Art auctions cover an amazing range of subjects and Morgan O’Driscoll’s upcoming evening online sale of Irish and International Art on October 26 – now on view at the RDS – is no exception. Nowadays turf cutting is controversial, following an EU habitats directive making cutting illegal on numerous Irish bogs. This adds a certain poignancy to one of the major lots of the auction, Paul Henry’s Turf Cutting in Connemara. It depicts mounds of turf drying in a classical Connemara mountain and water landscape under changing skies. Once a familiar feature of the Irish landscape sights like this are no more. The painting, which had been in an Australian collection, is estimated at 1€20,000-€160,000.In complete contrast is Bridget Riley’s captivating Two Blues from 2003, a screenprint from an edition of 250 with an estimate of €2,500-€3,500. In a catalogue note the former Crawford Gallery curator Peter Murray comments on the stylish abstract areas of colour with no one colour dominant in this work by the distinguished British artist. Big name international artists don’t come cheap but no matter what the cost it is always a good idea only to buy art you really really love. Sean Scully’s Untitled No. 9, a composition of interlocking rectangles, dates to 1982 and is estimated at €60,000-€90,000. There is a similar estimate on Banksy’s Jack and Jill (Police Kids) from 2005.William Conor captures beautifully the joy of children balancing on a makeshift see saw in Shuggleshoo. Shuggle means to shake and this work was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1951. It is now estimated at €20,000-€30,000.A triptych by Francis Bacon, a 1989 recreation of a version first made in 1944, depicts strange hybrid creatures evoking aspects of humans and other animals. The lithograph, numbered nine from an edition of 60, is estimated at$ €20,000-€30,000. The same estimate is on a watercolour by Louis le Brocquy entitled Riverrun, Procession with Lillies.A portrait drawing of Captain Consadine by Sean Keating is estimated at €7,000-€10,000 and a drawing by Jack B Yeats entitled Romantic Shades comes with an estimate of €8,000-€12,000.The selection of sculpture includes Family Group by Edward Delaney, Autumn Birds by John Behan, Girl and her Shadow by F E McWilliam and High King of Munster by Orla de Bri. There is art by William Crozier, Damien Hirst, John Shinnors, Donald Teskey, Sean McSweeney, Alex Katz, Basil Blackshaw, Frank McKelvey, Dan O’Neill, Roderic O’Conor and other highly collected artists. The catalogue is online and the sale gets underway at 6.30 pm next Tuesday (October 26).
