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    KERNOFF TOPS THE BILL AT IRISH ART ONLINE SALE

    Tuesday, February 11th, 2014
    Harry Kernoff RHA (1900-1974) - The Twelve Pins, Renvyle, Connemara - sold for 19,000.

    Harry Kernoff RHA (1900-1974) – The Twelve Pins, Renvyle, Connemara – sold for 19,000.

    Peter Curling (b.1955) - The Country Winner - sold for 11,500.

    Peter Curling (b.1955) – The Country Winner – sold for 11,500.

    A rare Connemara painting by Harry Kernoff topped the bill at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale of Irish art which ended last night.  The Twelve Pins, Renvyle, Connemara made 19,000.  A racing image by Peter Curling – The Country Winner – sold for 11,500.  Another horse picture, Approaching the Last by Liam O’Neill made 8,000.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for  January 28, 2014).

    LETTERS TO GIRLFRIEND FROM 21 YEAR OLD FREUD AT SOTHEBY’S

    Monday, February 10th, 2014
    freud letters

    A selection of letters by Lucian Freud from a group of eleven, estimated at £3,000-5,000  UPDATE: THEY SOLD FOR £122,500, OVER 30 TIMES THE ESTIMATE.

    Unpublished letters written by the 21 year old Lucian Freud to his girlfriend will be offered at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art day sale  in London on February 13.  Sent to his fellow art-student Felicity Hellaby they are peppered with wry humour and anecdotal detail, repeatedly touching on themes that would inform his later work.   They will be offered alongside three drawings from the same period – all part of Felicity Hellaby’s possession since the 1940s.  Here are some quotes: His work: “My life is at a very crucial stage at the moment, one day I think I am beginning to make my work how I want it to be and then I feel so dissatisfied with it that I leave the house”;  Relationships: Cedric wrote a letter to my mother, asking her to persuade me not to come down again as I was too destructive and unscrupulous.”;  Wartime England: I have just been bitten by an enormous dog in the blackout…Its [sic] very dark here and most people have scars either on their noses or foreheads from walking into posts”; His purchases: “I have bought a very large Zebra’s head it looks very strange on the wall with big glass eyes and mane going up. By far the best thing I have ever bought”.

    Felicity Hellaby met the sixteen-year old Lucian Freud at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham, Essex where they were both students. The school, which was established by Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines, was forced to relocate to Hadleigh in Suffolk after a fire in 1940.  Freud, a student there since 1939, was rumoured to have been responsible for starting the fire; it was a rumour he was happy to propagate, feeling that it only added to his growing reputation.

    KILLARNEY WOOD TABLE AT WOODWARDS

    Saturday, February 8th, 2014
    A c1890 Killarney occasional table is comes up at Woodwards in Cork on February 12 at 6 p.m. The circular tip top table is classically inlaid with five harp motifs and shamrocks with four panels of floral inlay and it is estimated at 4,000-6,000. Also on offer is a pair of William IV card tables (3,000-4,000), a set of ten spoon back dining chairs (3,000-4,000), a mahogany teapoy (600-800), a Gainsborough style Georgian armchair (800-1,200), a Carlton House desk (1,000-1,400), a Georgian Chippendale style table and eight chairs (2,000-3,000) and  a satinwood bureau bookcase (1,000-1,500).   There is an autograph album from the Hare Park internment camp at the Curragh, stamp albums, silver, and porcelain.  Artists featured include Arthur Maderson, Victor Richardson, James Flack, Sean McCarthy, Majella O’Neill-Collins and Tim Goulding.

    A George II walnut card table (2,000-3,000)

    A George II walnut card table (2,000-3,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500

    A Clarice Cliff cake dish and cover and jug, each estimated at 100-150.

    A Clarice Cliff cake dish and cover and jug, each estimated at 100-150.  UPDATE: SOLD FOR 200

    Louis XV style serpentine fronted gilt console table with shaped marble inset (1,400-2,000).

    Louis XV style serpentine fronted gilt console table with shaped marble inset (1,400-2,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200

    A set of Cork 11-bar dining chairs at Woodwards.

    A set of Cork 11-bar dining chairs (2,000-3,000)  UPDATE:  THESE WERE UNSOLD

    This Killarney wood table is at Woodwards.

    This Killarney wood table is estimated at 4,000-6,000.  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,600

    ONLINE IRISH ART SALE UNDERWAY AT DE VERES

    Friday, February 7th, 2014

    An online auction of Irish art is now underway at de Veres of Dublin.  There are 104 lots in a sale designed to suit all budgets. Works are available to view at de Veres on Kildare St., Dublin.  The sale runs until February 13 at 6 p.m.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection.

    The topical title of this work by Eric Patton RHA 1925-2004  is STORM (100-200)

    The topical title of this work by Eric Patton RHA 1925-2004 is STORM (100-200)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 105

    Micheal Farrell, 1940-2000 JAMES JOYCE - I DON`T MIND HOW YOU PAINT MY SOUL BUT GET MY TIE CORRECT (GOLD TIE) Etching, paper size 21`` x 15 1/2`` (53 x 39cm), signed, inscribed and dated 1999, ed. 136/50 (200-400).

