Ope, there goes gravity is a show of new work by sculptor Eilis O’Connell at Solomon Gallery in Dublin. The title derives from “Lose Yourself” by Eminem which she often finds playing in her head as she works. Gravity is something that O’Connell is constantly concerned with while developing work. She must adapt her thinking to the limitations of materials while pushing the parameters of the craft to new heights.
A founder member of the National Sculpture Factory in Cork Eilis O’Connell is internationally acclaimed. Her work can be found in numerous high profile public locations in London (Canary Wharf and London Docklands Development Corporation), Cardiff, Newcastle, Wolverhampton, Bristol, Southampton, Milton Keynes and in Dublin, Belfast, Dundalk, Mallow and Cork. Other privately commissioned works can be seen in Lismore Castle, Waterford, Cass Sculpture Foundation, Chatsworth and in private gardens in France and Spain. The show continues until October 24.
An Irish George II secretaire cabinet c1740-50. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The early October sale for all seasons by Sheppards next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (October 6, 7, and 8) is from remarkable collections assembled over various lifetimes. It brings together 18th century Irish furniture, paintings, silver, porcelain, tapestries, clocks, scientific instruments and sculpture.
Irish and European art, furniture and decorative objects are at the heart of Sheppards Coolattin House auction with a super selection of almost 1,600 lots.
Fine Irish antique furniture features strongly throughout. Highlights include an Irish George II mahogany secretaire-cabinet; a Killarney yew wood and arbutus davenport finely inlaid with a view of Muckross Abbey; a sideboard attributed to the distinguished Dublin firm of Mack, Williams & Gibton; Irish silver tables; peat buckets; carved giltwood mirrors; and furniture by Strahan and Hicks of Dublin.
An early 19th century Worcester dinner service. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An early 19th century Worcester dinner service with 110 pieces should draw some attention and not just because it was once in the collection of the internationally celebrated singer Roger Whittaker. He lived in Ireland for a number of years before retiring to France in 2012 where he said his last farewell in 2023.
The dinner service – redolent of the traditions of fine country house dining – would admirably suit the leading furniture lot in the auction. The George III dining table extending to more than seven metres featured here on September 27 was formerly at Easton Neston in Northhamptonshire and is illustrated in Great Houses of Britain. It is estimated at €30,000-€50,000.
Or how about a 17th century verdure tapestry with birds among luxuriant foliage and trees with a distant castle? Tapestries like this were both highly decorative and functional as they helped to keep a house or castle warm. This one is enclosed by an elaborate border of flowers, fruit, birds and classical ornament.
A 17rth century verdure tapestry. UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,500 AT HAMMER
Decorative highlights include a French Empire-period cut crystal and gilt bronze mantel clock, a Vienna one-year-duration wall clock, monumental chandeliers and richly mounted French furniture. There are early maps of Ireland by Gerard Mercator and John Speed, a terrestrial globe dated 1859, marine chronometers, sextants, barometers and early phonographs.
Leading art lots include an 1828 portrait of Mrs. Issy Redmond by Sir Martin Cregan, founding member and later president of the Royal Hibernian Academy where this portrait was exhibited in 1829. There are portraits by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, William Etty and the studio of John Hoppner, animal art and bronzes.
A substantial London 1860 silver flatware service of 123 pieces, an Irish Nugent family flatware service dating to around 1840 and a four piece Rococo Revival silver tea and coffee service are all on offer. A19th century 96 piece Ashworth ironstone dinner service is stamped for the Dublin retailer Thomas Higginbothan of Wellington Quay.
The auction is drawn from distinguished houses and collections including Temple House, County Sligo; Luggala, County Wicklow; Emo Court and Ballyfin House, County Laois and Dromoland Castle, County Clare.
Three days of viewing get underway today (October 3) at Coolattin House, Shillelagh, Co. Wicklow. The auction will be held at Sheppards headquarters in Durrow, Co. Laois and it will be a live and online sale.
A 19th century Killarney library table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 13,000 AT HAMMER
Paul Henry – The Potato Harvest. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £883,200
The Potato Harvest by Paul Henry is among a superb group of Irish paintings from an important collection to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in London in October. Together, the nine works carry a combined estimate in the region of £1.4m / €1.6m. An additional two works are being offered for private sale via Sotheby’s. All 11 paintings – by Yeats, Orpen, O’Conor, Henry, Dillon and Lavery – will be on view. The works are on view at the Molesworth Gallery in Dublin on October 1, 2 and 3 prior to being offered as part of Sotheby’s Modern British & IrishArt evening sale on October 14, coinciding with Frieze Week.
