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This 18th century French faience shaped oval tureen from Marseille is at the James Adam sale of the Ib Jorgensen collection in Dublin today. The lid has a twig and fruit handle and it is estimated at 1,000-1,500. A total of 126 lots or art, furniture, silver and collectibles will come under the hammer at the auction this afternoon. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Global icon Mohammed Ali was ahead of the curve and larger than life. He looms large in Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art auction which runs until October 27. A portfolio of four screenprints of Ali by Andy Warhol is, at €200,000-€300,000, the most expensively estimated lot in the sale.Long before Black Lives Matter, when Mississippi was burning, Ali embarked on a search for a more just society. His questioning, talented and interesting character made him a fascinating study for a portrait. Warhol conveys a strong sense of his persona using face, arms and clenched fists. Ali was 37 at the time, an icon of the game. One of the portraits shows him looking down, as if in humility.In a note to the catalogue Peter Murray, the former Crawford Gallery curator, recounts how in 1977 Warhol was commissioned by Richard Weisman to paint silkscreen portraits of ten famous athletes. The resulting prints, titled Athletes, are among the artist’s best-known works. Warhol took polaroid photographs of the boxer in fighting poses and at rest. The resulting images transferred to canvas using acrylic and silkscreen ink transformed into art that was instantly popular amongst art collectors and the public. The paintings were produced in a limited edition of eight, while the subsequent print edition, of which this is one, was limited to one hundred and fifty.
It is just one of a number of treasures, Irish and international, in an auction of 179 lots. Harry Kernoff’s treatment of a landscape in Connemara (€20,000-€30,000) could not be more different than the paintings of Paul Henry. Banksy’s Morons (Sepia) from 2007 is a send up of the art auction business estimated at €20,000-€30,000. Sean Scully’s 9.2.89 has an estimate of €80,000-€120,000 and Hughie O’Donoghue’s Red Earth VI (1995) (€30,000-€50,000) is positively scorching. An original gouache by Bridget Riley is estimated at €100,000-€150,000 while a 2019 papercut portfolio by Ai Weiwei has an estimate of €14,000-€18,000. This is a serious sale, which will be of huge interest to collectors in Ireland and abroad. Through viewings in London and New York in pre-pandemic times Morgan O’Driscoll has built up a following for his major sales that has a long international reach. In the process he has given Irish art and artists a welcome shot in the arm.
Two of Eddie Van Halen’s most iconic guitars will be sold at Julien’s Auctions Icons and Idols Trilogy: Rock ‘n’Roll live and online auction in Beverly Hills on December 4 and 5. “As we were preparing for our annual Icons & Idols: Rock and Roll auction lineup, we were stunned to hear the sad news of Eddie Van Halen’s passing last week,” Darren Julien said. “We are honoured to include at this event two iconic guitars from his brilliant and blazing career as one of rock’s greatest and most gifted guitar heroes”.
On offer is Eddie van Halen’s 2004 EVH Charvel Art Series electric guitar with maple neck and fingerboard, Fender Stratocaster-style headstock numbered on the back #54, in the unique white and black abstract design in the style of his 1978 Van Halen I guitar. Also scheduled to come under the hammer is his customised electric guitar serial number F 0024. It was built by Van Halen with his guitar tech Matt Bruck at the guitarist’s 5150 home studio. Featuring a red body with white and black stripes designed and applied by Van Halen, the guitar has a maple neck and fingerboard with dot inlays and pointed Kramer headstock.
The all-star lineup sale includes artefacts and memorabilia owned by some of the greates artists including Kurt Cobain, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lady Gaga, David Bowie, Aerosmith and more.
Classic design furniture and Irish art will come under the hammer at de Veres evening sale in Dublin on October 20. There are sideboards, cocktail tables, sofas, dining chairs, coffee tables, lighting and easy chairs, mirrors and sculpture among the 200 lots in this online auction. Italian and Danish makers feature alongside art by Tony O’Malley, Barbara Warren, Hughie O’Donoghue, Felim Egan, Peter Curling and John Shinnors.
Untitled (Black on Maroon) by Mark Rothko will highlight Sotheby’s Contemporary evening art auction in New York on October 28. It dates to 1958 and preempts the artists celebrated Seagram Building Murals. These are now at the Tate in London. The sale will feature masterpieces by Clyfford Still and Brice Marden from the Baltimore Museum of Art.
A Sunny Day, Connemara will highlight Whyte’s online sale of important Irish and International art in Dublin on October 19. It is estimated at €150,000-€200,000. The auction features artists like Roderic O’Conor, William Orpen, William Leech, Mary Swanzy, Mainie Jellett, Norah McGuinness, Maurice MacGonigal, Francis Bacon, Gerard Dillon, Dan O’Neill, Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Camille Souter and Donald Teskey. Due to the current restrictions it will be a virtual sale from Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth St., Dublin at 6 pm with absentee, telephone and online bidders but no public attendance. Viewing by appointment continues at Whyte’s today, tomorrow and Monday. The sale will be broadcast live on bid.whytes.ie and invaluable.com
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/
The catalogue for Hegarty’s timed online auction which runs until October 18 has gone online. Around 310 lots of jewellery, art, antique furniture and collectibles are on offer. The sale is taking place using Hegarty’s bidding platform https://live.hegartyantiques.com/
Works by the pioneering Irish born artist Phoebe Anna Traquair far exceeded expectations to sell for a total of £109,479 at Bonhams Scottish sale in Edinburgh on October 14. Reverie sold for £21,313 having been estimated at £1,000-1,500; and Portrait of a Girl sold for £20,063 against an estimate of £1,000-1,500.
Bonhams Picture Specialist in Edinburgh, May Matthews, said: “Phoebe Anna Traquair holds a unique place in the history of Scottish culture. She was the first major woman artist in modern Scotland, and, in 1920, became the first woman to be elected to the Royal Scottish Academy. Traquair’s work rarely comes up at auction, and collectors responded enthusiastically to the chance to acquire one of these beautiful works.”
The Scottish Sale made a total of £689,376.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 30, 2020)
Shakespeare’s First Folio sold for $9,978,000 at Christie’s in New York today. This established a new world auction record for any work of literature. The First Folio was included in ‘The Exceptional Sale’ and exceeded its estimate of $4,000,000-6,000,000. Bringing together for the first time the collected plays of Shakespeare it ranks as the greatest work of the English language and world literature. Already celebrated on its first publication in 1623, it has remained a highly sought-after masterpiece over four centuries. Only six complete copies are known in private hands.
After six minutes of bidding between two other phone bidders, the First Folio was bought via phone bid by Stephan Loewentheil, who commented: “William Shakespeare is incomparably the greatest writer in the English language and one of most important international cultural influencers in all history. The First Folio is the most important collection of plays ever published and revered throughout the world. It is an honor to purchase one of only a handful of complete copies of this epochal volume. It will ultimately serve as a centerpiece of a great collection of intellectual achievements of man. We at the 19th-Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop are pleased you have worked through Christie’s to obtain this wonderful treasure”.
