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The Made in Britain auction at Sotheby’s in London went ahead as planned on March 18 and saw strong results. There was an increased number of bids online, rising to more than 50% of the lots sold, with a final result of £2,113,500, significantly above the pre-sale estimate. Sotheby’s say the result demonstrates a buoyant and positive market, as well as the continued appetite for exceptional property delivered to clients with ease, wherever they may be in the world.
A number of sales are to be held behind closed doors at Bonhams, which will temporarily close their offices to the general public on March 20. Among the sales going ahead in the near future in Knightsbridge in London are British and European Art on March 24, Modern British and Irish art on March 25 and Decorative Art and Design on April 1. There is to be a Home and Interiors sale in Edinburgh on April 1.
The following sales due to be held at New Bond Street and New York will be rescheduled: Impressionist and Modern Art, Islamic and Indian Art,The Greek Sale and Photographs. Bonhams remains open for business remotely via its Digital Consignment Hub for consigners, and for clients wishing to register for sales.
A number of auctions will go ahead in Ireland over the coming weekend, though in changed circumstances. Sales by Aidan Foley in Doneraile in North Cork on March 21 and by Hegarty’s in Bandon on March 22 will go ahead as online only auctions. In each case the auctioneer will facilitate intending bidders with photographs and condition reports. Online bidding at easyliveauction.com
The two day sale by Matthews Auctioneers in Kells will take place at 2 pm each day. Social distancing will be observed in the auction room, on view and auction days. All safe physical and breathing space will be observed. Hand sanitiser will also be available and the sale will be held in a closed off area of the room. Online bidding is available through the illustrated online catalogue at matthewsauctionrooms.com
The Patrick Kelly sale scheduled to take place at Sotheby’s in London tomorrow has been postponed at the eleventh hour. The sale 44 Fitzwilliam Square, works from the estate of the late Patrick Kelly, had been widely flagged nationally and internationally over the past six months.
The late property developer Patrick Kelly furnished his Dublin home with an array of Irish painting from the 18th to the 20th centuries, Georgian and Regency furniture, silver and decorative arts. An exceptional William Scott entitled Deep Blues and five works by Yeats was to highlight an auction which featured highly desirable pieces such as a pair of Irish mirrors and marquetry tables in the style of the great Dublin maker William Moore.
In a statement released today Sotheby’s said: “Following conversations with the family, the sale of works from the Estate of the Late Patrick Kelly, due to take place at Sotheby’s in London on 18th March, will be postponed owing to the exceptional circumstances. Since its announcement in October, the sale has been enthusiastically received by the public and collectors alike, and we look forward to holding the sale at a future date when the collection can be rightfully honoured.
A new sale date will be communicated in due course.”
THE global attention Ireland enjoys on St. Patrick’s Day in normal circumstances is set to continue at Sotheby’s in London on March 18 despite coronavirus. In a statement Sotheby’s ceo Charles Stewart said: “To the best of our ability, we are going to continue doing what we do best, which is to connect people with the world’s greatest treasures”. He added that Sotheby’s is technologically equipped to operate business in a variety of scenarios.
The London auction of contents from 44 Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin will go ahead. The late property developer Patrick Kelly furnished his Dublin home with an array of Irish painting from the 18th to the 20th centuries, Georgian and Regency furniture, silver and decorative arts. An exceptional William Scott entitled Deep Blues and five works by Yeats will highlight an auction which features highly desirable pieces such as a pair of Irish mirrors and marquetry tables in the style of the great Dublin maker William Moore. The catalogue with 126 lots is online.
This painting of Lobster Pots, Brittany by Norah McGuinness is undated but appears to be from the late 1940’s or early ’50’s. T|here are known examples of paintings by McGuiness of the Breton landscape, such as the Les Bigoudenes in the Niland Collection, Sligo which depicts the Breton women wearing traditional tall lace headdresses of the Pays Bigouden region. This painting appeared in an exhibition of McGuinness work at the Leicester Galleries, London, in 1951. Another titled Breton Port which was exhibited in The Irish Exhibition of Living Art, 1950. Lobster Pots is lot 48 at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on March 25. It is estimated at 15,000-20,000.
An online auction of affordable Irish art by Morgan O’Driscoll runs to the evening of March 10 between 6.30 and 11.30 p.m. The catalogue, with more than 450 lots, is online.
Some of the most celebrated Irish artists including Yeats, le Brocquy, Paul Henry, Tony O’Malley, Barrie Cooke, Nathanial Hone, Donald Teskey and many more feature at the evening sale of Irish and International art by Whyte’s in Dublin on March 9. There is a selection of American artists from the defunct Anglo Irish Bank collection, a print from a box set by Banksy and Mastiff from the renowned Polish artist Tadeusz Brzozowski (1918-1987). The catalogue is online.
UPDATE: Mastiff by Polish artist Tadeusz Brzozwski was the top lot of the sale. It made 190,000 at hammer. This price equals the world record set in 2017 by Desa Unicom in Warsaw. Rusty Gates by Jack B. Yeats made 120,000 and The Bog Road by Paul Henry made 54,000. The auction grossed €1.1 million with 82% of lots sold.
Francis Bacon’s large-format Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus will highlight the Contemporary Art evening auction at Sotheby’s in New York on May 13. It will be offered with an estimate in excess of $60 million.
Inspired by Aeschylus’s trilogy of Greek tragedies dating to the 5th century B.C. this dates to 1981. The artist revisits the same classical text that inspired Three Studies for Figures at the Base of the Crucifixion at the Tate Collection, London. It is one of the 28 large-format triptychs Bacon created between 1962 and 1991 and reveals in a single work the entire range of an iconography developed over three decades of painting. Sotheby’s describe it as one of his most ambitious, enigmatic, and important works.
Acquired in 1984 by the Norwegian Collector Hans Rasmus Astrup the triptych has been in the care of Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo since 1993. Hans Rasmus Astrup explained that the museum; “is meant to be a lasting resource for the public, as it builds on the existing collection and grows beyond it. With this single sale we can ensure that the museum and collection are here in perpetuity.”
Bacon’s theme of divine punishment is found in Aeschylus’ most famous trilogy, The Oresteia, in which Clytemnestra murders her husband Agamemnon in revenge for the sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia. When the son Orestes finds out, he kills his mother to avenge his father’s death, provoking the avenging Furies, also called the Eumenides, who determine to drive Orestes insane as punishment.
An image of Samuel Beckett by Louis le Brocquy is among the lots at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art in Dublin on March 9. The watercolour on tissue paper is signed and dated 1992 and is estimated at 15,000-20,000. The sale features work by Jack Yeats, Paul Henry, William Conor, Beatrice Glenavy, William Sadler, Nathaniel Hone The Elder, Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Donald Teskey and many other Irish artists. Viewing gets underway at the RDS tomorrow.
UPDATE: THIS MADE 19,000 AT HAMMER
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 1, 2020).
