Edward McGuire (1932-1986) – Portrait of Michael Hartnett
The June selling season of Irish art kicks off with an exciting sale by James Adam in Dublin this evening. But one lot will not be included. This portrait of the Limerick poet Michael Harnett by Edward McGuire has been purchased in advance of the auction by the Limerick City Gallery. It was previously at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. The artist is best known for his portraits of literary figures, including Patrick Kavanagh, Paul Durcan, Seamus Heaney, Anthony Cronin, John Montague, Francis Stuart and this one, from 1971, of Michael Hartnett.
This classic McGuire work shows a thirty-year-old Hartnett by which time Hartnett had published Poems 1958-1970, Secular Prayers, Anatomy of a Cliché, Thirteen Sonnets and Notes on My Contemporaries. Hartnett, born 1941 in Croom Co Limerick, was educated locally and at UCD. He worked for a while as curator of Joyce’s tower at Sandycove, lived in Madrid and London, returned to Dublin where he worked at the international telephone exchange, as a house painter and as a lecturer in creative writing. He moved to Newcastle West in 1974 and died in 1999.
At Adams works by many of the most famous and best loved Irish artists dating over the last 250 years are featured – from a pair of rare views of Dublin in 1775 by William Ashford, up to a monumental 2008 oil by Hughie O’Donoghue, and everything in-between.
Pair of Irish carved giltwood compartmental Console Mirrors, UPDATE: THESE MADE 11,000 AT HAMMER
This pair of Irish giltwood mirrors attributed to James Hicks of Dublin will feature at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth summer fine art sale on June 14, 15 and 16. Each one is around eight feet high and crested with stylised shell and flowers. There is trellis work and interlaced ribbons and foliage on the outer panels and they are estimated at 7,000-9,000. The catalogue for this sale of 1,478 lots is online now.
Claude Monet – Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume(1904) UPDATE; THIS MADE £30,059,500
Monet’s atmospheric London series view of Waterloo Bridge comes up at Christie’s 20th/21st Century evening sale on June 28. Last seen at auction in 1939 it has been in the same family collection since it was acquired by Arde Bulova, chairman of the Bulova Watch Company in 1951. Prestigious early provenance also includes Paul Durand-Ruel, Adolph Lewisohn and the D.P. Allen Memorial Art Museum, at Oberlin College in Ohio. Of the 41 iconic paintings of Waterloo Bridge that Monet painted between 1899-1904, 26 are in public institutions, including The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; Bührle Foundation, Zürich; Art Institute of Chicago; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and Kunstmuseum Bern. Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume was most recently on long term loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel.
The sale of Waterloo Bridge, effet de brume follows the exceptional price achieved for Le Parlement, soleil couchant, from the collection of Anne H. Bass, which sold for $75.9 million on May 12 in New York, setting a record for a painting from Monet’s Vues du Londres. The estimate for this work is in the region of £24 million.
JACK BUTLER YEATS RHA (1871-1957) – THE LITTLE SISTER OF THE GANG [FITZWILLIAM SQUARE], 1944. UPDATE: THIS MADE 200,000 AT HAMMER
A particularly tender oil by Jack B. Yeats – The Little Sister of the Gang (Fitzwilliam Square) 1944 (€150,000-€200,000) – comes up at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art at the RDS on June 6. It shows one of a gang of boys holding the hand and carefully looking after a much younger yellow haired girl. In complete contrast is Patrick Heron’s Emerald with Reds and Cerulean (1977) (€150,000-€200,000). These two works demonstrate the widely differing styles of art on offer at Whyte’s sale of 156 lots. They range from an Untitled 1977 Tuft Wall Hanging by Patrick Scott (€15,000-€20,000) to A Horsefair at Goresbridge, Co. Kilkenny by Peter Curling (€30,000-€40,000). The Patrick Scott work was commissioned by McGarry Ni Eanaigh for the s3 Building at Leopardstown in 1997 and made by V’Soske Joyce of Oughterard. The entire proceeds of the sale of this lot will be donated to the Irish Red Cross Ukraine Appeal courtesy of s3 Connected Health and Whyte’s.
An unusual four part portrait of Penelope Collins, daughter of the artist Patrick Collins, by Basil Blackshaw is estimated at €10,000-€15,000.The catalogue cover lot is Fair Day, Westport, Co. Mayo c1943 by Lillian Lucy Davidson (€20,000-€30,000). Viewing gets underway on June 4.
