Paul Henry’s Cottages in a Landscape was the top lot at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin last night. It made a hammer price of 115,000. Other top hammer prices included Sean Keating’s Homeward Bound (76,000), Louis le Brocquy’s Aubusson wool tapestry Cuchulainn VIII 1999 (70,000), Gerald Leslie Brockhurst’s Portrait of Florence Forsyth (50,000), South of France Landscape by Mary Swanzy (32,000), A Lament for Art O’Leary, a set of six illustrations from 1940 by Jack Butler Yeats (19,000) and Girl in Stripy Jumper by Basil Blackshaw (18,000).
Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958) Cottages in a Landscape (1930-1940)
Top prices for Irish art at Bonhams in London yesterday included Looking at the Moon by Rowan Gillespie (£56,313); Londonderry by L.S. Lowry (£37,562); River scene, Londonderry by L.S. Lowry (£30,062) and November Evening, Bangor Pier by Colin Middleton (£22,562).
An exceptional Hermes matte white Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Birkin 35 with palladium hardware made £162,500 at Christie’s handbags and accessories auction on June 11. The 2015 model had been estimated at £70,000-90,000. A 2007 Hermes crocodile Birkin 25 made £118,750 and a 1999 Hermes shiny vert celadon alligator Kelly made £63,750. The auction totalled £3.36 million with sell through rates of 97% by value and 93% by lot. There was bidding from 41 countries across six continents.
Allegory, an Aubusson tapestry by Louis le Brocquy, was the top lot at de Veres art and sculpture sale in Dublin last night. It sold for a hammer price of 92,000. Patrick O’Reilly’s GI Bear, unique and bronze, measuring eight feet by nine feet, which had been displayed outside the Merrion Hotel, sold for a hammer price of 80,000.
Louis le Brocquy – Allegory
Other top hammer prices include: Rowan Gillespie Portrait of a Dreamer 67,000; Louis le Brocquy Tinker Breaks Whitethorn 42,000; Patrick O’Reilly Bear 30,000; Stephen McKenna Black and Yellow Lighthouse 29,000; Patrick Scott, Gold Painting 28,000; Walter Osborne, High St., Rye 17,500 and F E McWilliam Carving 16,500.
Impressionist and Modern masterpieces features at Sotheby’s evening and day sales in London on June 18 and 19 respectively. Helena Newman, Worldwide Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department commented: “From Monet to Modigliani, this season’s London sales bring together outstanding works by some of the world’s most beloved and sought-after artists”.
Claude Monet, Nymphéas, 1908 (£25-35 million)
“Monet’s Nymphéas – an iconic image of his most celebrated subject – is at the same time radical and poetic, whilst Modigliani’s deeply arresting portrait of an unnamed youth unites the personal and the archetypal. These outstanding works have remained unseen for over half a century in their respective private collections and epitomise quality and freshness, both critical criteria for today’s global collectors. They will be offered alongside defining examples from landmark moments of Impressionism and Modern Art.”
Amedeo Modigliani, Jeune homme assis, les mains croisées sur less genoux, 1918 (£16-24 million)
Rich pickings await collectors at two sales of Irish art in Dublin and one in London this week. The evening sale of art and sculpture at de Veres on June 11 offers three tapestries by le Brocquy including Allegory from 1950 (60,000-90,000). This series rarely appears at auction. There is as well a fine watercolour from his Tinkers series (40,000-60,000).The auction features work by artists like Patrick Scott, Mainie Jellett, Hughie O’Donoghue, Tony O’Malley, Robert Ballagh, Stephen McKenna and Sean McSweeney.A feature of this auction is the sculpture section, on view in the garden of The Merrion Hotel. The first piece on view is a massive bronze GI Bear by Patrick O’Reilly standing outside the hotel on Merrion Street (80,000-120,000).
Tinker Picking Whitethorn, a watercolour by Louis le Brocquy at de Veres UPDATE: THIS MADE 42,000 AT HAMMER
Interest in the work of Mary Swanzy has hugely increased in latter years, helped no doubt by her major exhibition currently at the Crawford in Cork previously on show at IMMA. Her South of France Landscape dating from around 1915 is lot 38 at the James Adam evening sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on June 1. It is estimated at 20,000-30,000.Low Water, Spring Tide, Clifden by Jack. B, Yeats dates to 1906 and is his first oil painting, created when he was moving on from watercolour. It is estimated at 40,000-60,000 at Adams. The sale offers a number of fine 18th and 19th century landscapes by artists including William Sadler, John Henry Campbell, Frederick Brocas and William Ashford. Lot 62 is a monumental bronze by Edward Delaney featured in an RTE still photograph of the poet Patrick Kavanagh in 1962. Titled Cathedral it is estimated at 15,000-20,000. There are abstract works by Cecil King, William Scott, Felim Egan and Michael Farrell, A Connemara Landscape by Paul Henry and a 1920’s portrait by the English painter Gerald Leslie Brockhurst of Florence Forsythe. Adams point out that a portrait of film star Merle Oberon by Brockhurst sold last year for $290,000. Adams has a more modest estimate of 20,000-40,000 on their example.The Irish selection on offer at Bonhams Modern British and Irish art sale in London on June 12 is headed by Yeats’ Romeo and Juliet. There are two Irish sketches by L.S. Lowry as well as works by Louis le Brocquy, Colin Middleton, Rowan Gillespie, William Scott, Sean Scully and Sir John Lavery.
