antiquesandartireland.com

Information about Art, Antiques and Auctions in Ireland and around the world
  • ABOUT
  • About Des
  • Contact
  • Archive for the ‘ART’ Category

    IRISH ART AT DE VERES ON JUNE 16

    Monday, June 8th, 2015

    There is Landscape and abstract art and sculpture by some of Ireland’s leading artists de Veres in Dublin on June 16. The auction of 105 lots includes  Pony in a Connemara Garden by Gerard Dillon (30,000-40,000), Reclining Figure by Dan O’Neill (14,000-18,000), Stephen’s Green, Dublin by Louis le Brocquy (8,000-12,000), Tony O’Malley’s Good Friday/Easter Sunday (12,000-18,000), Peter Curling’s Horse Fair at Goresbridge (20,000-25,000) and Return of Ulysses by Hughie O’Donoghue (8,000-12,000).

    Other lots include a sculpture by Edward Delaney, A Family, (8,000-12,000); Campsite, Poppintree, North County Dublin by Maurice MacGonigle (10,000-15,000); Colin Middleton’s Alders, Rabbit Island (8,000-12,000) and The Breaking Wave, Garretstown Beach by Patrick Hennessy (3,000-5,000).  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    Hughie O'Donoghue, b. 1953 RETURN OF ULYSSES (2006-2007) (8,000-12,000).

    Hughie O’Donoghue, b. 1953
    RETURN OF ULYSSES (2006-2007) (8,000-12,000).   UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 8,000

    George Campbell RHA, RUA 1917-1979 MEMORY OF HOWTH (2,000-3,000).

    George Campbell RHA, RUA 1917-1979
    MEMORY OF HOWTH (2,000-3,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,700

    Maurice MacGonigal PPRHA 1900-1979 "CAMPSITE", POPPINTREE, NORTH COUNTY DUBLIN (10,000-15,000)

    Maurice MacGonigal PPRHA 1900-1979
    “CAMPSITE”, POPPINTREE, NORTH COUNTY DUBLIN (10,000-15,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 13,500

    Tony O'Malley HRHA, 1913 - 2003 GOOD FRIDAY / EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 1982 (12,000-16,000).

    Tony O’Malley HRHA, 1913 – 2003
    GOOD FRIDAY / EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 1982 (12,000-16,000).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 11,500

    Family by Edward Delaney  (8,000-12,000)

    Family by Edward Delaney (8,000-12,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,000

    Pony in a Connemara Garden by Gerard Dillon  (30,000-40,000).

    Pony in a Connemara Garden by Gerard Dillon (30,000-40,000).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 42,000 AND WAS THE TOP LOT IN THE AUCTION

    LAVERY, HENRY AND LEECH AT BONHAMS THIS WEEK

    Sunday, June 7th, 2015

    Works by Sir John Lavery, Paul Henry and William John Leech will feature at Bonhams sale of Modern British and Irish art in London on June 10.  Moonlight – the Bridge by Lavery is estimated at £25,000-35,000 while The Pool in the Bog by Paul Henry has an estimate of £15,000-20,000.  Les Enfants and les Ombres by William John Leech is estimated at £8,000-12,000.

    A brace of paintings by Walter Osborne, A boy on a donkey in a landscape and Joe the Swineherd come up at Bonhams sale of 19th century European, Victorian and British Impressionist Art in London on June 23.   Bonhams sale of Old Master Paintings in London on July 8 will include A Landscape Based on Dawson Grove, Co. Monaghan with the Artist Sketching by William Ashford.

    UPDATE:  William John Leech’s Les Enfants et les Ombres sold for £21,250 and The Bishop’s Castle Tearooms by Sir John Lavery sold for £37,500 over an estimate of £30,000-50,000.

