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An appetising selection of Irish art is due to come under the hammer at the Morgan O’Driscoll auction in Cork on February 20. Around 280 lots will be offered including works by Jack B. Yeats, Paul Henry, Walter Osborne, William Crozier and a number of other market leading artists. The venue for the auction is the Radisson Blu Hotel at Little Island, Cork.  Mr. O’Driscoll plans to hold a viewing in Dublin at the D4 Hotel on the weekend before the sale.

Jack B. Yeats RHA The Pilot (aka. The Captain Goes Aboard), an oil on board measuring nine inches by 14 inches estimated at 50,000-70,000. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 48,000

This small oil on board by Paul Henry RHA features his most classical themes. It is estimated at 20,000-30,000. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 16,000

Claude Monet L’entrée de Giverny en hiver (£4.5 - 6.5 million). Click to enlarge. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £7.3 MILLION.

Works of exceptional quality and importance from every key period in the canon will be offered at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern evening sale in London on February 8.  Highlights include Joan Miró’s monumental Peinture of 1933, estimated at £7-10 million, Gustav Klimt’s recently rediscovered landscape Seeufer mit Birken (£6 – 8 million), which has not been seen in public in over a century, a rare and atmospheric winter scene by Claude Monet, L’entrée de Giverny en hiver (£4.5 – 6.5 million), and one of Fernand Léger’s definitive compositions of the 1940s, La Jeune fille à l’échelle (£3.8 – 4.5 million).

Joan Miró Peinture (£7-10 million). Click to enlarge. THIS FAILED TO SELL.

The auction features a particularly strong Surrealist group, with works by Salvador Dalí, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy and René Magritte.  There is an outstanding group of paintings by German artists including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Lyonel Feininger and Otto Dix. The sale is estimated to realise in excess of £78 million.

Gustav Klimt Seeufer mit Birken (Lakeshore with Birches) (£6 - 8 million). Click on image to enlarge. UPDATE: No bids at the auction, quickly sold privately afterwards for £5.6 million.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Das Boskett: Albertplatz in Dresden (£5 – 7 million). Click to enlarge. UPDATE: SOLD FOR £7,321,250.

Lucian Freud (1922-2011), Lord Goodman in his Yellow Pyjamas (£50,000-70,000). (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS MADE £73,250.

The most complete survey of prints by Lucian Freud ever to be sold at auction comes up at Christie’s in London on February 15.   The Printer’s Proof: Etchings by Lucian Freud from the Studio Prints Archive comprises 45 etchings. They are from the private collection of Freud’s printer Marc Balakjian, who said: “I had the pleasure of working with Lucian in my studio for twenty five years during which time we became good friends; he was always courteous and kind. His work was always exceptional but his character so informal that you would never know he was one of the most important living artists of the time.  He was an inspirational artist to work with; his prints don’t just enrich his work, they are an integral part of his output”.

Unlike the typical printmaker, Freud worked from life directly onto the copper plate which he placed on an easel in front of the sitter, just as he did with his canvases.  Freud’s etchings are almost entirely in black and white. Only one contains colour: Lord Goodman in his Yellow Pyjamas was hand-painted with yellow watercolour by the artist. Goodman worked for Prime Minister Harold Wilson and was chairman of the British Arts Council. He could only spare time in the mornings while breakfasting in bed so Freud visited his house each day at eight a.m.

UPDATE: THE sale realised £1,479,675 and was 86% sold by lot and 91% sold by value.  The top lot was Eli, 2002 which fetched £145,250 (estimate £50,000-70,000), establishing a world record price for a print by the artist at auction.

Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) Tour Eiffel. Painted in Paris in 1926 (£1,500,000-2,500,000). (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £3,737,250

A magnificent private German collection of Modern, Surrealist and Post War art is to be sold by Christie’s over seven sales in London in 2012.  The Hubertus Wald Collection features outstanding works by Robert Delaunay, Kees van Dongen, Max Ernst, Francis Picabia, Hans Arp, Piero Manzoni, Yves Klein, Wols, Lucio Fontana and Cy Twombly.

The 87 lots, expected to realise a combined total in the region of £13-20 million,  are to be offered at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art and The Art of the Surreal Evening and Day sales (7 & 8 February); Post War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day sales (14 & 15 February); Antiquities (26 April) and Old Master Paintings (3 May).

Wald, who established the largest cinema group in Germany, started to collect prints early in his life. In 1970 he was introduced to Parisian art advisor Sami Tarica, who advised Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé amongst many top European collectors.  All proceeds from the sale will benefit the charitable foundation set up by the collector in 1993 in order to support medical research and treatment as well as cultural life in Hamburg.

Henri Laurens (1885-1954) Tête de femme painted terracotta relief 13.1/2 x 9.5/8 in. (34.2 x 24.4 cm.). Executed in 1918-1919 (£120,000-180,000. (Click on image to enlarge).) UPDATE: This sold for £493,250

Henry Moore (1898-1986) Family Group signed and numbered `Moore 4/9' Height: 5.7/8 in. (15 cm.) Conceived in 1945 and cast in 1969 in an edition of nine (£200,000-300,000). (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £361,250

It is a buyers’ market in Irish art according to Dr. Niall Dolan of Dolan’s art auction house.  Their opening sale of 2012 takes place at Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork on Sunday, January 22.  It will include around 250 lots in total.  The majority have no reserves and he promises that the emphasis will be on value for money.

Here is a small sample of what to expect:

“Yellow Pump in Eyeries” by Val Byrne, watercolour. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS MADE 650

"Sheepdog" by Mark O'Neill, oil on board. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,000

"The Three of Us" gouache by Arthur Maderson. (Click to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,500

Andy Warhol's inscribed picture of Elizabeth Taylor - © Christie’s Images Limited 2011. (Click on image to enlarge).

A private Asian buyer paid $662,500 for this inscribed portrait of Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol at Christie’s in New York.  The 1964 work carries the dedication:  ‘to elizabeth with much love’  from the artist.  It is from the edition of approximately 300 published by Leo Castelli Gallery, New York.

An American museum paid $362,500 for this Christian Dior evening gown of silver encrusted brocade with matching evening bag. Estimated at $4,000-6,000, it was the most expensive item of couture sold. It was worn to Guy de Rothschild yearly ball at Chateau de Ferrières, in Brie, France. (Picture © Christie’s Images Limited 2011, click to enlarge).

The catalogue described it thus:  Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Liz (Feldman and Schellmann II.7), offset lithograph in colors.  This is one of the 12 portraits of Taylor created by Warhol when she was recovering from a serious illness in the early 1960’s. It was part of The Icon & Her Haute Couture Evening Sale which brought in $2,600,750.

The two day sale series devoted to the haute couture, fashion and accessories of Elizabeth Taylor made a combined total of $5,586,913.  It was 100 per cent sold.

Miss Taylor's Gina Fratini wedding dress, worn at her second marriage to Richard Burton in 1975, made $62,500. It was bought by an American museum. (Copyright Christie's Images, 2011, click to enlarge).

A collection of Miss Taylor’s Impressionist and Modern Art will be sold next February at Christie’s in London.