South of France Landscape by Mary Swanzy at James Adam UPDATE: THIS MADE 32,000 AT HAMMER
AN exciting archive of accounts from the first Dail of 1919 is included in Fonsie Mealy’s sale of books, literature, manuscripts and collectibles at the Talbot Hotel in Dublin on June 18. These are described as the financial sinews of the struggle for Independence with some accounts almost certainly written by Michael Collins. Previously unpublished, they are from the archive of Domhnall Ua Conchubhair (1872-1935), sometime secretary to the Gaelic League, accountant to Sinn Fein, the First Dail and allied bodies. The archive contains a green clothbound ledger with 20 pages of loan and deposit accounts for the Dail of 1921-22 with a separate page of military claims. This includes a note stating that amounts paid to the M. Collins account are not entered in the books of the Sinn Fein Bank and taken from notebook only. As far as Fonsie Mealy knows these accounts are unpublished and have not been seen or quoted by any historian. The estimate for the archive is 15,000-20,000. UPDATE: THIS MADE 18,000 AT HAMMER
Viewing gets underway in Dublin today for the auction of Important Irish Art at James Adam on June 12 at 6 pm. Prime lots include Homeward Bound by Sean Keating (60,000-80,000), Cottages in a Landscape by Paul Henry (60,000-80,000), Low Water, Spring Tide, Clifden by Jack B. Yeats (40,000-60,000) and Cuchulainn VIII, 1999, an Aubusson tapestry by Louis le Brocquy (30,000-50,000). The selection is broad and the catalogue is online.
Seán Keating PRHA (1889-1977) Homeward Bound UPDATE: THIS MADE 76,000 AT HAMMER
Upcoming at de Veres art and sculpture sale in Dublin on June 11 is Rowan Gillespie’s Portrait of a Dreamer 1982 (Homage to John Lennon) with an estimate of 40,000-60,000. Other works in this sale include a complex gold painting by Patrick Scott and a Horse with Rider by Michael Quane. Louis le Brocquy is represented by three tapestries including ‘Allegory’ from 1950. Among the artists in the sale are Patrick Scott, Mainie Jellet, Hughie O’Donoghue, Tony O’Malley, Robert Ballagh, Stephen McKenna and Sean McSweeney. Viewing of the sculpture in this auction is to take place in the garden of The Merrion Hotel. The catalogue is online.
Portrait of a Dreamer by Rowan Gillespie UPDATE: THIS MADE 67,500 AT HAMMER
A first edition of Ulysses, number 30 of 100 copies signed by Joyce and printed on fine Dutch handmade paper, comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s Rare Books, Literature, Manuscripts, Collectibles and Ephemera sale at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan, Dublin on June 18. Described by Fonsie Mealy as the cornerstone of any Irish collection copies of this most desireable printing are all but unavailable now. Most of the original copies are securely lodged in institutional and important collections from which they are unlikely to emerge. These copies are from the full edition of 1000 finely bound by Buddenbrooks of Boston in full patinated black morocco with dark green inlays. This rare prize is estimated at 70,000-90,000.
There was a new record for any work – collaboration or independent design – by Eugène Printz and Jean Dunand at Christie’s design sale in New York. A cabinet by the pair achieved $5,496,000 during a protracted bidding war among three telephone bidders, smashing the pre-sale auction estimate of $300,000-$500,000. This result is the highest price for a work of French Art Deco since Eileen Gray’s Dragon Chair sold for $28 million at Christie’s 2009 auction of the Collection of Yves Saint Laurent et Pierre Bergé, and the third all-time highest price for a work of 20th and 21st Century furniture design. The auction totalled $14,038,250, selling 80% by lot and 96% by value.
EUGÈNE PRINTZ (1889-1948) AND JEAN DUNAND (1877-1942) IMPORTANT CABINET, CIRCA 1937
