The divisive nature of the Irish Civil War is addressed in this 1924 painting, An Allegory by Sean Keating. The prevailing sense of disquiet and uncertainty is a reflection of Ireland in the wake of the war which raged on this island exactly a century ago. Among the characters featured are the artist, his wife and child. A new display which opens at the National Gallery on August 20 comprises nine works by Keating and one by William Orpen. Art on display includes Men of the West, On the Run – War of Independence and Homo Sapiens: An Allegory of Democracy. A number of portraits of nationalist figures such as Erskine Childers, John Devoy and Terence MacSwiney will be on display alongside William Orpen’s monumental painting The Holy Well in which Keating is the central subject.
This is one of three displays marking the conclusion of the Decade of Centenaries at the National Gallery. Hughie O’Donoghue Original Sins now on show addresses memory, history and questions of identity. In September an exhibition by Estella Solomons will feature portraits of leading revolutionary and cultural figures of that time.
An abstract artwork by Michael Hales at Aidan Foley’s sale UPDATE: THIS MADE 500 AT HAMMER
A small pencil sketch of a country fair by Jack B. Yeats is similar in size to one Aidan Foley sold recently for €2,000 at Sixmilebridge. It comes up among about 180 lots of art at Foley’s sale on August 14 including work by Mark O’Neill, Arthur Maderson, John Morris, Markey Robinson, John Kingerlee and the British born Co. Tipperary based Michael Hales. The appetite for art at auction in Ireland is undiminished and paintings will be to the fore at Foley’s sale at Kilcolgan, Co. Galway and at Hegarty’s in Bandon on August 17. Both sales are online.
Michael Hales, whose abstract art is gathering a growing band of admirers, has his studio at Emly and cites Bridget Riley, Gerhard Richter and Sean Scully as influences. His work can be seen as part of a group show at the Kenmare Windows exhibition until August 28 where exhibitors are displayed in the windows of local businesses and Kenmare Butter Market as well as the Carnegie Arts Centre. He has had various shows around Tipperary, at Cahir, Cashel and Tipperary Town and was recently at the Royal Ulster Academy’s 140th annual exhibition.
If art is hot the same cannot be said for much of the antique furniture that surfaces at sales like Aidan Foleys. The auctioneer is offering a mahogany four drawer chest tomorrow that would fit in any house or apartment. It will, he predicts, go for €100 or less. Demand for lots like Georgian drop leaf tables, a cross banded Victorian pembroke table, cheval mirrors and rosewood card tables, all of which feature in the sale tomorrow, remains weak even though antique furniture is the ultimate buy for those who want to go green and save the planet.
The Mill by Samuel Prout at Hegarty’s UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Noted for the naturalness of his drawing and his play on light and shade the British watercolourist Samuel Prout (1783-1852) is credited with elevating the art of architectural drawing to new heights. Among his pupils was the critic John Ruskin who once remarked: “Sometimes I tire of Turner but never of Prout”. A definitive collection of over 60 works by Prout as well as by his son Samuel Gillespie Prout (1822-1911) and his nephew John Skinner Prout (1805-1876) will kick off the sale at Hegarty’s on Wednesday. One of the more expensively estimated works by Samuel Prout is The Mill, a watercolour which depicts a house and watermill overlooking a stream. It is estimated at €2,500-€4,500. There are many less expensively estimated works by the Prout family from €300 up. A Quayside Scene by Samuel Prout is estimated at €300-€600 and a watercolour of Ratisbon Cathedral (modern day Regensberg) by Samuel Gillespie Prout is estimated at €500-€700. The Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery holds a collection of work by Samuel Prout. Among other lots of note at Hegarty’s is a portrait of a young female by John Butler Yeats (1839-1922) from the Yeats family collection. It is thought to be of his daughter Lily who often sat for her father and is estimated at €1,000-€2,000. Poppies in Sunlight by Kenneth Webb is estimated at €3,000-€5,000. Kenneth Webb is to be the subject of an exhibition at Gladwell and Patterson, Beauchamp Place, London next month.
Banksy – Love is in the Air. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £189,000
Sotheby’s biannual Banksy sale opens for bidding online today. This much-anticipated auction surveys the activist’s groundbreaking work with a selection of prints from his initial foray into screen printing to one of his more recent editions, Banksquiat. The auction of 34 lots runs until August 17.
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.
