A rosewood desk by Nanna Ditzel. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER
An array of legendary designers like Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Niels Otto Moller, Arne Vodder, Eileen Gray, Gio Ponti and Nanna Ditzel feature at Adam’s Mid Century Modern timed online auction which starts to close from 2 pm on April 14. Now on view in Dublin there is accompanying art by Andy Warhol, Patrick Scott, Earl Bliss, Merlin James, Hughie O’Donoghue and others. Highlights include a rosewood desk from the golden era of Scandinavian design created in the mid 1950’s by Nanna Ditzel, chairs by Eileen Gray, a portrait of Kimiko Power by Andy Warhol and a pair of Colonial chairs by Ole Wanscher.
Rare portrait lithographs of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith signed both by the sitters and artist Sir John Lavery feature at Whyte’s timed online Eclectic Collector sale which runs from April 7-18. Lavery painted portraits of Griffith and Collins in 1921 whilst they were in London negotiating the terms of the Irish Treaty. Within months of their portraits being painted, both men were dead – Griffith of a heart attack, Collins assasinated. The lithographs are based on the oil portraits now in the collection of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin and estimated at €8,000-12,000.
Mark Rothko – Brown and Blacks in Reds 1957. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $87,780,000
Art by the titans of American Abstract Expressionism – Franz Klein, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko – from the collection of dealer and financier Robert Mnuchin could make more than $130 million at a dedicated evening auction by Sotheby’s in New York on May 14.
Led by Rothko’s monumental 1957 canvas Brown and Black in Reds a total of 24 works from the collection will be offered in the standalone sale.
Mnuchin, who died aged 92 last December, loved going to auctions where he was known for shouting out his bids. A New Yorker who graduated from Yale in 1955, he served in the US Army and joined Goldman Sachs in 1957. After a 33 year career there he retired at 56 to pursue a career in art and became a legendary dealer.
Franz Kline – Harleman 1960. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $14,480,000
The deeply personal collection, assembled with his wife Adriana over the decades, demonstrated a devotion to pursuing works they loved and wanted to live with. This embodies a collecting ethos mirrored by many art lovers. “The reason to buy art is because you love it, you love it, you love it”, Mnuchin said. Sotheby’s say the examples he chose for his own collection demonstrate “extreme connoisseurship”.
Standing nearly eight feet tall Rothko’s Brown and Blacks in Red ($70-$100 million)(€60.6-€86.6 million) dates to 1957. From the artist’s seminal decade when he developed the signature bands of colour it has been in some of the most important exhibitions dedicated to Rothko including the celebrated show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in 2023-24.
Acquired by Seagrams around 1957 it has been in the Mnuchin collection for more than two decades. The palette was an important influence in the development of the Seagram Murals commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram building in New York in the years to follow. The renowned murals, found today in galleries like the Tate in London and Washington’s National Gallery of Art, showed Rothko’s commitment to expressing basic human emotions like tragedy, ecstasy and doom.
An early transitional Rothko, No. 1 1949 ($15-$20 million)(€13-€17.3 million), stands at the threshold of his breakthrough and was included in the famous 1950 exhibition at Betty Parsons Gallery.
Willem de Kooning. Untitled XLII, 1983. oil on canvas, 80 x 70 inches. Private collection. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $12,410,000
Mnuchin ranked Willem de Kooning among his most revered artists. The selection on offer in May – led by an example of his late lyrical style Untitled XLII from 1983 – presents a retrospective encapsulation of de Kooning’s career featuring works spanning four decades from the 1950’s through the 1980’s.
Harleman is the finest work by Franz Kline to come to auction in over a decade. This monumental example of his black and white paintings dates to 1960.
Mnuchin was an early supporter of Jeff Koons. Louis XIV is an icon of the artists statuary series and ranks among his most important early works. This example is the artist’s proof from an edition of 3, plus one artist’s proof. The rest of the editions are held in museum collections, including the Nasher Sculpture Center, The Broad, and the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art.
Robert and Adriana Mnuchin were drawn to works that represent defining moments in the career of an artist. As New York collectors of thier time they were in a unique position to champion some of the most innovative and celebrated artists of the second half of the 20th century.
