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    SIGNS OF RECOVERY IN IRISH ART MARKET EVIDENT AT SOTHEBY’S

    Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

    Roderic O'Conor's Landscape, Cassis made £337,250. (click on image to enlarge)

    There are signs of a recovery in the appeal of the Irish art market to an international audience in the results from Sotheby’s annual Irish sale today.  On the face of it a sale that was 63.4 per cent sold by lot and 74.5 per cent sold by value might not seem great news.  But the grand total of £1,907,475 sterling, (2,171,849 euro) was the highest by far of any Irish art auction worldwide for the past two years.

    The top lot, Roderic O’Conor’s Landscape, Cassis made  £337,250 over a conservative estimate of £120,000-£180,000.  It went to an Irish private buyer.  Eight of the next nine lots in order of value all went to UK  buyers.  Grant Ford, Sotheby’s Head of Irish Pictures, said afterwards:  “We saw a fabulous price for the O’Conor and a resurgence of interest in Yeats. Of notice is the fact that we witnessed an influx of new buyers and bidders from Ireland, the UK, the US as well as China”.
    He also commented on the reappearance of certain buyers from Sotheby’s Irish sales during the 1990’s.  In fact this has been a feature of all latter day Irish art auctions.  Various auction houses have remarked on the reappearance of serious collectors and art lovers who had been driven out by skyrocketing prices during the boom.
    In all 45 of the 71 lots on offer found buyers and most of the main pictures got away.  There is much post sale negotiation over many of the unsold lots and some of them will definitely get away as well.
    Jack Butler Yeats’ The Child of the Sea made £229,250 over a top estimate of £150,000 while Sir John Lavery’s A Lady in Brown made £121,250, well within the estimate of £100,000-£150,000.  William Scott’s Double Grey Fish Still Life made £99,250 and Mary Swanzy’s Sunlit Landscape made £91,250.  Each of these works had been estimated at £60,000-£80,000.  The Swanzy went to an Irish private buyer.  Works by Louis le Brocquy (two),  Sir William Orpen, William Scott and Paul Henry made up the remainder of the top ten lots sold.
    Among the artists whose works remained unsold were William Ashford, Aloysius O’Kelly, George Russell, Norah McGuinness, George Campbell, Daniel O’Neill, Gerard Dillon, Patrick Swift, John Shinnors and Tony O’Malley.
    See antiquesandartireland.com posts for March 26, March 6, February 16 and February 2.

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    CHRISTIE’S TO SELL 150 ARTWORKS FROM JEFFREY ARCHER’S COLLECTION

    Monday, March 28th, 2011

    Christie’s is to sell around 150 works from the collection of Jeffrey Archer in London in June.  The colourful former chairman of the Conservative Party  spent five years in the House of Commons, 19 in the House of Lords and  two at Her Majesty’s Pleasure.  His years in jail spawned three best selling Prison Diaries.

    Lord Archer will conduct a charity sale at Christie’s, King St., on June 27.  One of the highlights is the senior timekeeper’s stopwatch that recorded Roger Bannister’s first four minute mile at Iffley Road in May, 1954.

    On June 28 the art collection, expected to realise around £5 million, will be sold.  It includes La Seine près de Vétheuil, temps orageux, 1878, by Monet  (£800,000 to £1,200,000); L’Eternelle Idole (Grande Modèle) by Auguste Rodin (£300,000 to £500,000); Marilyn (Feldman & Schellmann II.24) by Andy Warhol  (£100,000 to £150,000) and Rue de la Boucherie with St Jacques by Walter Richard Sickert (£50,000 to £80,000).

    Jeffrey Archer has topped the bestseller charts around the world, with sales of over 250 million copies.  He is published in 97 countries and 33 languages.  He currently spends much of his time as an amateur auctioneer and conducts around 30 charity auctions each year.

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    VALUE FOR COLLECTORS AT SOTHEBY’S IRISH ART SALE

    Saturday, March 26th, 2011

    John Shinnors at the Irish sale at Sotheby's. (Click to enlarge) UPDATE: THIS WAS ONE OF THE UNSOLD PIECES.