    Moonlight - the Bridge by Sir John Lavery

    Moonlight – the Bridge by Sir John Lavery  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    The Pool in the Bog by Paul Henry

    The Pool in the Bog by Paul Henry  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £25,000

    SCOTT AND YEATS AT CHRISTIE’S MODERN BRITISH AND IRISH SALE

    Friday, June 5th, 2015
    William Scott, R.A. (1913-1989) Still Life

    William Scott, R.A. (1913-1989) Still Life  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £362,500

    A William Scott Still Life will highlight Irish entries at Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art evening sale in London on June 25.  It is estimated at £150,000-250,000.  The 40 lot auction is headed by Dame Barbara Hepworth’s Two Forms with White (Greek) estimated at £1.3 to 1.8 million. There are works by L.S. Lowry, Sir Stanley Spencer, Ben Nicholson, Sir Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield and Mark Gertler.  Estimates for this sale range from £20,000 to £1.3 million.

    The day sale on June 26  features two works by Yeats, The Light of the Town (£40,000-60,000) and The Tops of the Mountains (£20,000-30,000).  There are 146 works in this sale with estimates starting at just £1,500.

    Jack Butler Yeats, R.H.A. (1871-1957) The Light of Towns

    Jack Butler Yeats, R.H.A. (1871-1957)
    The Light of Towns UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £67,300

    Jack Butler Yeats, R.H.A. (1871-1957) The Tops of the Mountains

    Jack Butler Yeats, R.H.A. (1871-1957)
    The Tops of the Mountains  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £25,000

    CAPTIVATING KLIMT PORTRAIT AT SOTHEBY’S

    Thursday, June 4th, 2015
    Property from the Fels?ványi Collection Gustav Klimt Bildnis Gertrud Loew (Gertha Fels?ványi) / (Portrait of Gertrud Loew -Gertha Fels?ványi) signed Gustav Klimt and dated 1902 (upper left)

    Gustav Klimt
    Bildnis Gertrud Loew (Gertha Felsoványi)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £24.8 MILLION

    Gustav Klimt’s captivating portrait Bildnis Gertrud Loew comes up at Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern evening sale in London on June 24.  This follows a settlement between the Felsöványi family and The Klimt Foundation. Dating from 1902 it is estimated at £12-18 million.  It depicts Gertrud Loew, later known by her married name Gertha Felsöványi, a member of fin-de-siècle Viennese society, wreathed in diaphanous folds of gossamer fabric.

    Helena Newman, Sotheby’s Co-Head of Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide said: “Bildnis Gertrud Loew, from a crucial period in the artist’s career, is one his finest portraits to appear at auction in over twenty years.”

    Gertrud Felsöványi’s granddaughter on behalf of family heirs, said: “This portrait portrays the brave and determined nature of my grandmother. Her strength of character and beauty lives on in this visual embodiment. My father, Anthony Felsöványi, last saw this painting in June 1938 when he left the family home for the last time to depart for America. At that time my grandmother had been advised to leave her family home to live in a less grand home to try to avoid the attention of the Nazis, given her Jewish ancestry. Eventually, under duress, in 1939 she left Vienna altogether to join my father in America, having left all of her belongings behind – including this painting. Her home had been taken over as a Nazi headquarters and she had left her valuable belongings with friends and acquaintances. After the war, she never returned to Vienna. Only my father’s sister did, with the hope of retrieving some of their belongings, but to no avail. My father said that my grandmother never again mentioned the painting or the valuable belongings she had left behind”.

     

    UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £24.8 MILLION.  The sale followed a ten minute bidding battle. It was the second highest price paid for a Klimt portrait at auction.

    MONET, PICASSO, MARC AT CHRISTIE’S LONDON SALE

    Thursday, June 4th, 2015

    A total of 52 covetable works to inspire collectors worldwide come up at  Christie’s Impressionist and Modern  Art evening sale in London on June 23.  Estimates range from £250,000 to £9 million for works by Monet, Picasso, Sisley, Rodin,  van Dongen, Marc, Signac, Magritte and Miro.  Franz Marc’s Gemsen from 1911 is at auction for the very first time with an estimate of £1.8-2.5 million. The artist sought to create an image of the world in harmony which led to increasingly abstracted elements in his art from 1911, the year he founded Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) with Kandinsky.  The top lot in the sale is Iris Mauves by Claude Monet which dates from 1914-1917. It is estimated at £6-9 million.  Here is a small selection:

