 |
 |
Among the wide selection available this weekend at the National Antiques Art and Vintage Fair at Limerick Racecourse on September 9 and 10 is a selection of 18th century Ottoman artefacts. The selection at The Tribal Room pictured here includes a Quran holder, Ottoman stirrups, bath clogs with mother of pearl inlay and an old shamshir (a Persian/Iranian sword) in need of restoration. Opening times are from 11 am to 6 pm on both days.
Sculpture in Context which opens at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin today brings together work by more than 140 artists. Among them are Alan Clarke, Eileen MacDonagh, Róisín de Buitléar, Shane Holland and Sara Cunningham-Bell. With a wide range of media these works represent the richly diverse character of Irish and international contemporary sculpture.
Showcasing sculpture for over 35 years this annual event is the longest-running sculpture exhibition in the country, attracting a large public and critical audience. This cultural highlight in the National Botanic Gardens’ calendar runs f until 13 October and is open daily. The artworks are presented throughout the 50 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, allowing visitors to discover sculpture in the most unexpected and surprising places. Smaller sculptures are exhibited throughout the glasshouses and in the Gallery upstairs in the Visitor Centre.
Freddie Mercury’s Yamaha grand piano sold for £1,742,000 at Sotheby’s last evening. Though slightly below estimate it was a record for a composers piano. He used it to compose some of Queen’s greatest hits. An original 15-page manuscript for their epic hit Bohemian Rhapsody, with the working title “Mongolian Rhapsody” and which reveals in its notes the different directions Mercury saw the track going in, was sold for £1.3 million. The first night of the Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own auction series saw bidders from 61 countries drive 93% of lots over their estimate, with Bohemian Rhapsody lyrics and Freddie’s Yamaha piano leading the sale. Sales on the opening night brought in £12.2 million in a white glove auction where every one of nearly 60 lots sold. A month long exhibition at Sotheby’s in advance of the sales drew nearly 140,000 visitors.
The second day of the sale on September 7 brought in £9.4 million.
In New York Christie’s will hold an online auction of five unique digital drawings by Keith Haring created on an Amiga computer in the mid-1980’s in an online sale from September 12-20. Keith Haring: Pixel Pioneer focuses on an artist who blended historically disparate cultures; he was highly celebrated for his achievements in public artwork while simultaneously a massively successful figure in the gallery world. A natural extension of his legacy for his art is to continue to bridge today’s artistic cultures – fusing the physical art world with the world of Web3.
Keith Haring was an early admirer and adopter of the digital age, even depicting the first Apple Macintosh computer in his work. In keeping with his signature style of bold lines and pop color, Haring’s Amiga drawings show the artist’s early interest and involvement in the medium, which has since become pervasive in commercial design and 21st-century digital art. To accurately preserve the natively digital material created on a now-vintage computer system, the Keith Haring Foundation has minted these five Amiga artworks — previously only viewable via floppy disks — on the Ethereum blockchain. For the first time, these unique digital drawings can now be collected, exhibited, and even printed.
THIS pencil on paper by Jack Butler Yeats titled A Girl Clings to a Young Man on the Beach is from a 1904 illustration for The Collegians. It is based on the 1829 novel by G. Griffin on a notorious murder of a woman in Co. Limerick in 1819. She had been secretly married to a local landlord. Dion Boucicault based The Colleeen Bawn on Griffin’s version of the tale. The signed work comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current online sale of Irish art with an estimate of €3,000-€5,000. The auction runs until the evening of September 11 and the catalogue is online. Meantime there will be viewing in Skibbereen on September 7, 8 and 11.
Two fine sleepers emerged from the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin yesterday. This pair of 19th century marquetry side tables, estimated at €1,500-€2,500, made a hammer price of €10,000. Attributed to Edwards and Roberts a trade label showed the tables had been with David Zork, Chicago and were once in the collection of Rear Admiral F R Harris, New York.
An English School watercolour tondo portrait of a young woman also made €10,000 at hammer. The c1900 work was estimated at just €300-€500.
FREDDIE MERCURY: A WORLD OF HIS OWN has already drawn over 130,000 visitors to Sotheby’s in London. Overwhelmed by the response Mary Austin has decided to offer his beloved piano entirely without reserve. He composed Bohemian Rhapsody and countless other hits on this instrument. Free to the public and open seven days a week, the month-long show draws to a close at Sotheby’s in London tomorrow on what would have been Mercury’s 77th birthday. Elton John sent a message saying he missed Freddie to this day. “He was a wonderful friend – more full of love and live than anyone I’ve ever met – as well as a brilliant performer whose music has inspired and thrilled millions”.
In recognition of the strong friendship they enjoyed, proceeds from the sale of six items – some gifts from Elton to
Freddie, others reminders of their friendship – will be donated to the Elton John Aids Foundation.
There will be live auctions on September 6, 7 and 9 and online sales close on September 11.