    The annual Irish sale at Sotheby’s in London on March 29 offers real value for collectors.  It features 71 quality lots with low estimates.
    This is a sale that will tell much about the state of the Irish art market in recession. It contains a carefully chosen selection of interesting Irish art, much of it at estimates that would have seemed laughably low a couple of years ago.
    Whether this will bring collectors back to the market, or deliver new buyers for Irish art to Sotheby’s, will become clear on Tuesday.
    See antiquesandartireland.com posts for March 6, February 16 and February 2.

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    MONET’S LES PEUPLIERS AT CHRISTIE’S IN MAY

    Saturday, March 26th, 2011

    Les Peupliers by Claude Monet at Christie's.

    Monet’s Les Peupliers will feature at Christie’s Modern Art evening sale in New York on May 4.  This is one of the most celebrated of the great series of works from his years in Giverny.  Painted en plein air during the summer of 1891, the work is the largest of the artist’s paintings devoted to a picturesque arrangement of poplar trees, known as the “tree of liberty” in his native France.

    Most of the 24 works in Claude Monet’s Poplars series are housed in major museums around the world, with the remainder in private collections.  The story behind them is interesting.  In 1891 Monet learned that a row of mature poplar trees near his house was to be cut down. He made a deal with the woodcutter to leave them standing long enough for him to continue painting them. This resulted in the series of paintings in differing perspectives, lights and seasons all conceived from his small floating studio on the waterway.
    Estimated at US$ 20-30 million, the painting is offered from an important private collection and remains in pristine condition, in its original unvarnished and unlined state.  The top price paid for a Monet at auction was $80.4 million for Le bassin aux Nympheas from 1919.  It was sold at Christie’s in London in June 2008.
    UPDATE:  IT MADE $22,482,500

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    LE BROCQUY AUBUSSON TAPESTRY TOP LOT AT ADAMS

    Friday, March 25th, 2011

    This colour inverted Aubusson tapestry by Louis le Brocquy is the top lot at Adams sale of Irish art in Dublin on April 6.  Conceived in 1948 it was executed in 1998 as an edition of nine.

    Louis le Brocquy’s first tapestry, Travellers was designed in 1948 and produced by Tabard Frères et Soeurs at Aubusson. It was one of a series that also included The Garlanded Goat and the Eden Series. Le Brocquy described the technique of designing these tapestries as something he learned directly from the master in this medium, Jean Lurcat.
    The present work, however is from the later ‘colour-inverted’ tapestries that were produced at Aubusson by the Lissier René Duché. This series was first exhibited at Taylor Galleries in Dublin, where it was bought by the present owner, and then exhibited at Agnews in London.  It is estimated at 40,000-60,000.
    The sale at Adams is rich in 20th century landscapes and contains over 240 lots.
    UPDATE: IT made a hammer price of 60,000

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    MIRO SCULPTURE MAKES $5 MILLION AT TEFAF

    Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

    Oiseau Lunaire by Miro from 1945.

    A sculpture by the Spanish artist Joan Miró sold within hours of the opening of TEFAF Maastricht for $5 million. Oiseau lunaire, a 30cm high olive wood work dating from 1945, was sold to a private collector.  It was part of an entire room devoted to Miró by Landau Fine Art of Montreal. One of the earliest known sculptures by Miro it has not been seen in public since 1973.

    Dealers reported good sales across all sections of The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) with modern and contemporary art, antiquities and Asian art performing particularly well. Over 30,000 people visited for the opening weekend.  No less than 125 private jets landed at Maastricht-Aachen airport. Visitors included the World Chinese Collectors Conference from Shanghai with a group of 21 people, a party from the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, USA, and Wolfgang Heubisch, Minister of Culture in the Bavarian state government in Germany. TEFAF runs until Sunday, March 27.

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    IRISH ART AT LIMERICK AUCTION

    Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
    T

    Pink Rose by Mat Grogan (est 300-400) click to enlarge UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR 325

    Shawlies on Inishmaan Beach, Aran by Ivan Sutton (est 1,800-2,400) click to enlarge UPDATE: IT MADE 1,800

    Connemara by Tom Greaney (est 300-400) click to enlarge UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR 400

    Shawlies by Markey Robinson (est 2,400-2,800) click to enlarge UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR 2,500

    Some works from the Dolan’s Irish art auction at the Carlton Castletroy Park Hotel in Limerick on Sunday, March 27 at 4 p.m.

