THE 49 lots at Christie’s 20th century evening sale in New York last night achieved a total of $480,111,000. Picasso’s Femme assise pres d’une fenetre (Marie Therese) made $103,410,000, Waterloo Bridge, effet en brouillard by Claude Monet made $48,450,000, Untitled by Mark Rothko made $38,145,000, Femme dans un fauteuil by Picasso made $17,191,500, Le Pont du Trinquetaille by Vincent van Gogh made $37,400,000, Two Marilyns by Andy Warhol made $15,817,500, 10.2.81 by Zao Wou-Ki made $3,030,000, Composition No. 2 by Piet Mondrian made $26,122,500, Interior, Perfect Pitcher by Roy Lichtenstein made $21,500,000, La Flutiste by Marc Chagall made $1,590,000 and Scierie aux environs d Paris by Henri Rousseau (Le Douanier) made $1,050,000.
An original 1802 drawing of the Irish playwright and satirist Richard Brinsley Sheridan comes up at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale online on May 15 and 16. It is among the historical artefacts, manuscripts, books, maps, militaria, coins, banknotes, sporting and entertainment memorabilia, curios, tribal objects and rare whiskies on offer. Lot 35 is a theatrical candidate cartoon by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) with an original drawing featuring Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The long term owner of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane he is known for plays like School for Scandal, The Rival, the Duenna and A Trip to Scarborough. The cartoon is estimated at €800-€1,200.
Original ink and water colour drawing with the playwright seated at the desk. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR €750
An epic three-auction evening auction of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art realised a total of $596.8 million at Sotheby’s overnight. The live-streamed event featured in-room bidders in New York, telephone bidders in London, Hong Kong and New York, and online bidders from around the world, who all vied for remarkable artworks by exceptional artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Art by Warhol, Still, Richter and Diebenkorn lead the Marion Collection which brought in $157.2 million. Diebenkorn’s luminous Ocean Park #40, 1971 sold for $27,265,500, a new auction record for the California artist.
The Contemporary art sale made $218.3 million and was 100% sold. Basquiat’s Versus Medici 1982 made $50,820,000 and Twombly’s Untitled (Rome) 1970 made $41,628,000.
Lead by Monet’s Water Lillies the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale brought a total $221.3 million. The Monet made $70,353,000 and was the top lot of the evening.
In This Case by Jean Michel Basquiat sold for $93,105,000 at Christie’s inaugural livestreamed 20th/21st century sale in New York overnight. The 21st Century Evening sale totalled $210,471,500 and saw records set for 11 artists, including Rashid Johnson, Larva Labs, Nina Chanel Abney.
In a bidding battle with six international bidders, auctioneer Gemma Sudlow hammered down the Basquiat for $93,105,000. In This Case is one of only three monumentally sized skull paintings executed by the artist during his relatively short career. Depictions of human anatomy are prevalent throughout the Basquiat’s oeuvre but no subject is more powerful or sought after than the skull.
A rare copper token – an unofficial Irish farthing – engraved James Mabbs, Albion Bakery, 27 Patrick Street, Cork sold to an Irish collector for a world record price of £2,976 at Dix Noonan Webb in London this month. Lot 835 in the sale of Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals had been estimated at £300-400. The copper token dates to 1840-1870. It was from the Irish token collection of the late Barry Woodside, who was born in Belfast. His collection, which comprised 40 lots, sold for a total of £20,795. It included three tokens from Belfast which made £4,464.
Also in the sale was the the second part of the collection of 17th century tokens formed by the late Robert Thompson. This saw the highest price paid for a lot comprising two civic tokens from Limerick including a very fine example of a City Farthing dating from 1658 . It went to a US buyer for £1,612 against an estimate of £90-120.
This pair of c1790 Irish George III mirror chandeliers is among the highights at Sotheby’s sale of furniture, clocks and works of art. They are estimated at £40,000-£60,000. Bidding on this online sale is now open and continues until May 18. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £50,400
An exhibition of 20 works by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring will run at Gormleys in Dublin from May 22 to June 13. Key works include Warhol’s monochrome Mickey Mouse (FS II.265) from his 1981 Myths portfolio and his 1987 Moonwalk, which depicts Neil Armstrong’s photograph of Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr walking on the moon in 1969. The show will include Haring’s Medusa Head, one of the largest works he ever completed, measuring a huge 250 cm x 140 cm. and a series of his most iconic and sought after Pop Shop works
“Warhol and Haring had a unique friendship, with Warhol acting as a mentor to Haring,” said James Gormley. “This is a rare opportunity to see both artists work showcased together, and we have never had a substantial Haring exhibition in Ireland before.”
Imagine a material that is strong and non-toxic, highly versatile, that improves with age and is easy to recycle and that grows from the ground. Wood is all of these things so it is no surprise to find that a piece of antique furniture has a carbon footprint that is 16 times lower than something newly manufactured. A chair or a table built in 1760 or 1830 or 1900 has already provided long years of service. It might be in need of restoration but it can be made beautiful again and carry on for many years to come. If your aim is to reduce, re-use, re-cycle or re-purpose the auction room is filled with objects that can readily achieve all these essential goals. Without the dreadful necessity of trawling through hard to read labels in an attempt to find out what is eligible for the recycle bin.
