The online world of art and antiques in Ireland picked up enormously as 2020 moved from spring to summer and beyond. This is traditionally a very quiet time in the trade but as Ireland moves towards another lockdown and a semi-cancelled Christmas there is much more than usual going on online. One upcoming event is the virtual Mayfair antiques and fine art fair. The fair normally takes place at the London Marriott Hotel on Grosvenor Square. This year it opens online on January 7 and continues until January 10. Among a huge range of objects on offer is this William and Mary veneered burr and figured walnut bureau bookcase. William Cook, who is offering the English made bookcase at £38,500, points to the parquetry and inlaid domed top which would be normally associated with a Dutch cabinet. It shows how continental design influences were arriving in England during the period around 1695 when this was made.
A virtual fair by Hibernian Antique Fairs takes place on December 5 and 6. The format for this fourth virtual fair has been re-jigged with a bigger and better selection of antiques, art, silver, jewellery and collectibles on sale. Dealers post images and prices and viewers can browse online. This link will get you in. http://www.hibernianantiques.ie/fairs/4/
A c1900 leather bound stationary box stamped FOTA with Sandra Hogan
There was a record for any work of Italian design at Sotheby’s contemporary art sale in New York when a unique dining table by Carlo Mollino sold for $6.2 million. This was more than double the $3 million high estimate. From the Brooklyn Museum it was designed in 1949 and executed by Appelli and Varesio in Turin for the travelling exhibition Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today. This groundbreaking event, hosted initially by the Brooklyn Museum in 1950, set out to expose Italian art and design to an international audience in an attempt to stimulate Italy’s economy after World War II. Carlo Mollino (1905-1973) was an architect pushing the boundaries of design whose passions included skiing, poetry, racecar driving, photography and flying stunt planes. He developed the technique of bending and moulding plywood and his name became synonymous with complex, sinuous lines and forms.
Virtual antique fair number 3, a Christmas gift fair organised by Hibernian Antique Fairs, is now up and running and will continue today and tomorrow. More than 50 dealers, including nine members of the Irish Antique Dealers Association, are offering a range of objects from Irish art to antique furniture and collectibles for sale based on online photographs. Here is a link to the online event: http://hibernianantiques.ie/fairs/3/
The world of auctions, local, national and international, has moved fairly seamlessly to an online model of auctions. Art and antique fairs have a more particular problem, but as the pandemic progresses and large gatherings remain an impossibility new forms are emerging. With fabulous fairs in New York and Maastricht The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), the daddy of them all, is not something us average punters get to visit every time. The good news is that the digital model is available in our own homes. The inaugural digital New York Fair runs from November 1-4 with a private preview day today. Each one of the almost 300 participating exhibitors from across the global community has been challenged to present a single masterpiece in their collection. The result is a selection of artworks in the top segment of the market in one place which offers all of us a chance to look and learn. Did you know, for instance, that in the last two years of his life the artist Georges Braque, became fascinated with the idea of designing jewellery? It gave him a chance to continue with art while experiencing ill health. Jewellers Didier Ltd. will highlight a Poseidon necklace designed by Braque in 1962-62. An Ancient Egyptian head of Min, God of fertility and harvest, is at Axel Vervoordt. Among the other rarities to be found is Gokei Monju, a Japanese temple sculpture of the bodhisattva of transcendent wisdom at Asian art specialists Sydney L. Moss. Guests who are moved to purchase will be afforded the option of interaction with exhibitors. It is possible to pre-register online at https://www.tefaf.com/visitors/sign_up.
Poseidon, a necklace in gold, platinum and diamonds by Georges Braque (1882-1963)
Donald Judd’s Untitled (1988) is a Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac highlight at TEFAF online New York from October 30-November 4. One of the most influential artists of the post-war period, Judd (1928–1994) radically transformed notions of the ‘visible’, developing a rigorous visual vocabulary that emphasises simple, mathematical proportions and openness of form. Untitled belongs to one of Judd’s principle and best-known bodies of work – the ‘stacks’, which he first created in galvanised iron in 1965.
This is TEFAF’s first virtual fair, which will provide attendees with direct, live access to its community of world-renowned dealers. Each of nearly 300 specialist exhibitors will present one masterpiece representing their respective areas of expertise. In TEFAF’s long tradition of presenting quality works, TEFAF Online provides the most thorough vetting procedure possible within a digital context.? TEFAF Online will afford attendees an extraordinary journey through 7,000 years of art history.