    There re 236 lots on offer.

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    DURER’S STAR CHARTS OF 1515 AT SOTHEBY’S

    Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

    The Northern Sky (click to enlarge)

    The Southern Sky (click to enlarge)

    Dürer’s maps of the Northern and Southern skies, the earliest printed star charts, feature at Sotheby’s sale of Old Master, modern and contemporary prints in London on March 30.  The extremely rare woodcuts celestial maps by Albrecht Dürer are the oldest printed star charts published in Europe. Dated circa 1515, they were produced in Nuremberg under the patronage of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, and were the product of an innovative collaboration between Dürer, Viennese astronomer Johannes Stabius and German astronomer Conrad Heinfogel. They are estimated at £120,000-180,000.

    The sale also features a large group of prints by Rembrandt, a collection of works on paper by Paul Gauguin, and a rare linocut by Pablo Picasso. There is a group of seven works by Lucian Freud, comprising a series of etchings of landscapes and figure studies and three works by Roy Lichtenstein, all dating from the 1990’s.
    UPDATE: The earliest printed star charts, A Map of the Northern Sky and A Map of the Southern Sky, sold for £361,250 ($578,542) to Daniel Crouch Rare Books,

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    QUEEN VICTORIA IN CORK HARBOUR

    Sunday, March 20th, 2011

    The work by Atkinson (click on image to enlarge)

    WITH the planned visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland in May there is something very timely about this painting included in Woodwards auction in Cork on April 6.   The work, by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson depicts the Royal Yacht squadron bringing Queen Victoria to Cork Harbour in August 1849. George Mounsey Atkinson mounted an exhibition of his maritime paintings for the visit and produced several different paintings of an event which resulted in the name of the town being changed from Cove to Queenstown.  The work is estimated at 20,000-30,000.

    UPDATE: It sold for a hammer price of 20,000.

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    FABULOUS JEWELS AND MORE AT TEFAF MAASTRICHT

    Friday, March 18th, 2011

    THERE are fabulous pieces to be seen in the Haute Joaillerie section at The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht.  Here are some to whet the appetite.

    The Graff blue diamond

    The Hemmerle vegetable collection.

    The aster brooch.

    The Chopard owl watch.

    Graff is exhibiting a 20.02 carat blue ice diamond ring.  The fancy deep blue diamond ring has white diamond shoulders. Each diamond pearshape sidestone is exactly one carat. The entire ring is 22.02 carats.
    Hemmerle Jewellers will unveil their new vegetable collection at TEFAF. The brooch illustrated is a white gold pod of five jade peas, speckled with demantoide garnets.
    THE Aster Brooch has a central cushion cut tourmaline supported by flame-shaped griffes bezel in yellow gold. It is contoured by a double circle of petals in white gold and brilliant-cut diamonds. This one-of-a-kind object of rare beauty and simplicity was created by Gianmaria Buccellati.
    At Chopard & Cie S.A. there is an Owl watch.  It is 18 ct white and rose gold set with diamonds (7cts), trapeze-cut diamonds (2cts) and trapeze-cut yellow sapphires (4cts).  It is from the ‘Animal World Collection 150th Anniversary.
    TEFAF 2011 has 260 exhibitors from 16 countries in nine sections. Some 30,000 works of art from the Neolithic Age to the present day are all rigorously vetted by 168 international experts in 29 specialist committees to ensure quality, authenticity and good condition.

    TEFAF Maastricht is launching the TEFAF Mobile Guide, an application for Android and iPhone, at the 2011 Fair. The application has been developed to help visitors get the most out of their visit to TEFAF.  It offers them a virtual tour, videos, an interactive floor plan, an overview of theFair’s sections, exhibitors and restaurants at the Fair and other information. It can be downloaded free at www.tefaf.com/mobile and from the iTunes AppStore and Android Market.

    (See antiquesandartireland.com posts for March 11, January 13 and January 6)

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