David Briggs – ‘Last Days on the Tralee & Dingle’. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR €1,012
The Tralee to Dingle light railway line closed in 1953. This acrylic on board by the self taught Irish transport artist David Briggs dates to 2018. It comes up as lot 31 at the online timed auction of paintings by Adams Blackrock which runs until August 13 with an estimate of €750-850. David Briggs works exclusively in acrylics and is an associate of the Guild of Railway Artists. The Tralee and Dingle light railway and tramway operated from 1891 to 1953 and the ten km Castlegregory line closed shortly before the Second World War. The catalogue for the sale is online.
George Gault (Irish, 1916-2001) – Still life of flowers in a blue vase. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £435
This watercolour and bodycolour still life by George Gault is at Bonhams Discovery Pictures sale at Knightsbridge, London until August 14. It is estimated at £600-£800 (€690-€920). Born in Belfast Gault joined the British Army aged 18 and served until 1946. He studied at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts from 1948–51, his teachers including William Coldstream, Kenneth Martin, Victor Pasmore and William Townsend. Gault went on to teach painting at the Greenwich Adult Education Institute for 20 years. The auction of 21 lots is now open for bidding and among the artists included are Marcel Dyf, Augustus John, George Chinnery and John Kingerlee.
Richard O’Neill (1923-2009) – May 1916, a painting which depicts Tom Clarke before his execution. UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,000 AT HAMMER
May 1916, a large work depicting Tom Clarke blindfolded before a stone wall awaiting execution, was Richard O’Neill’s contribution to a 1966 exhibition at Dublin’s Municipal Gallery. The focus of the show with invited artists was to commemorate the Easter Rising through contemporary art.
The artwork is at €3,000-€5,000 the most expensively estimated lot at a timed online art auction at James Adam in Dublin until August 14. Richard O’Neill, A Painter Rediscovered offers 62 works by the artist along with art by his friends and mentors Patrick Pye, Anne Yeats, Ruth Brandt, Harry Kernoff, Sean Keating, John Kelly and Patrick Hickey. The Waterford born Dublin based artist, who died in 2009, received a scholarship to the National College of Art and graduated in 1941. He first exhibited at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1952 and is somewhat overlooked today. Adams say he deserves to be re-assessed.
Richard O’Neill (1923-2009) – Hot Summer. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER
Markey Robinson (1918-1999) – SUMMERTIME. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,600 AT HAMMER
Summertime by Markey Robinson leads Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall online art auction which runs until August 5. The gouache on board with an Appollo Gallery Dublin label verso is estimated at €3,000-€5,000. More than 400 affordable lots including work by John Morris, Alan Kenny, Liam Treacy, Majella O’Neill Collins, Oisin Kelly and Louis le Brocquy are in the sale. The catalogue is online.
A selection of art by Kenneth Webb at Gladwell and Patterson
Now 98 and continuing to paint with extraordinary energy from his garden and studio in Connemara the artist Kenneth Webb is the subject of the major summer exhibition by English gallerists Gladwell and Patterson. The landmark show is of special significance to a gallery which has represented the artist in London since 2010 and found important collectors for his work in China, the US and the UK. It will be his final solo show there.
Kenneth Webb: Kaleidoscope offers recent works and a curated selection spanning nearly eight decades. It has already been seen in Stamford, Lincolnshire and the exhibition will run at Beauchamp Place in London (just around the corner from Harrods) from August 4 to 29. Future pieces from the artist will be included in the wider gallery collection.
Kenneth Webb with some of his paintings now on show in England.
Summer art exhibitions abound in Ireland and offer a stimulating alternative activity in holiday season.
If you have not yet seen it there is still time to catch The Art of Friendship dedicated to pioneering Irish Modernists Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone at the National Gallery until August 10. With paintings, stained glass and preparatory drawings it offers 90 works by these trailblazers who studied in Paris in the 1920’s.
A new series of works created for the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin by contemporary trailblazer Ailbhe Ni Bhriain is a meditation on the spectre of loss entitled The Dream Pool Intervals. Five eloquent, powerful tapestries form the centre of an exhibition by this Cork based artist who works with film, computer generated imagery, collage, tapestry, print and installation. With images of destroyed architecture, icons of war and climate disaster the tapestries seem to define this particular period in human history. We are all now much too familiar with the sort of fractured environments that inspired this show which continues until September 28.
Victoria Russell Portrait of Fiona Shaw from the Crawford Gallery now on view at Uilinn in Skibbereen.