This 1954 oil painting of the American jazz musician Miles Davis by James Dean – who died in a car accident the following year – will come up at Julien’s Hollywood Legends sale on September 6, 7 and 8. It is from a collection of more than 300 lots from the career collection of Easy Rider star Denis Hopper as actor, director and artist. There are only four known paintings by James Dean, the iconic star of classic films like East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. This one is estimated at $10,000-$20,000 (€9,178-€18,356). Hopper’s collection includes a vintage three piece outfit worn by Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas. They met on the set of his 1971 film The Last Movie and married soon after in a union that lasted only eight days.
Offering everything from a carved Black Forest standing bear and fine antique furniture to a restored Steinway boutique grand piano there will be a feast of interiors auctions for Irish collectors next week. No less than nine days of sales will be packed into just four days up and down the country on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Catalogues for all auctions are online and all are now on view. Aidan Foley’s online hotel interiors sale can be viewed at Prussia St. in Dublin and includes a life size Black Forest Bear (€1,200-€1,600). This two day sale takes place on September 4 and 5. Adams At Home sale featured on these pages last week is in Dublin on Monday. Victor Mee’s three day Decorative Interiors sale on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is headed by a Steinway grand (€20,000-€30,000) and is on view at Cloverhill in Co. Cavan. Meantime a selection of fine antique furniture from Sheppards two day interiors sale on Tuesday and Wednesday is on view in Durrow, Co. Laois.
With 1,287 lots Aidan Foley’s sale kicks off with a selection of mirrors, lighting, bedside lockers, tables and chairs. There are some decorative metal wall hangings and plenty of framed pictures and prints. There is a selection of banqueting tables and chairs, restaurant tables, sets of open armchairs, sofas, desks, tableware, kitchen equipment, advertising signs, a bronze bust of Michael Collins (€1,600-€2,000) and more than enough to open an hotel and decorate it too. The fully restored rosewood Steinway boutique grand piano at Victor Mee’s three day decorative interiors sale in Belturbet, Co. Cavan which gets underway on Tuesday evening is estimated at €20,000-€30,000. Lot 382 is the most expensively estimated piece in the auction. Other top lots include a 19th century ebonised inverted breakfront credenza and an early 20th century French moulded stone gazebo with a wrought iron top, each estimated at €8,000-€12,000. With everything from wrought iron entrance gates to a Georgian longcase clock and a set of 1950’s Louis Vuitton luggage the sale offers a huge variety of furniture and collectibles including a 19th century French burr walnut music box and a vintage metal childs pedal car.
Fine antique furniture is a feature at Sheppards sale of over 700 lots on Tuesday and Wednesday. From 18th century parcel gilt console tables and a set of ten Regency dining chairs to an 18th century Danish silver tea urn and a monumental carved wood American eagle and a 19th century satinwood period pier cabinet there is much to tempt collectors. Rarities include a cast iron Great Southern Western Railway plaque (€120-€180), a 17th century leather wine pouch (€350-€600), a collection of nine oval Indian miniatures painted on ivory (€1,800-€3,000) and a pair of Regency gilt bronze armorial lustres (€500-€700). The timed online At Home sale at James Adam offers more than 400 lot with examples of Art Nouveau, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Deco, 19th century French furniture, a Victorian framed settee, an ebonised credenza and a selection of silver along with carpets, runners, kilims and prayer rugs. This auction ends from 11 am on Monday.
Christie’s will offer Rhinocrétaire I, the first major sculpture by François-Xavier Lalanne— widely considered to be the artist’s most important work— in a single-lot auction in Paris on October 20. Contained within the armoured body of the animal is a hidden secretary desk, bar, safe and lamps—Lalanne’s ingenious interpretation of a classic theme in the legacy of French decorative arts— furniture with secret compartments. In Rhinocrétaire I, the artist has wittily imbued this heritage with an avant-garde and very modern twist.
Heralding an extraordinary artistic career, Rhinocrétaire I stands as a seminal prototype in François-Xavier Lalanne’s œuvre: all the elements that would become the hallmark of the artist’s work are present. These would later culminate in his Moutons de Laine, Bar Les Autruches, Baignoires Hippopotame, and Bar YSL. Rhinocrétaire I encapsulates, prefigures, and sets the tone for the poetic excess and whimsy that would define the artist’s signature for the next forty-four years. In creating this rhinoceros, François-Xavier Lalanne knew he was following in the footsteps of some of the world’s greatest artists, from the representations of animals in the Paleolithic cave paintings at Lascaux, to works by Dalí or Dürer. As in the famous engraving by the German master, the rhinoceros does not simulate its real-life counterpart. However, it is Lalanne’s expressive mastery of the metal that truly gives life to the sculpture.
With a pre-sale estimate of €4,000,000–6,000,000, this stunning work will be the focus of a dedicated exhibition at Christie’s Paris this fall, and a limited-edition catalogue will be available in early October.
