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    IMPORTANT IRISH ART AT WHYTE’S ON MARCH 6

    Saturday, March 4th, 2023
    Norah McGuinness – Self-Portrait 1942. UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,000 AT HAMMER

    No less than seven works by Norah McGuinness, including an arresting self portrait, come up at Whyte’s spring sale of Important Irish Art on March 6.  The enduring popularity of the artist should ensure plenty of bidders.During a long career Norah McGuinness found a balance between painting and  her design work (she designed theatre sets and costumes, illustrated books and the sales windows of Altmans in New York and Brown Thomas in Dublin for over 30 years). Influences from each field were brought into the other. Unlike her contemporaries, Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone, who also studied in Paris under André Lhote, McGuinness did not fully adopt the Cubist approach but rather fashioned elements of it with a Fauvist appreciation of colour to create her own unique reading of her subject. The seven works in this sale include November on the Liffey (1948) (€8,000-€12,000), Self-Portrait 1942 (€5,000-€7,000) and Coastal Town by Moonlight, 1962 (€7,000-€9,000).

    Avila Spain c1920’s by Mainie Jellett  UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,000 AT HAMMER

    Other works by Irish female artists of the same period include The Businessman by Mary Swanzy (€6,000- €8,000) and a 1920’s work by Mainie Jellett titled Ávila, Spain (€6,000-€8,000).  This was painted on one of her  first visits to Europe and subsequently gifted by the artist to Sarah Purser, and later gifted to the artist Rosaleen Davey. The top lot of the auction is an iconic west of Ireland scene by Paul Henry which is estimated at €100,000-€150,000.  Old Houses, Pau by Daniel O’Neill is estimated at.€20,000-€30,000 and his Mother and Child has an estimate of €15,000- €20,000. Colin Middleton also had a design background and there is an emphasis on texture in his 1976 painting titled Dark Lady (€25,000-€35,000).  Marmara Dawn by Stephen McKenna is a large work painted in 2009, his final year as president of the RHA.  It is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. 

    TONY O’MALLEY OIL AND COLLAGE AT MORGAN O’DRISCOLL SALE

    Friday, March 3rd, 2023
    TONY O’MALLEY (1913-2003) – Collage (1986). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400 AT HAMMER

    This 1986 oil and collage on toned paper by Tony O’Malley comes up as lot 9 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online auction which runs until March 7. It is signed with a monogram on the lower left and measures 6.2″ x 9.6″. The estimate is €1,500-2,500. The catalogue for the sale is online.

    NOVEMBER ON THE LIFFEY BY NORAH McGUINNESS AT WHYTE’S

    Thursday, March 2nd, 2023
    NORAH MCGUINNESS HRHA (1901-1980) – NOVEMBER ON THE LIFFEY, DUBLIN, 1948. UPDATE: THIS MADE 10,500 AT HAMMER

    November on the Liffey by Norah McGuinness is one of a number of works by the artist at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art on March 6. A major retrospective of her work took place in the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, in 1968 and in 1973 the College awarded her an honorary doctorate. This work, with a Dawson Gallery lable on the reverse, is estimated at 8,000-12,000. The catalogue for the sale is online. The sale is on view in Molesworth St., Dublin until 4 pm on March 6.

    NEW AUCTION RECORD FOR KANDINSKY AT SOTHEBY’S IN LONDON

    Thursday, March 2nd, 2023
    Wassily Kandinsky – Murnau mit Kirche II

    There was a new auction record for Kandinsky at Sotheby’s in London last night when Murnau mit Kirche II sold for £37.2 million. The painting was created in 1910 as Kandinsky began to shift from the figurative towards abstraction, forging a new experimental path in his already distinguished career. It had been recently returned to the heirs of original owners, Siegbert and Johanna Margarete Stern, who were seasoned collectors and respected members of the Berlin cultural circle in the 1930s, counting Franz Kafka and Albert Einstein as peers. The outbreak of war and Nazi occupation meant they were parted from many of their beloved paintings when in exile from Germany.

    Another restituted work, Munch’s Dance on the Beach £16.9 million. Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes made £24 million and Ib Reading by Lucian Freud made £17 million. Picasso’s Fillette au Bateau (Maya) sold for £18 million. 

    Earlier the Now auction was led by Cecily Brown’s The Nymphs have Departed, which made £3.4 million. Sweet Spot by Florna Yukhnovich made £939,800, double its estimate.  The London evening sales reached a combined total of £172.6 million.

    PICASSO LEADS 20/21 SALES SERIES AT CHRISTIE’S IN LONDON

    Wednesday, March 1st, 2023
    Pablo Picasso’s Femme dans un rocking-chair (Jacqueline) (1956) made £16,892,000.

    The 20/21 evening sale series at Christie’s in London last night, the first of 2023, realised £167,814. More than 50% of the top lots sold above the high estimate. There were bidders from 37 countries.

    The 20th/21st Century sale was led by Picasso’s Femme dans un rocking chair (Jacqueline) which made £16,892,200. Magritte’s Le Retour made £6,129,000 to lead The Art of the Surreal sale.