Jeff Koons – Louis XIV 1986. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $8,570,000
This 1600 Mughal painting of the Virgin Mary standing in Prayer is rare and almost identical to an example at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. It comes up at Christie’s sale of the Mary and Cheney Cowles collection of Indian paintings and calligraphy in London on April 28. The estimate is £30,000-50,000 (€34,780-€57,970). Christie’s the Mughal incorporations of European motifs and techniques can be seen as expressions of their cultural cosmopolitanism and universal order. Construction of the Taj Mahal started in 1632. The Seattle based couple hold one of the most distinguished private assemblages of East Asian painting and calligraphy in the western world. Their collection tells stories of emperors, poetry, love, faith and daily life across India and the Islamic world. Estimates for this portion of it, comprising 86 lots, range from works offered without reserve to £180,000 (€208,700).
Red Orchard by Louise Neiland at Taylor Galleries at Art Evolve.
With cutting edge contemporary art at Art Evolve in Dublin, the annual members exhibition at the Lavit Gallery in Cork and online art auctions in full swing Irish collectors are spoiled for choice right now. More than 60 galleries and artists are assembled under one roof this weekend at Art Evolve making the RDS a great venue for the culturally curious.
Even if you happen to keep a very close eye on contemporary happenings in the art world there is bound to be new work and new artists to discover. This show offers a great opportunity to trawl through what is currently being created in Ireland and available right now.
Blue Cupped edition 3 by Nigel Rolfe at Green on Red Gallery at Art Evolve.
At Art Evolve the Contemporary Art Gallery Association (CAGA) has joined forces with other galleries and individual artists. The CAGA galleries driving this event are Kevin Kavannagh, Kerlin, Taylor, Oliver Sears, SO Fine Art Editions, Solomon, Molesworth, Hillsborough and Green on Red.
Demand for high end modern art is dynamic according to organiser Patrick O’Sullivan. There is no shortage of variety, affordability and availability making this a good time for art lovers to get their skates on and join in the hunt. More than 9,500 people came to view the first edition last year and interest runs high.
Majestic Vellum Hathor by west Cork based Hammond Journeaux at the Lavit Gallery.
If you cannot make it to Dublin the annual members exhibition by Cork Arts Society at the Lavit Gallery is now underway. This is an annual highlight where work submitted by members is selected for show. Around 100 works from over 300 submitted were chosen by the three person judging panel, Katie O’Grady of The Glucksman, artist Michael Quane and Sarah Foster from the Crawford College.
Exhibitors include Katherine Boucher Beug, Wendy Dison, Paul la Rocque, Deirdre Brennan, Hammond Journeaux, Damaris Lysaght, Ben Reilly, Inge van Doorslaer, Vivienne Bogan, Gerard Daly and Joseph Heffernan. The exhibition continues until April 18.
The Galway based auction house Dolan’s is running a timed online auction with Irish art and rare Irish whiskeys until 6.30 pm next Monday evening. There is a collection of 60 Irish whiskeys, mostly Very Rare Midleton, which attracts global internet demand from as far afield as Sydney and San Francisco.
Among the artists in the auction are Arthur Maderson, Cecil Maguire, Susan Cronin, Mark O’Neill, Charles Harper, Maurice Wilks, George Gillespie, Desmond Turner, Manus Walsh and Anne Primrose Jury. There is a collection of original Hollywood film posters and autographed photographs of stars including Debbie Reynolds, Pierce Brosnan, Maureen O’Hara, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe, Meryl Streep and Nick Nolte. The catalogue is online.
Early Easter light on Inishmaan by Cecil Maguire at Dolan’s. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Einis Eoghain (D) by Felim Egan UPDATE: THIS MADE 420 AT HAMMER
With everything from a cool abstract etching by Felim Egan entitled Einish Eoghain to a cheerful oil on canvas of boats at Dunmore East by Henry Morgan the Spring online art sale at Whyte’s offers much to interest collectors. The timed online auction runs until the evening of March 30.
The most expensively estimated lot is a Moonlit Roman Scene with Figures by Markey Robinson (€3,500-€4,500). The sale offers landscapes, seascapes, drawings, woodcuts, racing paintings, abstraction and a self portrait by Damien Hirst composed of a light box and X-rays (€600-€800). A self portrait – Baked bean boy by Bono is estimated at €400-€600. The online catalogue lists 235 lots with estimates from €80 to €4,500.