    Micheal Farrell, 1940-2000 JAMES JOYCE – I DON`T MIND HOW YOU PAINT MY SOUL BUT GET MY TIE CORRECT (GOLD TIE) Etching, paper size 21“ x 15 1/2“ (53 x 39cm), signed, inscribed and dated 1999, ed. 136/50 (200-400).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 200

    Jill Dennis - BLOW HOLE, DUN AN OIR Oil on board (300-500).

    Jill Dennis – BLOW HOLE, DUN AN OIR Oil on board (300-500).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Felim Egan (b.1952) BLACK Oil on board, 19`` x 19`` (500-700)

    Felim Egan (b.1952) BLACK Oil on board, 19“ x 19“ (500-700)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 760

    Douglas Alexander 1871-1945 GLENAN LAKE, SLIGO Oil on canvas (400-600)

    Douglas Alexander 1871-1945 GLENAN LAKE, SLIGO Oil on canvas (400-600)  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Jill Dennis - BLOW HOLE, DUN AN OIR Oil on board (300-500).

    Michael Cullen RHA, Bathers, La Pelosa, Sardinia, watercolour (600-900).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

     

    THE JAN KRUGIER COLLECTION AT SOTHEBY’S

    Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

    HERE is a video from Sotheby’s on the Jan Krugier collection.  In the course of the two days 119 works from the Collection met with enormous enthusiasm at Sotheby’s, selling for a combined total of £74.8 million  more than double the pre-sale high estimate. A total of 37 works from the legendary gallerists’ collection brought in a combined total of £53.3 million at the evening sale on February 5.  Pablo Picasso Composition au Minotaure featured on the front of the video sold for £10.4 million, three times its pre-sale estimate.  The sale was 100% sold by lot, with 82.5% of the lots selling for prices above their high estimates and many auction records established.  Alberto Giacometti’s iconic sculpture Homme Traversant Une Place Par Un Matin De Soleil (1951) achieved £8,482,500, Auction records were established for works on paper by Pablo Picasso, Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Giacometti, Pierre Bonnard, for a print by Pablo Picasso and for a work by Victor Hugo.  The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles emerged as the buyer of Georges Seurat’s Mendiant hindou  for £2,434,500 and  Tête – a 1911 drawing by Pablo Picasso – sold to a UK institution for £626,500.

    A £19.9 MILLION PISSARRO AT SOTHEBY’S

    Wednesday, February 5th, 2014
    Camille Pissarro, Boulevard Montmartre, Matinee de Printemps sold for £19.9 million – almost 5 times previous record.

    Camille Pissarro, Boulevard Montmartre, Matinee de Printemps sold for £19.9 million – almost 5 times previous record.

    Van Gogh's L'Homme est en mer sold for £16.5 million.

    Van Gogh’s L’Homme est en mer sold for £16.9 million.

    A £19.9 million Pissarro,  the highest price for a Van Gogh at auction in London for 25 years and the sale of every masterpiece from the Jan Krugier collection for prices above the top estimate added up to a soaring evening at Sotheby’s.  Records tumbled at the Impressionist and Modern Art sale on February 5.  Camille Pissarro’s Boulevard Montmartre, Matinee de Printemps, a restituted masterpiece sold for five times the previous record for the artist.    Meantime seven bidders competed for Van Gogh’s L’Homme est en mer, which was eventually knocked down for £16.9 million.  The collection of legendary gallerist Jan Krugier brought in a combined total of £53.3 million.  The sale saw  record prices for a print by Picasso, a work on paper by Giacometti and a work on paper by Bonnard. 

    The sale realised £163,461,500.  (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for Monday, December 23, 2013).

    STILL LIFE BY GRIS TOPS HUGELY SUCCESSFUL SALE AT CHRISTIE’S

    Tuesday, February 4th, 2014
    Juan Gris Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux. Courtesy Christie's Images Ltd., 2014.

    Juan Gris Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.

    A still life by Juan Gris (1887-1927) was the top lot at a hugely successful sale at Christie’s  in London tonight.  Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux, 1915, by Juan Gris (1887-1927) sold for £34,802,500. This was a new world record price for the artist at auction.  It had been estimated at £12-18 million. The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale and the auction of The Art of the Surreal  realised a combined total of £176,986,000 selling 86% by lot and 95% by value. The auctions had a combined pre-sale estimate of £113.3 million to £162.9 million.  In total, 35 works of art sold for over £1 million / 43 for over $1 million, and four artist records were set. As well as Juan Gris there were records for works Carlo Carrà, Le Corbusier and Dorothea Tanning.

    Jay Vincze, International Director and Head of The Impressionist and Modern Art Department, Christie’s London: “We are thrilled with tonight?s results, which represent the highest total for a sale held in London in any category. We were particularly pleased with the result of the private Swiss collection which more than doubled its pre-sale estimate with every work sold, and three new world records established. The energy of the sale and the depth of bidding was exceptional, particularly on the top lots, underpinned by both the quality of the works on offer and the global nature of both new and established buyers and bidders.”