A virtual event organised by Hibernian Antique Fairs is taking place this weekend. More than 700 items including jewellery, furniture, collectibles and art from a variety of dealers are available online. To attend just click on the link https://hibernianantiquescom.wordpress.com/virtual-fair-2/
Ireland’s first virtual antique fair starts tomorrow. Hibernian Antique Fairs normally run regular events around the country. This has been stalled by the pandemic. Details of their first virtual event can be found by using this link. http://hyperurl.co/3047sv
Antiques month in London in June is off the menu this year. The good news is that the Kensington Church Street Art and Antique Dealers Association is running a virtual summer showcase online at www.antiques-london.com with items from ancient to contemporary available until June 30. It must be admitted that the theme of the showcase, Fit for Royalty, is not quite as up to the minute as Black Lives Matter but Kensington is a Royal borough with a long tradition of welcoming everyone. When it comes to the promotion of BAME art and artefacts the trade has never been backward. There is no shortage of Asian art specialists on the street and tribal art has long been admired and promoted. Items on display include a Meiji period Japanese okimono of a hawk and snake, a selection of antique Chinese stands in different exotic woods, works of art and scholars items such as a late Ming bronze paperweight. There are Chinese, Japanese and Korean ceramics and paintings from the 11th to the 21st century, Indian art including a mother of pearl hand washing basin and Chinese armorial porcelain for the west as well as exhibitions on the Georgian and Regency eras. In keeping with the theme is a gothic revival oak centre table designed by A.W.N Pugin for Morel & Seddon, commissioned by King George IV for Windsor Castle. In our new virtual world these are available to everyone without having to travel further than their own computer.
Meanwhile Masterpiece Online runs from June 22-28. There will be 138 exhibitors exhibiting online with digital presentations plus an online viewing room hosted by Artsy.
An exceptional pair of William III japanned and lacquered armchairs from Reindeer Antiques from the Kensington Church St. showcase.
Adapt or perish might well be the mantra for an art and antiques market in a state of flux. Tough times are sending a strong signal to the tough to get going. The future will be different. The pandemic has accelerated the movement towards online sales. Change has come quickly. Locally, nationally and internationally many auctioneers who had previously featured a mix of online and in house sales are adapting fast to a market where the uncertain future is rapidly becoming less short term. Many report that website traffic is busier than ever before. Those auctioneers who took the plunge immediately after the lockdown have been finding significant success. True, many auctions have been postponed. As of now the schedule of upcoming sales in Ireland is a bit thin. In a highly varied market place it is not a case of one size fits all. Some lots lend themselves to online sales better than others. Those that have gone ahead, often in a revised manner, are demonstrating that it can work, in some cases marvellously well. Julien’s achieved spectacular results with their Beatles online only sale. The top lot at an online auction originally to have taken place at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York was Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics to “Hey Jude”. This sold for $910,000 over an estimate of $160,000-180,000 in an auction which attracted a global audience of registered bidders.
Contemporary art, the most speculative segment of the market, has taken a hit in the lockdown. This proved true at Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale when three works by Jeff Koons failed to find buyers. Koons is one of the world’s most expensive living artists. Damien Hirst also failed to sell. Perhaps the time has come to put your faith, and investment money, in Old Masters. Morgan O’Driscoll did have a highly successful sale. The top lot, Paul Henry’s Celtic Cross in a West of Ireland landscape made €105,000 at hammer. Other top hammer prices were: George Barret, Landscape with Figures, €36,000; Gerard Dillon,Shawl, €24,000; Daniel O’Neill, Choosing Flowers, €24,000; Paul Henry, Mountain Landscape with lake and road €22,000; Tony O’Malley, Clare Island Greys, €19,000; Louis le Brocquy, William Butler Yeats, €18,000; Hughie O’Donoghue, Medusa Hold €17,000; William Conor, Forty Winks, €14,000; John Shinnors, Roxboro Road bus stop €14,000; Donald Teskey, Longshore IV. €14,000; Norah McGuinness, The Black Swan, €14,000; Spring Bogland, Ballinaboy by Kenneth Webb €12,000; Sir John Lavery, Portrait of William Burton Harris €12,000; Abstract Composition by William Scott €10,500; Patrick O’Reilly, Pegasus, €10,000 and John Behan, Wild Swans at Coole, €9,500.
Aidan Foley was pleased with two days of online sales at Sixmilebridge and plans more on the May Bank Holiday weekend. Among his main lots were Spring Evening by Arthur Maderson which made €2,100 at hammer and The Stars Serenade by Annie Robinson which made €1,350.At Matthews 437 lot online sale, which lasted from 6.30 pm until nearly midnight on Tuesday, a Zambian emerald ring made €17,200 at hammer and a sapphire and diamond target ring made €10,000. All of which goes to suggest that those auctioneers who are adapting to the new realities are not perishing.
