Andy Warhol (1928-1987) American – With Hat, from Ingrid Bergman (1983). UPDATE: THIS MADE 70,000 AT HAMMER
Andy Warhol’s image of Ingrid Bergman with hat is among the leading lots at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art auction which runs until October 21. The screenprint is hand signed, numbered 47/250 and estimated at 50,000-70,000. The most expensively estimated lot is Cottages on Achill Sound by Paul Henry (€120,000-€160,000) and there are leading lots by Louis le Brocquy, John Shinnors and Sir John Lavery. The auction is on view in Skibbereen from October 10-13 and at the Minerva Suite at the RDS from October 17-20. The catalogue is online.
Francis Bacon – Portrait of a Dwarf. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £13.1 MILLION
Portrait of a Dwarf by Francis Bacon is, at £6 million – £9 million, the most expensively estimated lot at Sotheby’s contemporary evening art sale in London on October 16. Executed in Paris in 1975 the painting stands alone in Bacon’s oeuvre. Four years after George Dyer’s tragic death on the eve of the artist’s Grand Palais retrospective in the same city, Bacon turned to Velazquez, his ‘God’, once again for inspiration. In the same way as his Popes had been presented on a dais or throne, here his subject is raised up to meet and confront the viewer directly. An amalgamation of Dyer’s hairline, Peter Beard’s face, Lucian Freud’s torso and Bacon’s own foreshortened legs, this figure melds some of his closest friends and greatest loves – yet still recalls Velazquez’s A Dwarf Sitting on the Floor
Picasso: From the Studio which opens at the National Gallery of Ireland on October 9 invites visitors to explore the relationship between maker and place in the context of one of the world’s most well-known artists. Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) lived surrounded by his art. His personal life and his work, his homes and his studios were always intimately linked. This exhibition highlights the various facets and phases of his art and life, exploring the key locations that defined him. From his arrival in Paris at the start of the twentieth century to his final studio Notre-Dame-de-Vie (1961-1973) in Mougins, visitors will see paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and works on paper, as well as photographic and audio-visual works.
Spanning more than 50 years of work, it is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to see so many works by one of the most influential artists of the 20th century in Ireland. The exhibition is organised in collaboration with Musée national Picasso-Paris and proudly supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport and KMPG Ireland, exhibition partner. It runs until next February 22.
An English Chippendale giltwood mirror in the rococo and chinoiserie style UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An array of wonderful choices – from a giltwood Chippendale mirror and a neo classical group of marble Italian putti to an Audemars Piguet royal oak offshore with an alligator leather strap and a pair of hexagonal gilt bronze hall lanterns – will face collectors at Sheppard’s Legacy of the Big House sale in Durrow from October 7-9.
The variety on offer at this three day sale of more than 1,700 lots ranges from a late 17th century Flemish verdure tapestry and a Cork flintlock blunderbuss with a brass barrel to an original film script for Lawrence of Arabia and a marine chronometer by Richard Hornby of Liverpool.
The most expensively estimated lots, at €30,000-€50,000 each, are the elaborate late 18th/early 19th century Chippendale giltwood mirror and the Audemars Piguet royal oak offshore which dates to the 2010’s. A 19th century Irish giltwood console table with verde antico marble top (€10,000-€15,000) and an Italian grand tour pietra dura topped coffee table (€8,000-€12,000) offer contrasting approaches to furniture but each one is laden with style. There is contrast too between a large 12 branch Waterford Crystal chandelier (€2,500-€3,500) and a pair of 19th century hexagonal gilt bronze hall lanterns (€8,000-€12,000).
An Irish gilt console table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,500 AT HAMMER
Less expensive but nonetheless seductive style is readily available at the other end of the financial scale. A cut crystal water jug, a silver plated rectangular tray, an Edwardian satinwood chest, a pair of Picasso ceramic plates and a large Japanese mixed metal vase are among a number of lots with top estimates of under €100. With estimates from €5 and €10 up this is an auction for people on any budget and curious collectors at all levels of the market. Collecting is not the exclusive preserve of those who can afford original Picasso artworks, it is a habit that can offer enjoyment for everyone.
Cleopatra after Guido Reni UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Drawn from houses at Longford Terrace in Dun Laoghaire and Rostrevor Terrace, Orwell Road in Dublin and other significant properties the sale kicks off with an 18th century Dublin brass fire fender (€1,400-€1,800). Among the early lots are a Famille Rose ewer (€100-€150), an elbow chair by Butler of Dublin (€300-€500), a Sevres plate with a Watteau inspired theme (€500-€800) and a grand tour specimen marble table (€3,000-€5,000). Lot 52 is a large scale portrait of Cleopatra with the asp after Guido Reni (€5,000-€8,000), lot 284 is a large 17th/18th century gothic carved giltwood frame (€14,000-€18,000), lot 450 is a 19th century gilt and patinated bronze figural music box (€2,500-€3,500) and lot 433 is a patinated bronze statue of Napoleon on horseback (€6,000-€9,000).
The catalogue is online and viewing in Durrow is from 10 am to 5 pm on today, tomorrow and Monday.
An 18th century blunderbuss marked “Cork” UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A rare and important dress sword at Adams Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall. UPDATE; this made 280,000 at hammer
A rare dress sword set with diamonds in 18 carat gold with London hallmarks for 1800-01 will lead Adams annual two day Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall near Drogheda. Presented by the East India Company to Armagh born Lt. Col. Barry Close, later Major General Sir Barry Close (1756-1813), a skilled negotiator and linguist, it is estimated at €300,000-€400,000. Close was a pivotal figure in the Mysore campaigns against Tipu Sultan. Viewing gets underway at Townley Hall on October 11. The sale on Monday week October 13 will be online only and the live auction of lots 400-825 will be held at Adams, St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin on October 14. The catalogue is online.
