A large John Shinnors work from 1998 made a hammer price of £40,000 at Dreweatts saleroom in Newbury, Berkshire, today. Rising Kite, Clare Island Cycle from a corporate collection in the UK had been estimated at £10,000-15,000. It was one of the highlights at Dreweatts auction of modern and contemporary art. The auctioneers hailed the painting as: “a seminal example of Shinnor’s bold expressive style”. Represented by Taylor Galleries in Dublin the work of the Limerick artist is held by numerous public and private collections such as the Arts Council of Ireland, Ulster Museum, Belfast, Limerick City Art Gallery and the National Self Portrait Collection.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 11, 2020)
John Shinnors – Rising Kite, Clare Island Cycle (143.5 x 284.5cm (56¼ x 112 inches)
A timed online fundraising auction of work donated by Irish artists runs at Whyte’s until October 27. The Imogen Stuart Standing Stone fundraiser of 47 lots is for a piece of public sculpture at Otranto Park near Sandycove in Dublin. German by birth Imogen Stuart, now 92, is one of Ireland’s most respected artists and a Saoi of Aosdana (people of the Arts in Ireland). One of her most recent larger projects is a design for a granite sculpture, a ‘standing stone’ twelve feet in height and weighing between seven and eight tonnes. Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has agreed to contribute to the erection of the sculpture and to maintain it once completed. But such a large piece of stone will be very expensive to quarry and carve, transport and install. A sum of probably more than 50,000 is needed and artists have donated work for the fundraiser for this project.
Imogen Stuart RHA – The Good Shepherd. Design for sculpture for the Church of the Good Shepherd Churchtown Co Dublin. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 480
A new world record for Paul Henry sealed the success of Whyte’s Irish and International online art auction in Dublin last evening. The Henry, A Sunny Day, Connemara, made 420,000 at hammer in a sale which brought in 1.6 million. Among the other hammer prices were The Meal, Samoa by Mary Swanzy (48,000); Triptych, a lithograph by Francis Bacon (44,000); Fleurs sur une chaise by Roderic O’Conor (42,000); Our Lady of Lourdes, a stained glass panel from the Harry Clarke Studio with an estimate of 3,000-5,000 (36,000); Painting by Mainie Jellett (36,000) and Water, Light Bahamas by Tony O’Malley (36,000).
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for October 17, 10 and 7 2020).
This 18th century French faience shaped oval tureen from Marseille is at the James Adam sale of the Ib Jorgensen collection in Dublin today. The lid has a twig and fruit handle and it is estimated at 1,000-1,500. A total of 126 lots or art, furniture, silver and collectibles will come under the hammer at the auction this afternoon. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Global icon Mohammed Ali was ahead of the curve and larger than life. He looms large in Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art auction which runs until October 27. A portfolio of four screenprints of Ali by Andy Warhol is, at €200,000-€300,000, the most expensively estimated lot in the sale.Long before Black Lives Matter, when Mississippi was burning, Ali embarked on a search for a more just society. His questioning, talented and interesting character made him a fascinating study for a portrait. Warhol conveys a strong sense of his persona using face, arms and clenched fists. Ali was 37 at the time, an icon of the game. One of the portraits shows him looking down, as if in humility.In a note to the catalogue Peter Murray, the former Crawford Gallery curator, recounts how in 1977 Warhol was commissioned by Richard Weisman to paint silkscreen portraits of ten famous athletes. The resulting prints, titled Athletes, are among the artist’s best-known works. Warhol took polaroid photographs of the boxer in fighting poses and at rest. The resulting images transferred to canvas using acrylic and silkscreen ink transformed into art that was instantly popular amongst art collectors and the public. The paintings were produced in a limited edition of eight, while the subsequent print edition, of which this is one, was limited to one hundred and fifty. It is just one of a number of treasures, Irish and international, in an auction of 179 lots. Harry Kernoff’s treatment of a landscape in Connemara (€20,000-€30,000) could not be more different than the paintings of Paul Henry. Banksy’s Morons (Sepia) from 2007 is a send up of the art auction business estimated at €20,000-€30,000. Sean Scully’s 9.2.89 has an estimate of €80,000-€120,000 and Hughie O’Donoghue’s Red Earth VI (1995) (€30,000-€50,000) is positively scorching. An original gouache by Bridget Riley is estimated at €100,000-€150,000 while a 2019 papercut portfolio by Ai Weiwei has an estimate of €14,000-€18,000. This is a serious sale, which will be of huge interest to collectors in Ireland and abroad. Through viewings in London and New York in pre-pandemic times Morgan O’Driscoll has built up a following for his major sales that has a long international reach. In the process he has given Irish art and artists a welcome shot in the arm.
ANDY WARHOL – MOHAMMED ALI. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 210,000 AT HAMMER.
Classic design furniture and Irish art will come under the hammer at de Veres evening sale in Dublin on October 20. There are sideboards, cocktail tables, sofas, dining chairs, coffee tables, lighting and easy chairs, mirrors and sculpture among the 200 lots in this online auction. Italian and Danish makers feature alongside art by Tony O’Malley, Barbara Warren, Hughie O’Donoghue, Felim Egan, Peter Curling and John Shinnors.
1960’s Danish rosewood sideboard. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER OVER A TOP ESTIMATE OF 2,000
Untitled (Black on Maroon) by Mark Rothko will highlight Sotheby’s Contemporary evening art auction in New York on October 28. It dates to 1958 and preempts the artists celebrated Seagram Building Murals. These are now at the Tate in London. The sale will feature masterpieces by Clyfford Still and Brice Marden from the Baltimore Museum of Art.
A Sunny Day, Connemara will highlight Whyte’s online sale of important Irish and International art in Dublin on October 19. It is estimated at €150,000-€200,000. The auction features artists like Roderic O’Conor, William Orpen, William Leech, Mary Swanzy, Mainie Jellett, Norah McGuinness, Maurice MacGonigal, Francis Bacon, Gerard Dillon, Dan O’Neill, Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Camille Souter and Donald Teskey. Due to the current restrictions it will be a virtual sale from Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth St., Dublin at 6 pm with absentee, telephone and online bidders but no public attendance. Viewing by appointment continues at Whyte’s today, tomorrow and Monday. The sale will be broadcast live on bid.whytes.ie and invaluable.com
A Sunny Day, Connemara by Paul Henry UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR €420,000 AT HAMMER
The catalogue for Hegarty’s timed online auction which runs until October 18 has gone online. Around 310 lots of jewellery, art, antique furniture and collectibles are on offer. The sale is taking place using Hegarty’s bidding platform https://live.hegartyantiques.com/
ART DECO STYLE 18CT WHITE GOLD PERIDOT & DIAMOND RING
Works by the pioneering Irish born artist Phoebe Anna Traquair far exceeded expectations to sell for a total of £109,479 at Bonhams Scottish sale in Edinburgh on October 14. Reverie sold for £21,313 having been estimated at £1,000-1,500; and Portrait of a Girl sold for £20,063 against an estimate of £1,000-1,500.
Bonhams Picture Specialist in Edinburgh, May Matthews, said: “Phoebe Anna Traquair holds a unique place in the history of Scottish culture. She was the first major woman artist in modern Scotland, and, in 1920, became the first woman to be elected to the Royal Scottish Academy. Traquair’s work rarely comes up at auction, and collectors responded enthusiastically to the chance to acquire one of these beautiful works.”
The Scottish Sale made a total of £689,376.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 30, 2020)
