The Macklowe Collection made a total $676.1 million at a white glove sale at Sotheby’s in New York last night. Highlights included Mark Rothko’s No. 7 which sold for $82.5 million, Albert Giacometti’s Le Nez which achieved $78.4 million, Jackson Pollock’s Number 17, 1951 which more than doubled its low estimate to achieve $61.2 million, a new artist record, and Cy Twombly’s monumental Untitledwhich sold for $58.9 million. The 35 pieces belonged to real estate mogul Harry Macklowe and his former wife Linda. The pair were told to sell the collection and split the proceeds during their 2018 divorce trial.
Central Bank of Ireland, £20, 6 August 1943, serial number 01X 066040, War Code A, Brennan and McElligott signatures. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £4,200
This fine and very rare £20 Lady Lavery note from the Central Bank of Ireland with a War Code from 1943 comes up at Dix Noonan Webb in London on November 25 with an estimate of £4,000-£5,000. It is a highlight from the collection of the late Gus Mac Amhlaigh of Dublin. Most of his collection is Irish and will be auctioned in several parts over the next year. It also contains groups from Scotland and the Isle of Man. Lots 196 to 334 in the November sale are from his collection. Gus Mac Amhlaigh began collecting banknotes in the early 1970’s. A civil servant he moved from the Department of the Environment to the Custom House Docks Development Authority. He was a key figure in formulating the first masterplan for the Dublin Docklands, primarily focused the International Financial Services Centre. He was responsible for the largest ever regeneration scheme in the history of the State. More than 21,000 people are now employed in the docklands and a further 22,000 people live in the area. He left the Docklands Authority in 1999 and became ceo of the Irish Pension Unit Trust, one of the largest property funds in the country. He worked there until his retirement in 2007 and then joined the board of directors of the commercial estate agents, Bannon Commercial.
The jewellery collection of the late Marie Conway comes up online at an evening sale at Sheppards in Durrow on November 18. Marie who passed away in 2009, was a well- known face, whose auburn hair, flamboyant style of dress, unusual jewellery and sense of humour, singled her out at auctions and antique fares around Munster and beyond for decades. Lot on offer range from a diamond tennis bracelet to a white gold and peridot diamond drop pendant to a three stone diamond ring. The catalogue is online and there will be viewing on November 17 and 18.
AN 18 CARAT WHITE GOLD EMERALD AND DIAMOND RING. UPDATE: THIS MADE €1,500 AT HAMMER
Another exciting week of major international art sales in New York is in the offing. Next week it will be the turn of Sotheby’s to shine. The landmark sale of part one of Macklowe Collection takes place on November 15. The first of two sales will feature 35 works ranging in date from the 1940’s to art made less than a decade ago with masterworks by Alberto Giacometti, Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol. The second part of the collection is to be offered in May 2022. The Modern evening auction on November 16 will be led by Claude Monet’s Coin de basin aux nympheas from 1918 and Frida Kahlo’s masterpiece Diego y yo (Diego and I) from 1949 which is poised to become the most valuable work of Latin American art ever sold at auction. Led by Yoshitomo Nara’s Nice to see you Again from 1996 the Now evening auction on November 18 focuses on art created during the last 20 years. It will be followed immediately by the Contemporary evening auction led by Basquiat’s Made in Japan II and Roy Lichtenstein’s iconic 1983 Two Paintings; Craig..
Andy Warhol – Sixteen Jackies from the Macklowe Collection. UPDATE: THIS MADE $33,872,250
Major works by Jack Yeats, Paul Henry, Roderic O’Conor, Sir William Orpen, Louis le Brocquy and Colin Middleton at de Veres on November 23 will kick off a sizzling winter season of Irish art auctions in Dublin and London. A very fine sale has been put together by de Veres with works they claim could grace any national collection. Viewing gets underway at Kildare St. on November 18 and the full catalogue is online now. A still life by Roderic O’Conor is signed and dated 1921 in which year it was exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. O’Conor still lives from these years were well received and were acquired by the French State (now the Musee d’Orsay), Roger Fry, Clive Bell, Somerset Maugham, Alden Brooks, Charles Hall Thorndike and the Contemporary Art Society. This one is estimated at €150,000-€250,000. Another highlight with a similar estimate is William Orpen’s After the Ball, a work of imagination based on the Venice Carnivale.
There are four oils by Paul Henry with Lakeside Cottages and Fishing Boats, Dugort each estimated at €200,000-€300,000. The auction features an across the board selection at varying price points.
A Welcome by Jack B Yeats at Sothebys. UPDATE: THIS MADE £226,800
A Welcome by Jack B Yeats will highlight Sotheby’s offerings at their flagship Modern British and Irish art sale in London on November 23. Paintings of horses by Yeats, like this one, are particularly sought after. The auction will be followed by an online sale of Irish art on the same day. Over 70 works from Sotheby’s upcoming Irish art auction are on view at the RHA in Dublin this weekend. Viewing times are from 10 am to 5 pm today and 10 am to 3 pm tomorrow. The sale at Sotheby’s – supported by a global marketing campaign – will include property from the collection of Sir Michael Smurfit.
