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Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) – Paysage Breton.

Paysage Breton by the Irish artist Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) comes up at Bonhams sale of Modern British and Irish Art in London next November 17.  The work, which has never before been at auction, marks a change in the O’Conor style.  It dates from 1894, the year when O’Conor met and befriended Paul Gauguin.  They went with an excursion of artists to the Breton fishing port of Concarneau.  There was a fight with local sailors and Gauguin’s ankle was broken. Laid up for two months he still managed to work on monotypes and woodcuts and hold court with fellow artists, including O’Conor, in nearby Pont-Aven.  All of O’Conor’s landscapes from that time until his move to Rochefort-en-terre in 1895, are devoted to trees in the open or in woodland settings.  The introduction of subtle colour harmonies, sweeping arabesques and painterly brushwork into Paysage Breton are sure signs of the influence of Gauguin.  Gauguin invited O’Conor on his second trip to Tahiti, but in the end he did not go, fearing a personality clash and financial concerns.  Paysage Breton is estimated at £150,000-200,000.

Charles Lamb, RHA RUA (1893-1964) – Carraroe, Connemara.  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

FROM the 1933 Chicago World Fair to Clifden, Connemara, Co. Galway 2014 might seem a long journey but there is a sense in which an artwork by the Irish artist Charles Lamb (1893-1964) has come home.  Carraroe, Connemara  by Lamb, which was exhibited on the Ireland stand at the Chicago World Fair, comes up on the first day of Dolan’s two day sale at Clifden on Monday, August 4.  He was one of a group of artists who found inspiration in the west of Ireland in teh 1920’s and ’30’s.  He had a house built of local stone in Carraroe, Co. Galway in 1935, where he settled and started a summer school. In the 1930’s he exhibited in Dublin, London, Brussels, Los Angeles and Chicago in 1933.  His work was included in the Contemporary Irish Painting exhibition in North America in 1950 and he exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1938.  Carraroe, Connemara, which has a Bell Gallery, Belfast label on the back, is estimated at 7,500-8,500.

Edouard Manet – Le Printemps  UPDATE: IT MADE $65 MILLION.

THE acclaimed Le Printemps by Edouard Manet will be a highlight of the Fall auction season at Christie’s, New York.  Estimated at $25-35 million, it will be included in the evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art  November 5. This masterwork comes  fresh to the market. On loan to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. for the last two decades it has been in the same collection for over a century.  The proceeds from the sale of Le Printemps will benefit a private American foundation supporting environmental, public health and other charitable causes.

Le Printemps was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1882 alongside Un Bar aux Folies-Bergere – the supremene masterpiece of Manet’s oeuvre. The works were enthusiastically received and widely reproduced.  Christie’s international director Adrien Meyer said: “In this breathtaking painting Manet depicts a coquettish but self assured Jeanne Demarsy as Spring.  His distinguished use of black anchors the painting and emphasises Jeanne’s fragility. Manet projects in this masterpiece an idea of the modern woman, feminine and free, attracting yet deflecting the gaze of the viewer. Le Printemps is one of the last museum quality works by Manet to come to auction. When again will the market offer a painting that truly made Impressionist history”.

THE  online auction of Irish art at Morgan O’Driscoll runs until August 5.  The catalogue for the sale is online and bidding is progressing.  Here is a small selection:  UPDATE: Technical problems halted the sale at lot 70.  Bidding on remaining lots will continue until August 6.

Louis le Brocquy – Flight. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 3,200

Peter Collis – Dalkey Island and Vico Road.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 3,000

Ivan Sutton – Mullaghmore Harbour, Co. Sligo.  UPDATE: THIS MADE 700

John Minihane – Tom Murphy outside the Royal Court Theatre.  UPDATE: THIS MADE 200

John Eagle – Eyeries.  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

John Desmond – Island Sheds with Red Door.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 120

An online-only auction of Japanese woodblock prints opens at Christie’s today and runs until August 7.  The auction includes a private English collection of prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861). It comprises 146 lots, with estimates starting at £600. Christie’s say that  this sale provides new and established collectors and enthusiasts with a rare opportunity to not only acquire some of Kuniyoshi’s best and rarest designs but also to choose from an array of dynamic works by many of the other most famous Japanese printmakers including Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1848) and Kawase Hasui (1883-1957). To see the full array of works featured and to start to bid please visit the department page http://www.christies.com/auctions/japanese-art

Kitagawa Utamaro (1753?-1806)
Hairdresser, from the series Fujin Twelve Types of Women’s Handicraft, circa 1798–99 (£7,000-9,000). Courtesy, Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)
Meguro Drum Bridge and Sunset Hill, from the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places of Edo, 4th month 1857 (£1,800-2,200).  Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.