Sam Gilliam – Well III c1990’s (1933-20220 from his exhibition Sewing Fields at IMMA until January 25. Courtesy Sam Gilliam Foundation
The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) has?won the 2025 Art Museum Award, presented by the European Museum Academy (EMA). The honour recognises IMMA as one of Europe’s leading cultural institutions, celebrated for its pioneering, inclusive, and socially engaged approach to contemporary museology. The award was presented to IMMA’s Director, Annie Fletcher, at a ceremony in Budapest where cultural leaders from across Europe gathered to celebrate excellence in museum practice.?
The award, supported by the A.G. Leventis Foundation, highlights institutions that use art in innovative and creative ways to address pressing social issues. It champions museums as “social arenas”, spaces for civic dialogue, inclusion, and community building. The Award recognises museums that explore themes such as participation, inclusion, accessibility, gender equality, migration, racial justice, decolonisation, sustainability, climate change, and public health.??
IMMA was selected from a highly competitive shortlist of outstanding institutions, including the Centre Pompidou-Metz (France), Reykjavik Art Museum (Iceland), Lithuanian National Museum of Art (Lithuania), Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro (Montenegro), State Ethnographic Museum (Poland), Museum of Naïve and Marginal Art (Serbia), and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (United Kingdom).
Sewing Fields, now on view at IMMA, highlights Gilliam’s connection to Ireland, where a transformative residency at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in the 1990s reshaped his artistic practice. Gilliam embraced new materials, working with pre-stained fabrics that he had shipped to Ireland, cutting and layering them into sculptural compositions. A collaboration with a local dressmaker further expanded this process, reinforcing his innovative fusion of painting and textile techniques.
A selection of 18th century Chinese painted enamels from the Palmer family collection
Art of Asia, a dedicated online auction of Chinese works of art at Christie’s from October 30 to November 12, is led by the final chapter of the Palmer family collection, a distinguished legacy built over three generations by the family that founded the Reading-based biscuit company Huntley & Palmers. Comprising 112 lots the Palmer collection includes Chinese ceramics and works of art from the Song (960-1127), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties (1644-1911), all with exceptional provenance. Among the sale highlights are six enamel ruby backed dishes Yongzheng period (1723-1735), a pale blue ground painted enamel dish 18th century acquired from Spink & Son Ltd, London in 1937, a selection of finely painted 18th century enamels and a rare famille rose black back flowers and bird dish with the Yongzheng six-character mark. The auction will coincide with Asian Art in London from October 27-November 6.
Mourne Mountains by Colin Davidson made a hammer price of €6,500 at Gormley’s art auction in Dublin this evening. Fire from the elements (H6) by Damien Hirst was the most expensive lot sold at €8,500. Hooker setting out for the island by Ciaran Clear made €5,400, Untitled by Patrick Scott made €5,200, a Still Life by Liam Belton made €5,000 and Bull by Anthony Scott made €4,200.
California, (IKB 71) will highlight Christie’s Avant-Garde(s) including Thinking Italian sale on October 23 during Paris Art Week. This exceptional monumental work measuring over four metres embodies the radical spirit and true inventiveness of Yves Klein. Returning to the city where it was created, and appearing at auction for the first time, California, (IKB 71) ranks among the most important works by Yves Klein to ever come to market.
With his signature International Klein Blue pigment, Klein sought to dissolve boundaries, inviting viewers to take an imaginative leap into an immaterial realm. The enveloping, immersive power of his monochromes places Yves Klein’s practice among the most ambitious of the second half of the 20th century, alongside leading figures of American Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting. It was last seen in public during its long-term loan to the? Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 2005 to 2008.
Abstract Composition by Mainie Jellett (1897-1944). UPDATE: THIS MADE 32,000 AT HAMMER
Art by Louis le Brocquy, Paul Henry and Roderic O’Conor will lead Whyte’s sale of Irish and international art in Dublin on the evening of September 29. A total of 152 lots valued at over €1.2 million will come under the hammer. The catalogue cover lot is le Brocquy’s Image of Samuel Beckett from 1980 (€100,000-€150,000). In Connemara by Paul Henry has an estimate of €90,000-€120,000 and a self portrait by Roderic O’Conor has an estimate of €60,000-€80,000.
Abstract Composition by Mainie Jellett is estimated at €18,000-€22,000 and a watercolour with ink from le Brocquy’s Tinker series, Tinker Children at a Fair (1946) is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. Artists featured include Percy French, Rose Barton, Gerard Dillon, Dan O’Neill, Pauline Bewick, Rowan Gillespie, John Behan and Liam O’Neill.
Mother and Baby Achill by Lillian Lucy Davidson and Dublin Bay by Norah McGuinness are the top lots at the de Veres sale which runs until next Tuesday (September 30). Each is estimated at €7,000-€10,000. A total of 230 lots will come under the hammer by artists including Martin Gale, Frank McKelvey, Barbara Warren, Kenneth Webb, Kitty Wilmer O’Brien, Mark O’Neill and many more. Brown and White Cob by Basil Blackshaw (€12,000-€18,000) and Fire, from The Elements by Damien Hirst H6 (€8,000-€12,000) are the top lots at Gormley’s auction at Francis St. in Dublin at 7.30 pm next Tuesday. Catalogues for all these sales are online.
Dunquin Pier, Kerry by Sean O’Sullivan (1906-1964). UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