    Franz Marc (1880-1916) Gemsen (£1.8-2.5 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Franz Marc (1880-1916)
    Gemsen (£1.8-2.5 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)  Tête  (£4.8-6.5 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
    Tête (£4.8-6.5 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Claude Monet (1840-1926) Iris mauves (£6-9 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Claude Monet (1840-1926) Iris mauves (£6-9 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    THE PROPERTY OF THE MUSÉE RODIN, PARIS Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) Aphrodite, grand modèle (£600,000-800,000). © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    THE PROPERTY OF THE MUSÉE RODIN, PARIS
    Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) Aphrodite, grand modèle (£600,000-800,000). © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    MANET’S Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère AT SOTHEBY’S

    Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015
    ÉDOUARD MANET (1832 – 1883) LE BAR AUX FOLIES BERGÈRE

    ÉDOUARD MANET (1832 – 1883)
    LE BAR AUX FOLIES BERGÈRE  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £16.9 MILLION

    Manet’s first version of The Bar at the Folies Bergere comes up at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale in London on June 24.  Depicting one of his most iconic subjects Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère of 1881 by Édouard Manet is estimated at £15-20 million.  The painting remained in the artist’s personal collection up until his death, after which it went to his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. It  was shown to the public in 1905 in the now legendary exhibition at the Grafton Galleries, London, which introduced the British public to Impressionism. Since then the work has been exhibited extensively internationally and most recently featured as one of the highlights of the National Gallery’s blockbuster exhibition in London Inventing Impressionism: Paul Durand-Ruel and the Modern Art Market.

    The second and final version of the work is at The Courtauld Institute in London.

    UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £16.9 MILLION.  The same work made £4.4 million when sold at Sotheby’s in 1994.

    FOUR EGGS ON A PLATE FROM FREUD TO DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE

    Monday, June 1st, 2015
    Lucian Freud, Four Eggs on a Plate, 2002. Copyright Sotheby's

    Lucian Freud, Four Eggs on a Plate, 2002. Copyright Sotheby’s  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £989,000

    The late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, a frequent visitor to the family estate in Lismore, Co. Waterford, always brought eggs to Lucian Freud when she went to London.  In return Freud gave Four Eggs on a Plate as a gift to the Duchess in 2002.   Their enduring friendship is highlighted by the sale of the painting at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening auction  in London on July 1. It is estimated at £100,000-150,000.

    Deborah was youngest of the six Mitford sisters who captivated British society in the 1940s and 50s – marrying Andrew Cavendish in 1941. Cavendish became the 11th Duke of Devonshire in 1950 and she dedicated her life to the running of Chatsworth. The Duchess was famed for a somewhat eccentric pursuit for a society beauty: a passion for chickens. Freud’s gift is a tender memento of a lifelong bond between the great artist and the larger-than-life duchess.

    Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s Senior International Specialist in Contemporary Art said: “We’re incredibly excited to be offering a work of such personal significance to both Lucian Freud and the late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. This small, exquisitely beautiful painting was a treasured gift and today it stands as a token of their enduring friendship. Four Eggs on a Plate is a painting like no other. We see Freud’s tremendous virtuosity as a painter, transforming a simple subject into a work of extraordinary power – and we see the portrait of a friendship between an artist and a duchess.” Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, died aged 94, in September 2014.

    UPDATE: This work sold for £989,000 after a bidding battle by seven bidders.

    YEATS TOPS THE BILL AT ADAMS IRISH ART SALE

    Thursday, May 28th, 2015
    ack Butler Yeats RHA (1871 - 1957) Roundstone, Connemara (1916)

    ack Butler Yeats RHA (1871 – 1957) Roundstone, Connemara (1916)

    A 1916 oil on panel by Jack B. Yeats was the top lot at James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on May 27. Roundstone, Connemara sold for a hammer price of 58,000 over a top estimate of 35,000.   It had been bought by Oliver St. John Gogarty at an exhibition in 1918.  It was one of a number of works which sold above the high estimate. Among the others were:

    George Russell Æ (1867-1935) Apparell'd in Celestial Light

    George Russell Æ (1867-1935) Apparell’d in Celestial Light

    A Farmstead, Co. Armagh by John Luke made 40,000 over a top estimate of 30,000.  Sir John Lavery’s  A Street in Rabat sold for 38,000 over a top estimate of 15,000 and a Cubist landscape by Mary Swanzy sold for 20,000 over a top estimate of 12,000.  George Russell’s Apparrell’d in Celestial Light, the catalogue cover lot, sold for  21,000 at hammer over a top estimate of 10,000. A sculpture by Rowan Gillespie – O’Carolan, Spirit of the Blind Harpist – made 17,000 over a top estimate of 7,000.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for May 19, 2015).

