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Bidding for the inaugural on-line art auction at de Veres in Dublin until February 26 at 7 p.m. has opened.  It comprises 120 lots at estimates from 50 to 5,000. The sale will be on view at Kildare St. from 9.30 a.m.to 5 p.m. from February 18. Estimates are reasonable and bidders must pre-register to take part. Artists represented include Tony O’Malley, Patrick Collins, Maurice MacGonigal, Robert Ballagh, Sean McSweeney, Barrie Cooke, Maurice Wilks, Felim Egan, Fergus O’Ryan, Neil Shawcross, John Behan and Henry Healy. Most of the art is Irish but there are ten works by Frenchman Remy Hetreau (1913-2007).  The catalogue is on-line.  Here is a small selection, you can click on any image to enlarge it.

Markey Robinson, (1918-1999) Still Life, Table Top (2,000-3,000).

Jarlath Daly, Birds, bronze (350-450).

Charles Tyrrell, b.1950 P13 (1999) (700-1,000).

Patsy Dan Rogers – East Village, Tory (100-200).

Barrie Cooke HRHA b.1931 Lytle Island, Lough Arrow, 1971 (watercolour) – 300-500.

Remy Hetreau (1913-2007) – Still Life – (200-400),

The sale at Christie’s with Jussi Pylkannen and the top selling Basquiat. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2013.

Global bidding helped Christie’s achieve the  highest total for a February evening auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art in London last night. The sale at which the top price was £9,337,250 for Basquiat’s Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown) brought in a total of £81,668,850. There were artists records for Peter Doig (£7,657,250), Pierre Soulanges (£3,289,250), Allen Jones (£2,169,250), Michaelangelo Pistoletto ( £1,273,250) and Wade Guyton (£735,650). A selection of works offered from the collection of Mrs. Ingvild Goetz made £4,286,750 three times the low pre-sale estimate.
Francis Outred, International Director and Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe: “An exciting night of Christie’s theatre saw Jussi Pylkannen excelling in the face of an unprecedented volume of bidding from around the world. Some works carried up to fourteen phone lines, as the thirst for post-war & contemporary art continues to develop. Five world records were achieved, including for Peter Doig and Pierre Soulages, the new and the old masters in our field, alongside the consistent growth of the market for Basquiat, Bacon, Hockney and Richter”.
Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (2004) sold for £8,441,250, Francis Bacon’s Man in Blue VI (1954) sold for £4,969,250 (it was bought by the previous owner in 1971 for £31,000), David Hockney’s Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes sold for £3,513,250, Damien Hirst’s Away from the Flock (Divided) sold for £1,945,250, Peter Doig’s The Architect’s Home in the Ravine (1991) sold for £7,657,250 and Allen Jones’s Table, Chair, Hatstand sold for £2,169,250.

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for January 28 and January 7, 2013).

Bacon’s Self-Portrait triptych makes £13,761,250. (Click on image to enlarge).

Francis Bacon’s intimate self-portrait triptych Three Studies for a Self-Portrait sold for £13,761,250 at Sotheby’s London evening auction of Contemporary art tonight.  The top lot in the auction had been estimated at £10-15 million.  The three extraordinary portraits were painted nine years following the suicide of Bacon’s closest companion, George Dyer and collectively represent a life’s worth of retrospect coupled with searing self-analysis. Demonstrating the profound reflection that accompanied Bacon’s entry into old age, this self-portrait preserves the penultimate depiction of the artist’s likeness in this unflinching, intimate triptych format.  It was bought by  German collector, Jurgen Hall who intends to place it on loan to a major international institution.”

The scene at Sotheby’s during the auction.

Cheyenne Westphal of Sotheby’s said: “We are extremely pleased with the price achieved tonight for this sublime self-portrait triptych by Francis Bacon. Works of this quality and wall-power continue to attract a truly global spread of bidders. ‘Three Studies for a Self-Portrait’ is a quintessential example of how Bacon distilled the great depths of his emotion in a very particular small-format triptych, which are so sought after by discerning collectors.”

The auction brought in  £74,364,200, within the estimate of £61.2-84.5 million.  This is the second highest total for a February contemporary sale at Sotheby’s in London.  There were artists records for Adrian Ghenie, Hurvin Anderson and Giuseppe Penone. Buyers came from 14 countries and 14 works sold for over £1 million.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 9, 2013).

William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968) The Jaunting Cart (15,000-20,000). (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 14,200

William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968) The Remnants (20,000-30,000). (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 19,000.

No less than four works by Belfast artist William Conor go under the hammer at Morgan O’Driscoll’s early evening Irish art auction at Clyde Court Hotel, Landsdowne Road, Dublin on February 18.  They feature among 226 works including a watercolour by Sean Scully entitled Yellow Figure estimated at 30,000-40,000, “Life in the west of Ireland” in pen and ink by Yeats and a west of Ireland beach scene by James Humbert Craig.  The catalogue is on-line. Here is a small selection:

Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) Dust Cover for “Life in the West of Ireland” (12,000-15,000). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 10,000

John Shinnors (b.1950) Cathedral, St. John’s Square (4,000-6,000).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 3,800

James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1878-1944) Mother and Children on the Beach, Dog’s Bay, Roundstone , (15,000-20,000).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 13,000.

Mary Fedden RA (1915-2012) Still Life With Jug (12,000-15,000). (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD.

Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) Après le déjeuner. © Christie’s Images Limited 2013. (Click on image to enlarge).

René Magritte (1898-1967) La folie des grandeurs (Megalomania). © Christie’s Images Limited 2013. (Click on image to enlarge).

BERTHE Morisot’s Après le déjeuner became the most expensive work ever by a female artist at auction at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern sale in London last night. Painted in 1881 it had been estimated at £1.5 to £2.5 million. The work was the subject of intense bidding by at least six seriously interested potential buyers before being eventually knocked down for £6,985,250. It was bought by Christie’s New York-based specialist David Kleiweg de Zwaan. He was bidding on behalf of a client on the telephone.
Among the other records was La folie des grandeurs (Megalomania) by René Magritte. It made £1,721,250 over an estimate of £450,000-650,000, a record for a piece of sculpture by the artist. Bronze with brown patina it is signed, dated and numbered ‘Magritte 1967 1/5’ and inscribed with the foundry mark “Fondera Gi Bi Esse, Verona, Italy”.  It was consigned by the Scheringa Museum of Realist art in Spanbroek, Northern Holland.

The scene at Christie’s evening sale on February 6.

Modigliani’s portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne was the top lot at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale on February 6. It made £26,921,250 and is believed to have gone to a Russian buyer. Christie’s Impressionist and Modern and Art of the Surreal evening sales made £136,462,100 over a combined pre-sale estimate of £89.8 to £132.8 million. There were artists records for Berthe Morisot, Renè Magritte (for sculpture), Alberto Magnelli, Kay Sage and Óscar Domínguez. A total of 32 works sold for over £1 million.
Jay Vincze, international director and head of the sale said: “We were very pleased with the strength and depth of bidding tonight which drove this evening’s auction to achieve both the highest total for a February evening sale at Christie’s London, and our highest sell through rate for an evening sale in this category in London.
Jeanne Hébuterne (au chapeau) was painted in 1919, the year before the artist died destitute. Hébuterne, his pregnant lover, committed suicide the following day. Berthe Morisot’s “Apres le dejeuner” made £7 million over an upper estimate of £2.5 million, a record for any woman artist at auction. The market for Impressionist and Modern art is recovering, thanks to a supply of quality new to market work.

(see post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 12, 2013).