They are The Amateur Ventriloquist, September Gale and Galway by Jack B Yeats, Little Spanish Dancer, Girl in Red Shawl and Midday on the Beach by Sir William Orpen, Red Rocks and Foam by Roderic O’Conor, The Potato Harvest, Pedlar’s Cart, Achill and A Winter Sea by Paul Henry, Boys Catching Crabs in Connemara by Gerard Dillon and Tennis, Hotel Beau Site, Cannes by Sir John Lavery.
Roderic O’Conor – Red Rocks and Foam. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £243,200
IRISH GEORGE III GILTWOOD PIER MIRROR, CIRCA 1765. UPDATE: THIS MADE 36,000 AT HAMMER
This Irish George III giltwood pier mirror in the manner of Matthias Lock is one of the leading lots at Adam’s country house collections sale at Townley Hall on October 13. It was originally owned by the Hamilton family of Hamwood, Co. Meath. It is illustrated in Irish Furniture by The Knight of Glin and James Peill published by Yale University Press in 2007 and featured in Country Life in February 26 in a Jeremy Musson feature on Hamwood, Co. Meath. Hamwood House is now best recognised as the childhood home of celebrated Irish painter Letitia Marion Hamilton (1878-1964) and her sister Eva Hamilton (1876-1960).
The mirror is a fantastic example of the style popular in the George III period. Sometimes colloquially referred to as ‘Chinese Chippendale’, the frame is profusely carved in a confluence of C-scrolls, rockwork and leaf fronds, centred by an angelic mask to base and flanked on either side by wyverns, the shoulders providing perch to a pair of ho-ho birds and centre crest surmounted by a canopy of distinctly Eastern design. The estimate is €40,000-€60,000.
Connemara Landscape by Paul Henry UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 140,000
Paintings by Paul Henry, Jack B Yeats, Mainie Jellett and Roderic O’Conor make up the top six lots at Whyte’s sale of Irish and international art in Dublin next Monday evening (September 26). The combined lower estimate on these six works is €600,000. Whyte’s reckon their sale of 156 lots will generate around €1.7 million.
A Connemara Landscape by Paul Henry with all his classical hallmarks of thatched cottages, turf stacks and high cumulus clouds is, at €150,000-€200,000, the most expensively estimated work in the sale. Crossing the City by Jack B Yeats, which made €98,000 at Whyte’s in 2012, is on the catalogue 14 years later with an estimate of €120,000-€180,000.
Nude by the Sea by Mainie Jellett UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 120,000
A West of Ireland Road by Henry and Against the Stream by Yeats are each estimated at €100,000-€150,000. Mainie Jellett’s Nude by the Sea, the catalogue cover lot, carries an estimate of €90,000-€120,000.
The Orchard by Roderic O’Conor, estimated at €60,000-€80,000, was one of 23 works by O’Conor included in his joint exhibition with Matthew Smith in London in 1956. This was the show which marked the beginning of his rediscovery.
More recently Long Black Train by John Shinnors (€30,000-€40,000) can be traced to the level crossing installed in 2013 at Lisnagry between Limerick city and Castleconnell.
Among the international artists on the catalogue are Carl Reichert, Thomas Blinks, Francisco Sanchez Clement, Johannes Eversen and Charles Burton-Barber. There is as well a signed mint condition limited edition copy of ‘A Bigger Book’ by the late David Hockney.
Significant works by William Conor, Aloysius O’Kelly, John Lavery, Grace Henry, George Campbell, Patrick Hennessy and John Doherty feature in a selection that includes art by Markey Robinson, Arthur Maderson, Thomas Ryan, Martin Mooney, Ciaran Clear, Kenneth Webb and many other artists.
The Place collection by Ceadogán rugs, with eleven original wall hangings created in collaboration with eleven contemporary artists, will be auctioned as lots 146-156. Artists Serena Caulfield, Tom Climent, Dorothy Cross, Guggi, Paul Hallahan, Leah Hewson, Eleanor McCaughey, Gwen O’Dowd, Kathy Prendergast, The Project Twins and Maria Simmonds-Gooding were invited to unleash their creativity and explore their relationship with the natural world. Estimates range from €2,500-€6,000.