    BURNE-JONES DRAWINGS DOUBLE ESTIMATE AT DUCHESS AUCTION

    Wednesday, May 27th, 2015
    Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones - Three Studies for The Wheel of Fortune.

    Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones – Three Studies for The Wheel of Fortune sold for £68,570.

    Drawings by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones – newly discovered at West Horsley Place the Surrey estate  of Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe  – doubled the pre-sale estimate to sell for £68,750 at Sotheby’s on May 27.  Session one of the estate of the Duchess realised £2,480,554 – over the high estimate for both sale sessions. The sale continues today.  The studies were for  Burne-Jones most famous and powerful painting, The Wheel of Fortune. This was painted for the Conservative politician and future Prime Minister Arthur Balfour and modelled by actress Lillie Langtry (1853-1929), regarded by many as the most beautiful woman in London.

    A portrait of Mary’s mother, Peggy Primrose, by Glyn Philpot made £56,250.  Irish artists in the sale included Percy French, Walter Osborne, Rose Barton and Mildred Anne Butler.  Osborne’s Fish Market, Galway sold for £25,000.

    UPDATE:  The two day realised £3,701,654. It had been estimated at £1.6–2.3 million. The top lot of on the second day was the Duchess’ Cartier diamond engagement ring, which sold for £167,000, 14 times its high estimate (estimate £8,000-12,000). A collection of Mary’s jewellery was sold earlier this month at Sotheby’s in Geneva making an overall total of £8,861939.

    Mildred Anne Butler - The Ploughman - sold for £2,750.

    Mildred Anne Butler – The Ploughman – sold for £2,750.

    Rose Barton - Street Scene - sold for £2,500

    Rose Barton – Street Scene – sold for £2,500

    William Percy French - On the French Park Estate - sold for £4,750.

    William Percy French – On the French Park Estate – sold for £4,750.

    A portrait of Mary’s mother, Peggy Primrose, by Glyn Philpot.

    A portrait of Mary’s mother, Peggy Primrose, by Glyn Philpot sold for £56,250.

    ORPEN’S PORTRAIT OF GLADYS COOPER MAKES 175,000 AT WHYTE’S

    Monday, May 25th, 2015
    Sir William Orpen RA RI RHA (1878-1931) GLADYS COOPER SOLD FOR 175,000

    Sir William Orpen RA RI RHA (1878-1931) GLADYS COOPER SOLD FOR 175,000

    Sir William Orpen’s penetrating portrait of the English Academy Award nominated actress Gladys Cooper sold for a hammer price of 175,000 at Whyte’s in Dublin this evening. Painted in 1924 had been estimated at 80,000-120,000.

    Sir John Lavery RA RSA RHA (1856-1941) A BACCHANTE, 1910 sold for 135,000 at hammer.

    Sir John Lavery RA RSA RHA (1856-1941) A BACCHANTE, 1910 sold for 135,000 at hammer.

    This continues the trend established at the previous Whyte’s auction where many lots sold above the high estimate and where internet bidders competed from around the world for the best of Irish art.  After a prolonged period in the doldrums the market for the best of Irish art is once again on the rise.

    At the same sale Sir John Lavery’s A Bacchante sold for an above estimate hammer price of 135,000 at hammer. Painted in 1910 it had been estimated at 60,000-80,000.  It had been exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in London in that year as Mrs. Ralph Peto.

    Whyte’s md Ian Whyte said the sale:  “Produced the best results for us since 2008”.  The auction grossed just over one million euro and was 85% sold.  There was significant interest from outside Ireland and but Irish collectors and dealers were active too.  About 70% went to Irish clients.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for May 15, 2015)