    RARE BOOK AND COLLECTORS SALE NOW ON VIEW IN CASTLECOMER

    Monday, February 27th, 2023
    First editions of His Dark Materials, the trilogy by Philip Pullman  UPDATE: THIS MADE 600

    Fonsie Mealy’s timed online rare book and collectors sale, which continues until March 1 at 10 am is brimful of interest.  The first English edition of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, one of only 750 copies published by The Egoist in 1916, leads the auction.  It is estimated at €1,500-€2,000.  The sale ranges from a complete set of 18th century Irish Georgian Society Records to signed album sleeves by Jimi Hendrix and Wings, a Brazil jersey signed by Pele, literature from Anthony Trollope to John McGahern to Seamus Heany to sporting and political memorabilia.  The catalogue is online. Viewing takes place in Castlecomer on February 27-28.

    IMPORTANT IRISH ART AT JAMES ADAM

    Sunday, February 26th, 2023
    Sir William Orpen RA RHA (1878 – 1931) – Portrait of Yvonne Aupicq as a Nun (Sister X) UPDATE: THIS MADE 125,000 AT HAMMER

    She was his lover and his model and Sir William Orpen kept this portrait of Yvonne Aupicq as a nun in his own collection. It comes up as lot 61 at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on March 1 with an estimate of €30,000-€50,000. Adams understand that Yvonne had met Orpen while working as a nurse during the war. He had been admitted to hospital with a suspected case of scabies which ended up being a far more serious case of blood poisoning as he recounts in his wartime memoir ‘An Onlooker in France’.  Their relationship continued after 1918 when Orpen was appointed as the official artist to The Paris Peace Conference.  He gifted to her another version of this portrait with Yvonne set against a completely white background.

    DIAMONDS, SILVER, ANTIQUE FURNITURE AND A PORTRAIT

    Saturday, February 25th, 2023
     Brilliant cut yellow diamond of 15.93 carats UPDATE: THIS MADE 260,000 AT HAMMER

    THE collection of film director Sir John Boorman – whose many credits include Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur and Hope & Glory – will be included at Sheppards three day sale in Durrow on February 28, March 1 and 2. Sheppards say the diverse group of works on offer exhibit a lifetime emphasis on beauty and a keen eye for quality. Exceptional collectibles range from vernacular pine to period furniture and two and three dimensional works of art. The sale includes an assemblage of exceptional jewellery, diamonds and other stones from private collections including a 15 carat yellow diamond with an estimate of €250,000-€350,000.  There are a number of brilliant cut diamonds of over three carats each and a variety of rings. An interesting collection of silver including a rare pair of Limerick serving spoons by Maurice Fitzgerald (€3,000-€5,000), a Cork silver sugar bowl by Daniel McCarthy (€1,500-€2,500) and a large, heavy silver soup ladle by the Cork maker Carden Terry (€2,500-€3,500).  This section offers 73 lots in total.

     An Irish William IV side table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,000 AT HAMMER

    An important Irish William IV side table heads up more than 300 lots of furniture and is estimated at €10,000-€15,000. A large neo classical marble chimney piece is estimated at €8,000-€12,000 as is a George III breakfront library bookcase. There are plate buckets, centre tables, chests of drawers, butlers trays, chairs, couches, nests of tables, bookcases, desks including an unusual 19th century campaign brass bound desk and mirrors in various woods and lacquers on offer.  A 19th century Killarney arbutus wood miniature cabinet depicts Ross Castle and Muckross Abbey on two panel doors which open to a series of drawers. An Audemars Piguet Royal Oak wristwatch is estimated at €30,000-€50,000.  It heads up a selection of fine wristwatches at this sale.

     A 17th century Dutch School portrait of a gentleman with a red hat UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER

    THE NORMAL PEOPLE AUCTION BY VICTOR MEE

    Saturday, February 25th, 2023
    This oil on board of a group of musicians by Brendan McDonagh from Killoran’s Pub in Co. Sligo was prominent on the set of Normal People. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER

    A treat is in store for fans of Sally Rooney’s Normal People.  A great selection of collectibles from Killoran’s Pub in Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo, used for the filming of the global hit TV series will feature at the pub and memorabilia sale by Victor Mee on February 28, March 1 and 2. Large paintings of traditional Irish musicians and an Irish country scene were seen in positions of prominence in episode 10.  Many of the lots on offer feature inconspicuously in the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated series. Killoran’s is steeped in historic memorabilia.  Among the lots from the pub is a pair of boots worn by late GAA midfielder Eamonn Mongey in the 1951 All-Ireland final – the last time Mayo took home the Sam Maguire. There is a collection of rare advertising mirrors, an early 20th century Paddy Pure Pot Still mirror and an Ogden’s cigarette dispensing cabinet of similar vintage.  With more than 1,300 lots the sale is on view at Cloverhill, Co. Cavan today, tomorrow and Monday and the catalogue is online.

    BOORMAN COLLECTION SALE ON VIEW AT SHEPPARDS IN DURROW

    Friday, February 24th, 2023
    A pair of satinwood and inlaid pier cabinets. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD

    This pair of 19th century satinwood and inlaid pier cabinets will come up at Sheppards three days sale of the collection of Sir John Boorman and other clients in Durrow on February 28, March 1 and 2. A series of shelves encloses a secret compartment in each one. The estimate on lot 1137 is 5,000-8,000.

    In 2022, Boorman left the elegant Georgian rectory – The Glebe, Annamoe in Co. Wicklow – where he’d lived for more than fifty years. Now aged 90, he’s moved to England to be closer to the family.  The auction is on view in Durrow from 10 am to 5 pm on February 25, 26 and 27.

    Pen and ink portrait of Sir John Boorman by Anthony Palliser (2009). (300-500). UPDATE: THIS MADE 260 AT HAMMER