Four Pears by William Scott (1913-1989) from 1976 leads a strong selection of work by Irish artists at Bonhams Modern British and Irish art sale at New Bond St., London on November 24. Estimated at €180,000-€290,000 it has not been seen in public since 1980 when it was exhibited at Irish Art in the Seventies: The International Connection. Kieran O’Boyle, Bonhams representative in Ireland said: “This sale has a great representation of high quality works by Irish artists – from William Scott’s exquisite and subtle Four Pears to an archetypal Paul Henry and John Luke’s nostalgia filled Mountain Composition. Meantime Bonhams Modern British and Irish art sale in Knightsbridge on November 23 offers works by Patrick Hennessy, Pauline Bewick, Arthur Maderson, Graham Knuttel, Norah McGuinness, Markey Robinson and Augustus John. Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art takes place in Dublin on November 29. The James Adam winter sale of Important Irish Art takes place on December 8.
THE 20th Century evening sale and the sale of the Cox Collection achieved a total of $751.9 million at Christie’s in New York last night. The Cox Collection made $332,031,500and was 100% sold, selling 160% against low estimate and 91% lots sold above high estimate. The 20th Century Evening Sale totaled $419,866,500, selling 92% by lot 96% by value, 113% sold against low estimate.
The Cox Collection was highlighted by three works by Vincent van Gogh. The sale was headlined by van Gogh’s 1889 masterpiece Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers, which, after a five-minute battle between eleven bidders, sold for $71,350,000—the fourth highest price for the artist at auction—to a client in the room. The 1890 van Gogh oil painting Jeune homme au bleuet sold for $46,732,500 after nine and a half minutes of fierce and competitive bidding against a low estimate of $5,000,000. Van Gogh’s watercolor Meules de blé sold for $35,855,000 to a buyer in the room, setting a new record for a work on paper. Another exceptional price was achieved by Paul Cézanne’s L’Estaque aux toits rouges, which sold for $55,310,000 against a low estimate of $35,000,000. The Cox Collection sawglobal participation of bidders coming from 27 countries, with 52% sold by lot to the Americas, 35% to Europe and 13% to Asia.
Pablo Picasso – Mousquetaire à la Pipe sold for $34,710,000
The top lot at the 20th Century sale was Andy Warhol’s 1982 portrait of fellow artist Jean–MichelBasquiat from the collection of Peter Brant, which achieved $40,091,500. Notable results came from artworks spanning a multitude of genres, including Cy Twombly’s 1961 painting Untitled, which realised $32,000,000 and two Picasso paintings including Mousquetaire à la Pipe, which sold for $34,710,000—the highest price achieved for a work within Picasso’s Musketeer series—and 1955 portrait Femme accroupie en costume turc (Jacqueline) from the Stella Collection, which sold for $25,550,000.
The running total for Christie’s November marquee week of sales in New York stands at $971,176,750.
Jack Butler Yeats, The South Pacific, est. £200,000-300,000. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This fantasy 1937 oil on canvas – The South Pacific – by Jack B Yeats from the collection of Sir Michael Smurfit goes on view in Dublin today as part of the preview for Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish art sale in London on November 23 and Sotheby’s online Irish art sale which runs from November 17-23. No less than 17 works from Sir Michael Smurfit’s collection are included. The sales feature many of Ireland’s most famous painters, including Jack B. Yeats, John Lavery, William Orpen, Paul Henry, Louis le Brocquy and Gerard Dillon. Viewing times at the RHA are from 2pm – 5pm today, 10am-5 pm tomorrow and Saturday and from 10am-3pm on November 14.
Strong demand from collectors demonstrated confidence in the market on par with pre-pandemic levels at Christie’s 21st Century evening sale in New York. The auction was led by the monumental canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Guilt of Gold Teeth, 1982, which made $40,000,000 in a sale that brought in $219,278,750. The 100% sold auction attracted bidders from 27 countries, with 58% of lots selling above the high estimate.
BEEPLE (B. 1981) – HUMAN ONE Executed in 2021 and minted on 28 October 2021. This work is unique and is accompanied by a non fungible token. Christie’s Images Ltd., 2021
HUMAN ONE, the first hybrid physical and digital artwork by record-shattering NFT artist Beeple achieved $28,985,000. It sold online to a bidder based in Switzerland, underscoring the power of NFTs to break into masterpiece pricing. Another notable result was Peter Doig’s Swamped which made $39,862,500 and set a new auction record for the artist. The 20/21 Marquee Week of sales in New York continues on Thursday with The Cox Collection and the 20th Century Art evening sale with the Post War and Contemporary Art day sale on Friday.
Here is a video on After the Ball by Sir William Orpen, one of the highlights at de Veres sale of Outstanding Irish Art in Dublin on November 23. UPDATE: THIS MADE 310,000
An unpublished archive that celebrates the “The Gorgeous Wrecks” – a group of over-military age men who defended Dublin’s Beggars Bush Barracks’ during the Easter Rising of 1916 comes up at Dix Noonan Webb in London on November 10. Lot 232 includes the inter-War C.B.E. (Civil), 1916 ‘Easter Rising – Defence of Beggars Bush Barracks’ D.S.O., Great War O.B.E. (Military) group of eight awarded to Major and Adjutant George Arthur Harris of Dublin University Officer Training Corps, Territorial Force, who led his poorly armed column of above age military reservists in a week long defence of Beggars Bush Barracks during the 1916 Rising. It will be sold with an important archive of related material including the recipient’s unpublished diary of the Defence, written during the siege on ‘Beggars Bush, Dublin’ headed writing paper. As he commented “The whole business was horrible, as one never knew who was for or against you. An innocent looking civilian would walk past the barracks, see our position and then go to a house and snipe. The fighting in France I think was infinitely preferable to this and in this others concur.” The lot is estimated to fetch £8,000-12,000. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £18,000