PATRICK HERON CBE (1920-1999) – Emerald with Reds and Cerulean UPDATE: THIS MADE 140,000 AT HAMMER
The Yellow Man by Hughie O’Donoghue. UPDATE: THIS MADE 57,000 AT HAMMER
Hughie O’Donoghue’s Yellow Man II from 2008 from a series inspired by a Van Gogh self-portrait known only from photographs and thought lost in a fire, comes up at Adams sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on June 1. It is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. Another 21st century work of note is Barry Flanagan’s Horse on Anvil (€20,000-€30,000). Best known in Ireland for his remarkable sculptural hares exhibited around O’Connell St. at the time of his Dublin retrospective in 2006 Barry Flanagan is celebrated too for sculpted horses, cougars and elephants. There are prominent horse sculptures by him in Cambridge and in Montreal.
The Bridge at Skibbereen (1919) and The Folded Heart (1943) by Jack Butler Yeats are estimated respectively at €400,000-€600,000 and €250,000-€350,000. Gerard Dillon’s Across from Innislacken (€60,000-€80,000) dates to c1951 while Tony O’Malley’s Arrieta-Orzola (Lanzarote) from 1988 is estimated at €25,000-€35,000. Sun Rising; An extensive wooded landscape with fishermen by George Barret (€100,000-€150,000) is described by Adams as a masterpiece of 18th century Irish art. Chiswick Baths by Sir John Lavery is estimated at €80,000-€120,000. The Adams sale, which includes a 1916 copy of The Proclamation (€150,000-€200,000), is on view at St. Stephen’s Green today and every day until next Wednesday at 4 pm and online. There are 118 lots and it gets underway at 6 pm on Wednesday.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for May 21, 2022)
Horse on Anvil by Barry Flanagan. UPDATE: THIS MADE 30,000 AT HAMMER
Irish paintings and rare Irish whiskeys, antiques furniture and collectibles, clocks and Waterford Crystal, wines and champagnes, stamps and coins will all feature at Dolan’s timed online summer art auction which runs until the evening of Monday, May 30. Among the artists featured are Cecil Maguire, Norah McGuinness, Charles Lamb, Kenneth Webb, Flora MItchell, Arthur Armstong, Arthur Maderson, Mildred Anne Butler, Markey Robinson, Brian Bourke, George Campbell and Susan Cronin.
Flora Mitchell (1890 – 1973), Winetavern Street, Dublin (these houses were demolished in the 1960’s). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A rare 1970’s ‘Non Stop’ sofa by Ueli Berger, Eleanore Peduzzi-Riva and Hans Ulrich for De Sede, Switzerland made a hammer price of 15,500 at de Veres Art and Design auction in Dublin today. This iconic piece of 20th century design is upholstered in black leather and felt composed of 20 individual pieces that zip together. It can configure into a number of different positions and broken down into smaller sofas if needed. It earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest sofa with an example that boasted more than 400 connected sections. This version has 20 sections and measures 5m in a straight length.
Frattini desk c1960. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,400 AT HAMMER
This rosewood c1960 Model 530 desk by Gianfranco Frattini for Bernini is lot 17 at de Veres art and design auction which runs online until May 24. The sale is on view from today in Dublin. The desk is estimated at 1,500-2,500. The sale features Danish and Italian furniture and lighting by some of the major designers of the 20th Century including Arne Vodder, Arne Jacobsen, Finn Juhl, Niels Moller, le Corbusier, major labels Desede, Roche Bobois, B + B Italia and Cassina. There is art by Felim Egan, Robert Ballagh, Martin Gale, Terry Frost, Barrie Cooke, William Crozier and a variety of other artists.
Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Lynch at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Great Irish Interiors at Sheppards, collectibles at Whyte’s and Mullen’s, art at Morgan O’Driscoll and James Adam, an Irish collection at Sotheby’s in London, design at de Veres and antique furniture at Woodwards should get a busy summer season off to a flying start over the next week or so. Kicking off with an Eclectic Collector sale online at Whyte’s in Dublin today buyers at all price points will find plenty to choose from. Wine drinkers who enjoy Chateau Lynch Bages will no doubt be fascinated by a portrait at Sheppards of Jean Baptiste Lynch (1749-1835), Mayor of Bordeaux, Count of the French Empire, lawyer and son of Thomas Lynch who produced high quality wines under the name Cru de Lynch which eventually morphed into Lynch-Bages. The Lynch family – one of the Tribes of Galway – fled persecution in Ireland in the 17th century and this portrait is from the Derk estate in Co. Limerick, thence by descent. Lot 23 is estimated at €15,000-€25,000.
Three days of sales at Sheppards get underway next Tuesday (May 24). Viewing starts in Durrow today and the catalogue with a fascinating selection of antique furniture, Chinese and African collectibles, ceramics, chandeliers, sllver, jewellery and collectibles is online.
Along with Robert Emmet’s 1803 Proclamation Whyte’s sale today offers 1916 Rising and War of Independence documents and medals, Seamus Heaney signed first editions, Polar exploration volumes, maps, banknotes and coins and entertainment and sporting memorabilia. A Butterfly Spin by Damien Hirst and a silkscreen print of John Wayne by Andy Warhol feature at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale of affordable art which runs until next Monday evening (May 23) A strong selection of 20th century classic design furniture and Irish art will come under the hammer at de Veres next Tuesday afternoon (May 24). There is Danish and Italian furniture and lighting by designers including Arne Jacobsen, Finn Juhl, le Corbuser, Mies van der Rohe and Arne Vodder and art by Felim Egan, Robert Ballagh, Francis Tansey, Terry Frost and William Crozier.
An Irish George III oval mirror at Sotheby’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE £10,080
The sale of Monte Alverno: An Irish Collection at Sotheby’s in London next Thursday will give Irish and international collectors a chance to pick up something Irish and special like Regency peat buckets, gilt mirrors, antique furniture and art ranging from 18th century bird gouaches by Samuel Dixon through to Yeats, James Arthur O’Connor, John Luke and Patrick Swift.A pair of Georgian peat buckets and a pair of Edwardian demi-lune side tables are among the top antique furniture lots at Woodwards sale in Cork next Saturday (May 24). Among the Georgian lots are a three pillar dining table, a library table, a card table, a wine cooler, a bureau, a chest of drawers and a lowboy. An Edwardian inlaid sofa table and an office mahogany desk are among around 300 lots here.Next week is bookended by a sale of history, militaria and collectibles at Mullens of Laurel Park.
Photograph of a female climber in Victorian days at Mullen’s UPDATE: THIS LOT MADE 380 AT HAMMER
Among the first photographs of rock climbers in action were those taken by the Abraham family at Keswick in the Lake District. Mullens will offer a box of 50 glass stereoscope slides of 19th century images from Cumberland and North Wales featuring climbers in tweeds, flat caps and, in one memorable image, a skirt. In those Victorian times there was no lack of equality on the mountains. The sale kicks off with a skull of a Great Irish Elk. There is a poetry book inscribed by Roger Casement in Pentonville Prison on the night before his execution to Fr. Murnane of The Presbytery, Bermondsey.
William Ashford (1746-1824) – A Two Views of Dublin Bay looking North and South. UPDATE: THESE MADE 340,000 AT HAMMER
A rare pair of 1774/5 views of Dublin by William Ashford, first president of the Royal Hibernian Academy, will highlight the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on June 1. The Two Views of Dublin Bay looking North and South were commissioned by Thomas Dawson, 1st Baron Dartrey and were sold at Christie’s in London the following year with the firm’s founder James Christie wielding the gavel. They are estimated at €500,000-€700,000. Works by many of our best known artists over a 250 year span are included in this sale with over €2 million in estimates. The Bridge, Skibbereen by Jack B Yeats was exhibited at The Dublin Society of Painters in 1920 and is now estimated at €400,000-€600,000. One of the most recently painted works in the sale is a monumental 2008 oil by Hughie O’Donoghue, The Yellow Man II (€40,000-€60,000). Among the artists represented by significant works in this sale of 118 lots are George Barret, Sir John Lavery, Gerard Dillon, Tony O’Malley, Edward Maguire, Barry Flanagan, Dan O’Neill and William Scott.
An unusual highlight at an art sale is an original copy of the Irish Proclamation with an estimate of €150,000-€200,000.
