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.
LIAM TREACY (1934-2005) Schoolhouse Lane (500-700). UPDATE: THIS MADE 400 AT HAMMER
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.
Wedding at Joy St., Belfast c1923 by William Conor. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Francis Bacon – Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus
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).
Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) – Image of Samuel Beckett
More than 450 lots will come under the hammer at Morgan O’Driscoll’s auction of affordable art on Tuesday March 10. Artists whose work will feature are Jack B Yeats, Harry Kernoff, Banksy, Salvador Dali, Antony Gormley, John Kingerlee, Georges Braque, Kenneth Webb and John Butler Yeats. The catalogue is online.
JACK BUTLER YEATS (1871-1957) Roadside Thatched Cottage (1,200-1,800). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER
A rare complete set of Beethoven screenprints by Andy Warhol comes up at Sotheby’s sale of prints and multiples in London on March 19. This year marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Warhol spared no effort in transforming the idealised and iconic portrait of the composer by Karl Stieler, into the rock star persona portrayed within this set of four screenprints. Created shortly before Warhol’s death in 1987 they are estimated at £200,000-300,000.
Art auctioneers Whyte’s, who enjoyed a record breaking year in 2019, will kick off their 2020 art selling season on March 9. The evening sale of Irish and International Art at the RDS in Dublin includes works by Yeats, Paul Henry, William Conor, Beatrice Glenavy, William Sadler, Nathaniel Hone the elder, Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Donald Teskey, Barrie Cooke and many more. Whyte’s results in 2019 were aided in no small part by the record breaking November sale of the Ernie O’Malley Collection at which two works by Yeats soared past the million euro barrier. A 1948 Yeats, Rusty Gates, is the most expensively estimated lot in this upcoming sale with an estimate of €100,000-150,000. It depicts two elderly gentleman standing before a gateway in a high stone wall in a setting reminiscent of Co. Wicklow with a Sugar Loaf like mountain in the background.The first ROSC exhibition in Dublin at the RDS in 1967 was built around 50 of the “best” living artists at that time and included Francis Bacon, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso. Among those exhibiting was Polish artist Tadeusz Brzozowski (1918-1987). His work Mastiff from that show returns to the RDS to go under the hammer as Lot 53 with an estimate of €80,000-100,000. The Bog Road by Paul Henry dates to 1917-1923 and is estimated at €50,000-70,000, Stage Girls by Daniel O’Neill is estimated at €30,000-50,000 and works by Sir John Lavery include two portraits and a painting of two cigarette girls in Seville in colourful costume. There is art by Gerard Dillon, Colin Middleton and George Campbell and Reclining Woman by Roderic O’Conor is estimated at €15,000-20,000. Large oils by John Shinnors and Donald Teskey, Sculptor’s Scarecrow and Coastal Report II are each estimated at €10,000-15,000, Mayo Summer by Tony O’Malley is estimated at €15,000-20,000, Rakaia Gorge I by Barrie Cooke is estimated at €6,000-8,000 as is an Aubusson tapestry from the 1970’s by Patrick Scott.The Embarkation of King George IV at Kingstown 1821 by William Sadler II is full of minute detail recording the historic visit to Ireland by the British monarch. The King arrived drunk and suspicions persisted that the main purpose of the trip was to visit his mistress, Lady Conyngham at Slane Castle. The visit was presented as a success and Lot 98 is estimated at €12,000-18,000.There are 200 lots on the catalogue, which is online.
Rakaia Gorge I by Barrie Cooke UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A Mountainous Wooded Landscape with figures gathering wood by Cork artist John Butts comes up at Sotheby’s sale of 44 Fitzwilliam Square, works from the estate of the late Patrick Kelly in London on March 18. It is estimated at £20,000-30,000. The talented artist, who died aged only 37 in 1764, worked as a teacher in Cork where his pupils included James Barry and Nathanial Grogan. He moved to Dublin around 1757 and worked predominantly as a scene painter. A comparable painting by the artist, Poachers: View in the Dargle, is at Tate Britain. In a letter written after his death James Barry described him as … “an unfortunate man, who with all his merit never met with any thing but cares and misery, which I may say hunted him into the very grave. His cast of genius was very much that of Claude’s, whom he resembles without any imitation more than anybody that I know of”. His View of Cork is one of the most popular works in the collection of the Crawford Gallery.
JOHN BUTTS – A Mountainous Wooded Landscape with figures gathering wood
Murillo: The Prodigal Son Restored which opens at the National Gallery of Ireland on February 29, follows a long conservation project. It is 30 years since Murillo’s series of paintings based on the parable of the Prodigal Son has been on display here.
The Prodigal Son cycle by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo explores sin, repentance and forgiveness across six paintings, staged in seventeenth-century Seville. It is the only intact narrative cycle by Murillo in the world. Donated by the Beit family in 1987, the works have been conserved at the Gallery’s Paintings Conservation Studio in a project led by Muirne Lydon, who remarked: “The conclusions of technical research performed on the paintings during conservation will be highlighted in the exhibition, revealing how the series was created – from canvas to ground layers and pigments – and the transformations that they have gone through over time. This new research adds to the growing body of knowledge of Murillo’s painting technique and materials. By situating the paintings both culturally and technically, the exhibition hopes to demonstrate that it is crucial to understand these masterpieces beyond their surface, thereby allowing our visitors to fully appreciate this exceptionally rich series.”
Sean Rainbird, Gallery Director said: “Murillo’s Prodigal Son cycle is one of the treasures of the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. We are delighted that this exceptional group of paintings, now gloriously conserved for future generations, will be on view at the Gallery this Spring.” The exhibition continues until August 30.