Boats in Harbour, Dunmore East by Henry Morgan UPDATE: THIS MADE 950 AT HAMMER
Taylor Galleries will bring this work by Diarmuid Breen to Art Evolve, which opens today at the RDS in Dublin. Members of the Contemporary Art Gallery Association will join forces with other galleries and artists for the fair, which runs on March 27, 28 and 29. In its first edition last year the event attracted 9,500 visitors.
ARTHUR MADERSON – DISTANT BATHERS IN THE PIERCING LIGHT. UPDATE: THIS MADE €10,000 AT HAMMER
This oil and mixed media by Arthur Maderson – Distant Bathers in the piercing light, near Dromana, Co. Waterford, August 1995, is lot 48 at Dolan’s timed online auction of art and whiskeys which runs until March 30. The estimate is €12,000-€14,000 and it is the top lot of the sale. Among the artists whose work will feaure are Cecil Maguire, Charles Harper, Susan Cronin, Mark O’Neill, Markey Robinson, Mat Grogan, Maurice Wilks, Anne Primrose Jury, Manus Walsh, George Gillespie, Norman Teeling, James MacKeown, Frank Egginton, Wycliffe Egginton, Robert Egginton, Patrick Cashin, Douglas Hutton, Paul Stephens, Desmond Turner, Steve Browning, Henry Morgan, Dave West and Peter Curling. The catalogue for the sale is online.
ROYAL WORCESTER COVERED VASE, 1915 – SWANS IN FLIGHT
This Royal Worcester vase made a hammer price of €4,600 over an estimate of €250-€350 at Sheppards ongoing sale of contents from Kilroan House, Glanmire, Cork and other clients. It is richly decorated with raised gilt rococo scrolls and hand-painted swans in flight against a sky-blue and olive-green ground. The pierced neck and handles are decorated with gilt and blush highlights and the domed cover is surmounted by a gilt finial. The underside is printed with the Worcester crown mark, registration number 168915.
Charles Henry Clifford Baldwyn, one of the most gifted artists at Royal Worcester in the late 19th and early 20th century, specialised in bird painting. His paintings of swans in flight on vases became signature pieces. The designs were so distinctive and synonymous with his name that no other decorator was allowed to paint them during his employment at the Royal Worcester factory. Baldwyn was also allowed to sign his designs at a time when few factory artists were permitted to do so. Royal Worcester went to the trouble of registering this and other designs by Baldwyn to discourage copying by other rival factories because the style was so desirable and important for their sales. Later versions of the Baldwyn swans registered pattern could be printed in outline and then coloured in by other factory painters.
An interior view at Ardbraccan, Co. Meath. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2026. UPDATE: LOTS FROM ARDBRACCAN IN THE SALE REALISED £1.2 MILLION
Heartening to see an Irish house making waves on the international decorative arts and interiors markets. A carefully curated selection of beautiful English and Irish decorative arts from Ardbraccan House, a Palladian mansion in Co. Meath, will feature at Christie’s Collections London sale online from April 1-15. It has been home for over a decade to celebrated interior designer Serena Williams-Ellis and her partner Charles Noell.
An Irish George II side table from the mid 18th century is estimated at £40,000-£60,000 (€46,170-€69,250). A set of five mid 18th century leather fire buckets from the collection of the Dukes of Leinster at Carton House (£2,000-£3,000)(€2,308-€3,462), a portrait of Sophia Southwell, nee Campbell later Lady de Clifford by Sir Joshua Reynolds (£30,000-£50,000)(€34,630-€57,710) and a group of sporting pictures led by horse paintings by John E Ferneley Senior all feature.
Serena Williams-Ellis, who likes a house to smile, said: “The collection at Ardbraccan was organic in its formation over the years. I wished to get the balance of being grand enough for the house but in no way was it to feel austere, the all important thing was to feel as if it had always been there and was comfortable as it sat within the house. I wanted all things in our collection to have the charm factor – something of beauty or to make you smile. Ardbraccan under our tenure became a Stud Farm”.
Mid 18th century Irish George II side table from Ardbraccan Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2026. UPDATE: THIS MADE £76,200
