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Andre Derain – Madame Matisse au kimono courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2013. (Click on image to enlarge).

A portrait by André Derain of Madame Matisse will highlight Christie’s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York on May 8.  Madame Matisse au kimono, a high fauve masterpiece, is estimated at $15-20 million. It is the most important portrait by Derain ever to appear at auction.  The painting is from the summer of 1905 when Derain and Matisse embarked on a frenzy of painting in Collioure that would change the course of modern art.  Derain painted Amélie Matisse in August 1905 prior to the  Salon d’Automne exhibition, when fauvism exploded.  The work has been in a private European collection for the past 40 years.

Derain depicts Amélie in the elegant, patterned Japanese kimono which she often wore and in which she was painted by her husband, as well as several of his other fauve colleagues. The abstracted background of greens and reds serves to heighten the imposing presence of the sitter, and calls to mind the same colors that Matisse used in in the background of his famous portrait of Mme Matisse, La Raie Verte, painted in September 1905, and now in the Copenhagen Staatens Museum for Kunst.

UPDATE:  The work failed to attract a single bid and was unsold in an auction which generated $158.5 million.  The top lot was  Le Petit Patisier by  Chaim Soutine which made just over $18 milion.  A total of 44 out of 47 lots on offer found buyers.

A total of 165 lots of Irish art will come under the hammer at James Adam on March 26. Here is a small selection. The catalogue is on-line.

Felim Egan (b.1952) Abstract, (1,000-1,500). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD.

William Scott RA (1913-1989) Untitled, c.1962 (10,000-15,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD.

Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (b.1932) Arthur Stringer I (10,000-15,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 11,000

Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012) Garlanded Goat (1949-50) Colour inverted Aubusson Tapestry (45,000-55,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 47,000

Douglas Alexander RHA (1871-1945) In County Kerry Watercolour (800-1,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 800

Martin Mac Keown (1931-2003) Geraniums on the Windowsill (800-1,200).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 700

The Howitzer in Action by Sir William Orpen sold for £98,500 at Sotheby’s.

A pencil and watercolour war work by Sir William Orpen sold for £98,500 over an estimate of £12,000-18,000 at Sotheby’s in London.  Completed in 1917 The Howitzer in Action was from the collection of renewed arbiter of taste and London club owner Mark Birley (1930-2007).

The contents of Mr. Birley’s London home, Thurloe Lodge in Kensington, doubled pre-sale expectations to sell for a combined total of £3,854,619 over an estimate of £1.2 million to £1.8 million.  Over 850 people registered to bid and there was fierce competition both in the room and on the phone. More than over 85% of the 496 lots sold exceeded their high estimates and only five lots were unsold.

Edvard Munch (1863–1944), Young Woman on the Beach, sold for £2,133,875 at Christie’s in London.

There was a new world record for a print by Edvard Munch today.  Young woman on the beach from 1891-92 sold for £2,133,875 at Christie’s.  It was bought by Galleri K of Oslo for a European private collector.

Tim Schmelcher, Head of the Prints department, London and Murray Macaulay, Head of Prints Sale London: “This result confirms an entirely new level of value for the most important and sought-after prints, joining the ranks of the four most expensive printed works at auction – all sold at Christie’s within the last two years. We are also thrilled that Edvard Munch’s ‘Young Woman on the Beach’ will be included in a major exhibition of the artist’s printed oeuvre, opening at the Kunsthaus Zurich in October this year. Furthermore, the sale saw strong demand throughout with many private collectors from around the world competing fiercely for works by Matisse, Miró, Chagall, Picasso and Morandi, amongst others.  Prints by the Masters of Pop, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, continued to perform well.”

Today’s sale realized £5,631,700.

A total of 146 lots of Irish art will come under the hammer at Dolan’s sale in Limerick on March 24.  The venue for the auction is Castletroy Park Hotel.  The catalogue is on-line. Here is a small selection (you can click on any image to enlarge it):

Alan Kenny – Emerging Flowers (600-800).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 500

Olive Bödeker – Receding Tide (380-480).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 450

Kenneth Webb RWA FRSA RUA – Autumn Fields (2,200-2,800).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,850

Paul Christopher Flynn – White Bowl – (500-600).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 600

Douglas Hutton – The Horse Fair Dealing (450-650).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 420

Val Byrne – The Puck Goat – watercolour (250-350).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 320

Derek Gardner (1914-2007) Thurot’s Last Flight

THE fascinating tale of a French pirate with Irish connections feted in England is recalled at Bonhams marine sale on April 24. Shortly after laying siege to Carrickfergus Francois Thurot was defeated by British Forces at the Mull of Galloway in 1760.  A painting by Derek Gardner depicting the battle is estimated at £20,000-30,000.  It shows the moment when Thurot’s ship, the Maréchal de Belle-Isle, was taken by Captain John Elliot’s H.M.S Æolus.  The battle ended four years of havoc wreaked by Thurot on the British Navy. Earlier that month Thurot and 600 men attacked Carrickfergus in Co. Antrim. After months at sea, the French fleet was depleted and was reported to be surviving on raw potatoes.  The Duke of Bedford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, got word that Thurot was in Carrickfergus and hastily assembled the fleet which led to the final battle. Of the prisoners taken on Thurots ships 220 were brought to Carlisle, 500 to Carrickfergus, 90 to Cobh and 84 to Dublin.  The captured prizes were brought by Elliot to Kinsale.  Modern sources tend to agree that Thurot was the son of a postmaster at Nuirs-St-Georges, though there is a claim that one of his grandfathers was an O’Farrell from Ireland who had served in the Irish Brigade of the French Army.  Thurot was a popular figure and his death resulted in an outpouring of grief in Galloway, Dumfries and along the Irish coast. Ballads, biographies, paintings and engravings were produced commemorating his life, and he became a martyred ‘folk hero’.  Thurot’s defeat was a pivotal moment during the Seven Years’ War  and contributed to Britain’s ultimate defeat of the French army. It is seen as vital in securing the supremacy of British forces and resulted in the capture of key regions in North America including Canada and the eastern section of French Louisiana.