Against the Stream (1945) by Jack B Yeats. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 125,000
Endymion by Harry Kernoff UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 2,900
A timed online auction by Dolan’s draws to a close from 6.30 pm next Monday evening (September 28). Along with work by artists like Harry Kernoff, John Shinnors, Arthur Maderson, Susan Cronin, William Conor, Mark O’Neill, Kenneth Webb and Eileen Meagher this auction offers some rare Irish whiskeys, Moorcroft pottery and collectibles.
Endymion by Harry Kernoff depicts a Dublin character described in Ulysses by James Joyce. It was the nickname of an eccentric named James Farrell born in Dublin in 1851. He worked for a time as an excise officer before falling into a brewery vessell and inhaling the fumes therein. All the myth and lore of this character, who set his watch by the ballast clock and saluted it with a drawn sword every day and whose bowler hat was too small, are incorporated into Kernoff’s painting.
Vintage leather Scandinavian sofa UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A Scandinavian vintage leather three seater sofa, a French bleached oak kitchen cupboard, an Art Nouveau ceiling light, s large bronze model of Buddha and a selection of garden gazebos and fountains will come under the hammer at Victor Mee’s September decorative interiors online auction from 2 pm next Monday (September 28).
Among 815 lots are an Italian red leather corner sofa, some Arras style garden chairs, a 19th century pine kitchen table on square legs, a 19th century lions mask door knocker, a selection of carpets and rugs, a cast iron model of a meditating rabbit, a Victorian inlaid mahogany and satinwood work table and a circular specimen table. The catalogue is online and estimates are reasonable.
Circular specimen table on a fluted column base UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Paul Henry RHA RUA (1877-1958) – Errigal, Co. Donegal made €95,000 at hammer
This striking 1929 oil on board by Paul Henry made a hammer price of €95,000 over a top estimate of €70,000 at Adams sale of important Irish art in Dublin this evening. The sepia monochromatic conception is especially significant in its rarity. Henry’s debt to James McNeill Whistler was profound: having travelled to Paris in 1898, he studied at the Académie Julian before attending Whistler’s Académie Carmen. Whistler’s insistence upon tonal harmony, restraint and the subordination of local colour to mood left a lasting impression on the younger artist. This painting of cottages beneath Mount Errigal was selected as the frontispiece to the 1932 Saorstát Éireann: Irish Free State Official Handbook, edited by Bulmer Hobson.
Other top hammer prices at the sale include the following: Cattle on a road by Gerard Dillon (€46,000); View of Pullough Bay by Paul Henry (€42,000); Kerry Interior by Sean O’Sullivan (€38,000); Roundstone by Letitia Marion Hamilton (€36,000); Connemmara Quayside with fishermen by Gerard Dillon (€30,000); The rake by Jack B Yeats (€22,000); Still Water by William John Leech (€22,000); After the Meal by Dan O’Neill (€20,000) and Design for St. Maculind window by Harry Clarke (€19,000).
Susan Cronin – Waiting. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 5,200
This oil on canvas by Susan Cronin is lot 10 at Dolan’s timed online auction which runs until September 28. The sale offers art, rare Irish whiskeys, Moorcroft pottery and collectibles and the catalogue is online. Artists in the sale include John Shinnors, Arthur Maderson, Harry Kernoff, Susan Cronin, William Conor, Charles Harper, Mark O’Neill, Maurice Wilks, Kenneth Webb, Gaetano de Gennaro, Flora Mitchell, Eileen Meagher and many others. This work by Susan Cronin carries an estimate of €2,800-€3,500.
A set of nativity figures by Bernardi of Cork UPDATE: THESE MADE €1,850 AT HAMMER
In Doneraile Aidan Foley will conduct three online evening sales next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (September 21, 22 and 12) with 924 lots from country houses including antique and vintage furniture, Persian rugs, a set of large scale nativity figures by Bernardi of Cork and Hornby train collections. With everything from a cast iron boot scraper and a silk top hat by Henry Heath of London in its original leather travelling case to a vintage tabletop pinball game, garden and outdoor furniture and a painting by the recently deceased John Schwatschke the auction these sales will appeal to all sorts of collectors.
