUTLER YEATS (1839-1922) – William Butler Yeats. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER
This drawing of the poet W.B. Yeats by his father John Butler Yeats has attracted some competitive bidding at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale of Irish art which closes this evening. Estimated at 800-1,200 the small pencil drawing measuring 12″ x 9.4″ originally in the Yeats family collection has so far attracted 48 bids. The current bid on lot 44 stands at 3,000. The catalogue is online.
Pauline Bewick (1935-2022) – Sleeping Beauties at Morgan O’Driscoll (€800-€1,200). UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER
The height of the holiday season has not deterred two west Cork based auctioneers from planning sales for Tuesday August 2. The evening art sale by Morgan O’Driscoll next Tuesday can be viewed in Skibbereen today, on Monday and on Tuesday. The selection is impressive and among the artists featured on the catalogue are Sean Scully, Louis le Brocquy, Felim Egan, Basil Blackshaw, Letitia Marion Hamilton, Colin Middleton, Mary Swanzy, William Crozier, Cecil Maguire and Pauline Bewick who died on Thursday at her home in Co. Kerry, with sculpture by Helen Walsh, Ray Delaney, Oisin Kelly and John Behan.
In Bandon Hegarty’s August fine interiors sale features a selection of over 200 lots of furniture, art, silver, jewellery and collectibles. An 18 carat Columbian emerald and diamond cluster ring is estimated at €11,000-€12,000. Among the other highlights is a pair of black cast iron benches (€1,000-€1,200), a mixed media on canvas by Philippe Aird (€800-€1,200), a stone bust on pillar of Mark Anthony (€400-€600) and a bronze bust of Diane of Poitiers (€300-€600). The catalogues for both sales are online.
THE artist Pauline Bewick – acclaimed for the fineness of her line – has died at the age of 86. Bewick died at her home in Glenbeigh, Co. Kerry where she has been based since 1973. Born in the North of England Bewick was raised primarily in Co. Kerry. She worked in a variety of mediums from oil and watercolour to stained glass, tapestry and sculpture. In a tribute President Michael D. Higgins spoke of her original and unique creative talent. She is survived by artist daughters Poppy and Holly Melia. Pauline Bewick was pre-deceased by her husband Pat Melia.
PAULINE BEWICK RHA – LILIES AND REEKS, 1990-1996 sold for €2,700 at Whyte’s in Dublin in 2012
JULIUS OLSSON (1864 – 1942) Dunluce Castle, 1930’s
This 1930’s poster depicting the Northern Ireland beauty spot Dunluce Castle in Co Antrim was the top lot at the James Adam sale of the John Rogers Vintage Poster Collection in Dublin this week. Designed by Julius Olsson it tripled its estimate to sell for €3,200. Five bidders competed and executed a total of twenty two bids before the hammer came down. The online auction was 96% sold and made €103,000, which exceeded the top estimate. One unusual result was that on average each purchaser bought three lots.