    Christie’s withdrew a collection of paintings, drawing, sculptures and collages by Miro consigned by the Portuguese Republic because of a legal dispute.

    (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for January 7, January 14 and January 15 2014).

    BASQUIAT AT CHRISTIE’S, NEW YORK IN MARCH

    Saturday, February 1st, 2014

    About 50 works by Jean-Michel Basquiat including murals from the East Village apartment he shared in 1979-80 will be sold by Christie’s in New York in March.    Before the artist could afford studios and canvases the artist painted all over his apartment.  In 1979 he began transforming the apartment where he cohabited with Alexis Adler.  These works will feature in an upcoming exhibition and sales.  Three major works, Olive Oyl, Famous Negro Athletes and Milk, will highlight the sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s on March 6.  A selection of 41 works and items will be sold through a dedicated online only sale from March 3-17.  An exhibition including never before published archive photographs from the collection of Alexis Adler takes place from March 1-28 on the 20th floor at Rockefeller Center.

    Demand for work by Basquiat, who died in 1988 of a heroin overdose at just 27, has grown.  Last year his Dustheads made $48.8 million at Christies.

    JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988) Olive Oyl paint on wall ($400,000-600,000).  © Alexis Adler. Courtesy Christie's Images Ltd., 2014.

    JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
    Olive Oyl
    paint on wall ($400,000-600,000).
    © Alexis Adler. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.

    JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988) Untitled (Famous Negro Athletes) paint on door (Detail) ($800,000-1.2 million). © Alexis Adler. Courtesy Christie's Images Ltd., 2014.

    JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
    Untitled (Famous Negro Athletes)
    paint on door (Detail) ($800,000-1.2 million).
    © Alexis Adler. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.

    JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988) Milk paint on radiator ($300,000-500,000) © Alexis Adler. Courtesy Christie's Images Ltd., 2014.

    JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
    Milk
    paint on radiator ($300,000-500,000) © Alexis Adler. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.

    CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS AT SOTHEBY’S S|2

    Friday, January 31st, 2014

    SOME of the most sought after contemporary artists working today are featured at Just Now at S|2the private sale and gallery arm of Sotheby’s contemporary art department.  Curated by collector Bert Kreuk, who has for the past ten years focused his own collecting on a new generation of artists, it features work by artists like Oscar Murillo, Alex Hubbard, Danh Vo and Theaster Gates.  S|2 is at St. George St., London W1.  For Kreuk, collecting art is part of an educational journey.  From his own collection, these works reveal an emerging generation of artists who, inspired by traditional techniques, are developing conceptual works that increasingly focus on a performative narrative.  In addition to his own collection he is involved with the Tate Members Council and is a strong supporter of Dutch museums.  Many of his works are on loan to public collections.  Just Now runs until March 4.

    Bill Ruprecht, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sotheby’s, today announced the appointment of Alexander Rotter and Cheyenne Westphal as Worldwide Heads of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Department, and the appointment of Helena Newman and Simon Shaw as Worldwide Heads of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department.  Here are videos where they each talk of defining career moments. (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas  has announced the acquisition of Jeff Koons, Hanging Heart (Gold/Magenta), 1994-2006, one of five unique versions.  Retained by the artist until sold directly to the museum in 2013 it was installed just in time for Valentine’s Day, 2014).

     

    Alex Hubbard Bent Painting #5 2012 Urethane, fiberglass, resin and enamel

    Alex Hubbard
    Bent Painting #5
    2012
    Urethane, fiberglass, resin and enamel

    Eddie Peake Adjective Machine Gun 2013 Spray paint on polished stainless steel

    Eddie Peake
    Adjective Machine Gun
    2013
    Spray paint on polished stainless steel

    Danh Vo Alphabet B 2011 gold leaf on unfolded cardboard box

    Danh Vo
    Alphabet B
    2011
    gold leaf on unfolded cardboard box

    Theaster Gates Commissioned Flag 2013 Decommissioned fire hose and wood

    Theaster Gates
    Commissioned Flag
    2013
    Decommissioned fire hose and wood

    IRELAND’S NATIONAL GALLERY OPENED 150 YEARS AGO TODAY

    Thursday, January 30th, 2014

    THE National Gallery of Ireland first opened its doors to the public on this day 150 years ago.   It was inspired by the Great Exhibition in London in 1851.  William Dargan (1799-1867) visited the London exhibition and believed a similar celebration would be beneficial in Ireland and stimulate and interest in the arts. He funded the industrial exhibition in Dublin in 1853 on the site of Leinster Lawn, adjacent to where the gallery is located.  Less than a year later an act to provide for the establishment of a national gallery of paintings, sculpture and fine arts was passed.  This led to the opening on January 30, 1864 of a state of the art museum building.  A programme of special events will mark this anniversary year.ng logo

    Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339-1399) The Assumption of the Magdalen, 1380s Photo © National Gallery of Ireland FROM THE EXHIBITION Care of the Collection 18 January – 30 May 2014

    Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339-1399) The Assumption of the Magdalen, 1380s
    Photo © National Gallery of Ireland
    FROM THE EXHIBITION
    Care of the Collection
    18 January – 30 May 2014