Regency mahogany teapoy at Woodwards. UPDATE: THIS MADE 460 AT HAMMER
There is a very wide selection of restored and unrestored pieces on offer online in Ireland right now. The auction calendar for the coming week is particularly busy. Hegarty’s in Bandon is on today; in Galway Dolan’s timed sale of art and antiques runs until Monday; on Tuesday James Adam will conduct a Mid Century Modern sale in Dublin and Gormley’s will offer Irish art online from Belfast; next Saturday there is a sale by Woodwards in Cork next and Sean Eacrett will conduct an appetising house contents auction in Ballybrittas, Co. Laois. Over next weekend there will be two day online sales of contents from a Killarney residence at O’Donovan’s, Newcastlewest and of contents from Dublin nightclubs by Victor Mee. So you can choose to buy anything from the Brunswick bar that used to adorn Dublin’s Cafe-en-Seine on Dawson St. and an historic Augsburg silver chalice to a Georgian inlaid serving table at Hegartys to a pair of Georgian brass bound plate buckets at Sean Eacrett.
The Earl of Cork from an album of railway photographs at Dolans. UPDATE: The album was unsold
Or how about the Earl of Cork? That is the steam locomotive built in 1903. An image of this engine is one of a collection of about 70 railway photographs in an album coming up at Dolan’s timed online sale. This sale of 360 lots includes everything from a bronze bull sculpture by John Behan to paintings by John Shinnors, Sean Keating, Arthur Maderson, Kenneth Webb, Jack Donovan and Susan Cronin. At Adams the focus is on 20th century design and contemporary art. That means artists like Mark Francis, Stephen McKenna, William McKeown, Mark Garry and Dorothy Cross, Italian and Danish design furniture and some highly collectible accessories such as a 1950 triennale floor lamp by Angelo Lelli. On offer at Woodwards is a set of Cork 11 bar chairs, a Regency teapoy, a Georgian walnut cellarette, a cylinder front desk, a Louis XV style bonheur du jour, a Georgian secretaire and a Georgian walnut bureau. All have provided years of service and will continue to do so in the future.
Triennale floor lamp by Angelo Lelli at James Adam. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
A letter from Kevin Barry to Kathleen Carney just hours before he was executed is the most expensively estimated lot at Whyte’s annual Eclectic Collector sale next weekend. There are historical artefacts, manuscripts, books, maps, militaria, coins, banknotes, tribal objects and rare whiskies on offer. The auction kicks off with a Bronze Age sword found in Co. Fermanagh 70 years ago and estimated at €4,500-€5,500. At around 3000 years old it is the oldest object on offer. A copy of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 signed by many of the negotiators (€5,000-€7,000) is in sharp contrast in terms of age. The letter Kevin Barry wrote to his friend Kathleen Carney, who would have been about 20 at the time, is estimated at €60.000-€80,000. In the hours leading up to his hanging the 18 year old medical student mentions visits from two Sisters of Charity, the chaplain Fr. Albert, two Bon Secours Sisters and finishes … “say a little prayer for me when I cash in, your pal, Kevin”. Because Kevin Barry died at such a young age his signature is much prized by collectors. The sale includes four of his schoolbooks, including his French book signed K. Barry, Loyalist.A collection of memorabilia relating to Count John McCormack and his family, including his portable altar and Papal Count uniforms, will arouse much interest. This is a timed online sale with the first session starting at noon on May and the second getting underway at noon on May 16. The online catalogue lists 655 lots.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Head of a Bear will highlight the Exceptional Sale Christie’s in London on July 8. This penetrating study of a bear’s head is one of less than eight surviving drawings by Leonardo in private hands outside the British Royal Collection and the Devonshire Collections at Chatsworth. Measuring 2 ¾ x 2 ¾ inches (7 x 7 cm) it is executed in silverpoint on a pale pink-beige prepared paper, a technique which Leonardo was taught by his master Andrea del Verrocchio. The drawing will be on public exhibition at Christie’s in Rockefeller Centre in New York from May 8 and at Christie’s Hong Kong from May 20 – 25. It will be on view in London June from 1 – 6. It is expected to sell for £8,000,000-12,000,000.
The drawing’s distinguished history can be traced back to Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), the renowned British painter whose collection of old master drawings is considered among the greatest ever assembled. After Lawrence’s death in 1830, the drawing passed to his dealer (and major creditor) Samuel Woodburn, who sold it at Christie’s in 1860 for £2.50. In the first half of the twentieth century, the drawing was in the collection of another great British collector, Captain Norman Robert Colville, who also owned Head of a Muse by Raphael which sold for £29,161,250 at Christie’s in 2009.
Since its first public exhibition in 1937, it has also been shown at museums around the world including the London National Gallery’s Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in 2011-12, Louvre Abu Dhabi; Moscow, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and Saint Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum in 2018*.
The medium connects this sheet to three similar small-scale studies of animals, a study of two cats and a dog in the British Museum, its companion double-sided sheet with studies of a dog’s paws in the National Galleries of Scotland, and a study of a walking bear in the Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The studies can all be dated to the first half of the 1480’s.
The face of the bear is very close to the ermine in Leonardo’s portrait of Cecilia Gallerani or Lady with an Ermine now in the Krakow Museum.