The Crawford Gallery is closed for re-development with parts of its magnificent collection to be found in various locations around Ireland. Uilinn, the West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen has gone one step further with Gra, an exhibition from the collection selected by Salt & Pepper LGBTQI+ Art Collective with the artist Toma McCullim. Gra features key works including The Red Rose by John Lavery, Victoria Russell’s Portrait of Fiona Shaw and Patrick Hennessy’s Self Portrait and Cat. It includes works by Paul La Rocque, Sara Baum, Margaret Clark, Tom Climent, Gerard Dillon, Stephen Doyle, Mainie Jellett, Harry Kernoff, Janet Mullarney, Isabel Nolan, John Rainey, Patrick Scott, Edith Sommerville, Niamh Swanton and Mary Swanzy and continues until September 20.
Richard Harris – Role of a Lifetime at the Hunt Museum in Limerick.
At the Hunt Museum in Limerick From Dickie to Richard – Richard Harris, Role of a Lifetime celebrates the life, legacy and creative spirit of one of the city’s favourite sons. With personal artefacts, memorabilia and audio visual displays it focuses on his unique brilliance and impact on the arts. It is available to see until November 16. Applications are now open for the Hunt’s inaugural open submission exhibition for emerging and established artists. The deadline is August 31.
An Artist’s Presence at the National Gallery until September 14 explores the way artists have consciously and unconsciously placed themselves in their work. It offers drawings and paintings from the permanent collection spanning the 18th to the 21st century. The diverse selection includes William Orpen, James Barry, Flora Mitchell, Sean Keating, Nancy Lee Katz and Moyra Barry.
Art exhibitions are a feature of numerous festivals around Ireland. The Mallow Arts Festival, which runs until August 3, offers retrospectives by Paul Kelly and James O’Halloran (1955-2014) and features work by L S Lowry and Georges Rouault. At Visual in Carlow Dreamtime Ireland until August 31 is a research project drawn from contemporary artworks and artefacts by Sean Lynch. It investigates the potential of art to provoke, investigate and critique the shape and purpose of Irish culture.
Paul Kelly – Dun Aonghasa Cliffs and Shoreline at Mallow Arts Festival.
Colgo la Luna grande by Giacinto Bosco, one of the outdoor sculptures that can be viewed as part of the Gormleys Art at Sheen Falls exhibition this September 14 to October 12. Pic by Gormleys
The exhibition of a treasure trove of Irish an international art which opens at Culloden Hotel and Spa outside Belfast on July 27 and runs until August 31 will resume at Sheen Falls in Co. Kerry from September 14 to October 12. In both locations the curated selection of sculpture and artworks by Gormleys will feature renowned international artists like Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Banksy, Julian Opie and Salvador Dali and Irish artists Ian Pollock, Eamonn Ceannt, Bob Quinn, Paddy Campbell, Sandra Bell, and John Fitzgerald. In Kerry the artist Liam O’Neill will debut a brand-new collection of sculptures.
This acrylic on linen by Margaret Egan is from the Summer Group Show of gallery and invited artists at Solomon Fine Art in Dublin. The exhibition is a vibrant mix of paintings, sculpture and prints and includes work by John Behan RHA, Margo Banks, Leah Beggs, Comhghall Casey, Tom Climent, Clifford Collie, Eamon Colman, Julie Cusack, Orla de Bri, Ana Duncan, Margaret Egan, Bridget Flinn, Carol Hodder, Stephanie Hess, Bernadette Madden, Maggie Morrisson, Eilis O’Connell RHA, Helen O’Connell, Helen O’Sullivan – Tyrrell, Michael Quane RHA, Bob Quinn, John Short, Corban Walker, Michael Wannand many more. The show runs until August 23.
The work of Irish artist Isabel Nolan features at two venues at the 13th Liverpool Biennial of contemporary art, Walker Art Gallery and St. John’s Gardens. The artist works in sculpture, painting, textiles and text and explores notions of reality and identity, and the human compulsion to understand and define our situations and relationships with others. ‘BEDROCK’ draws on Liverpool’s distinctive geography and the beliefs which underpin the city’s social foundations. It is inspired by the sandstone which spans the city region and is found in its distinctive architecture and acts as a metaphor for the social foundations of Liverpool and the people, places and values that ground all of us. The Liverpool Biennial runs until September 14. In 2026, Nolan will represent Ireland at the 61st Venice Biennale.
The annual group summer exhibition at Cork’s Lavit Gallery offers paintings, prints, photography, culture and crafts at a variety of price points. Exhibiting artists include Wendy Dison, Michael Duhan, Patricia Doherty, Grainne Dowling, Ana Duncan, James English, Angela Fewer, Felicia Garrivan, Etain Hickey, Antonio Julio Lopez Castro, Andrew Ludick, Damaris Lysaght, David Magee, Michaela McCann, Isobel McCarthy, Kate Mac Donagh, Peter McTigue, Paul Murphy, Claire O’Reilly, John O’Reilly, Jenny Richardson, Katherina Tremil, Zoe Velthuysen, Sarah Walker and Catherine Weld. The show continues until August 30. Pictured here is Simi Tree, an archival pigment print by David Magee from an edition of three.
