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    • BACON POPE WITH DYER’S REFLECTION AT CHRISTIE’S

    September 15th, 2017

    Francis Bacon, Study of Red Pope 1962. 2nd Version 1971

    Francis Bacon’s landmark painting Study of Red Pope 1962, 2nd version 1971,  will come up at Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art evening sale on October 6 during Frieze Week.  It stands as the grand finale to his celebrated body of Papal portraits and is the only painting that unites the Pope with his greatest love George Dyer, who is depicted as the Pope’s reflection.

    First exhibited on 26 October 1971, in the legendary retrospective of Francis Bacon’s work at the Grand Palais in Paris, Study of Red Pope 1962,  2nd version 1971 was executed six months earlier in April 1971. It has been unseen in public for 45 years.  This is the first and only time in his oeuvre that Bacon united his two greatest obsessions: the Pope and George Dyer – his great muse and lover.

    The canvas became a tragic premonition of Dyer’s fateful end when, less than thirty-six hours before the opening of the career-defining exhibition, Dyer was found dead. Acquired by the family of the present owner in 1973 this work has appeared in all the major publications dedicated to Bacon’s work but never exhibited publicly.

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    PICASSO’S FEMME ACCOUPIE (JACQUELINE) AT CHRISTIE’S

    September 15th, 2017

    Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Femme accroupie (Jacqueline) © 2017 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

    Pablo Picasso’s Femme accroupie (Jacqueline), painted on October 8, 1954  will come to auction for the first time at Christie’s evening sale  of Impressionist and Modern Art on November 13 in New York. From a private collection, it is estimated to sell for $20-30 million.

    The brilliant primary colors in Femme accroupie (Jacqueline) illustrate a sunny day in the South of France during early autumn, 1954. Picasso and Jacqueline Roque, his ultimate paramour and eventual second wife, had begun living together in the Midi and would soon return to Paris to reside in the artist’s studio.

    Jessica Fertig, head of the evening sale, said: “Picasso embarked on his late, great period, which his biographer John Richardson succinctly defined and characterized as “l’époque Jacqueline“—It is Jacqueline’s image that dominates Picasso’s work from 1954 until his death, longer than any of the women who preceded her.

    Christie’s Global President, Jussi Pylkkanen, remarked: “Jacqueline was a beautiful woman and one of Picasso’s most elegant muses. This painting of Jacqueline hung in Picasso’s private collection for many years and has rarely been seen in public since 1954. It is a museum quality painting on the grand scale which will capture the imagination of the global art market when it is offered at Christie’s New York this November.”

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    WEBB, O’MALLEY, SHINNORS, BLACKSHAW

    September 15th, 2017

    Artists like Kenneth Webb, Tony O’Malley, John Shinnors, Basil Blackshaw, James Humbert Craig and Harry Kernoff all feature in Morgan O’Driscoll’s current online Irish art auction.  Bidding is open until the evening of Monday September 18.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    Harry Aaron Kernoff RHA (1900-1974) Connemara Cailin (3,000-5,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,600 AT HAMMER

    Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (1932-2016) The Orchard (3,000-5,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,800 AT HAMMER

    James S. Brohan (b.1952)
    Wild Flower Meadow (4,000-6,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,600 AT HAMMER

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    AN ANGEL BY GORMLEY AT CHRISTIE’S

    September 13th, 2017

    Antony Gormley – A Case for an Angel 1 (1989)

    Antony Gormley’s A Case for an Angel I (1989) will be a highlight at Christie’s Frieze Week auctions.  Estimated at £5,000,000-7,000,000) the work is poised to set an auction record for the artist.   A Case for an Angel I is a magnetic and imposing presence, resplendent with an 8.5-metre wingspan.

    Katharine Arnold, who heads the sale at Christie’s, said: “Antony Gormley has pioneered a poignant type of sculpture reflecting upon the balance of human aspirations versus our physical limitations. A Case for an Angel I (1989) is the original articulation of this concept, configured in the 1:1 size of the artist’s body and with an 8.5-metre wingspan, the sculpture creates a vast optical horizon. We expect the sculpture, which prefigured the artist’s landmark sculpture the Angel of the North at Gateshead, to perform at the highest levels.”

    British artists will form a focal point of Christie’s Frieze Week Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction on October 6.  The sale will feature masterworks by major figures, including Peter Doig, Hurvin Anderson and Jenny Saville.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £5,296,250

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    CONTEMPORARY ART AT SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG

    September 12th, 2017

    Kusama’s rare pink Infinity Net and Richter’s Abstract Painting (679-2) will lead the evening sale at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Contemporary Art autumn series on September and October 1.  Apart from a series of works by Kusama Yayoi and a dedicated section for Chinese contemporary artists born in the 1970’s there will be a themed sale for the Japanese post-war artist, Morita Shiryu and a selection of western contemporary art.

    Kusama Yayoi, Untitled, 1972 |(US$4.1-5.8 million)

    Gerhard Richter, Abstract Painting (679-2), 1988. (US£4.1-6.2 million)

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    MASTERWORKS FROM TAPIES COLLECTION AT CHRISTIE’S

    September 12th, 2017

    Mark Rothko Untitled (Orange and Yellow)
    1969 (£4-6 million) © Christie’s Images Limited 2017

    Masterworks from the collection of Antoni Tapies, one of the most famous Post-War artists of his generation, will come up at Christie’s this autumn. Featuring artists including Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso and Mark Rothko, these works will star in the Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction on October 6,  Up Close on October 3 and the forthcoming Impressionist and Modern Art auctions in February 2018.

    The personal collection of Antoni Tapies includes some of the most important figures of the twentieth century avant-garde and offers a unique insight into the powerful bond that existed between the artist and the paintings and sculptures he encountered over the course of his lifetime.  Born in Barcelona in 1923, Antoni Tapies grew up as the violence of the Civil War was being inscribed on the ancient walls of his city. From destruction, he forged one of the greatest bodies of abstract work of the twentieth century. He first came to prominence in the late 1940’s, a scholarship to Paris in 1950-51 led to a meeting with Pablo Picasso. Tapies deliberately chose commonplace materials to infuse with new significance. In 1984, he created the Ta?pies Foundation. Antoni Tapies died in 2012. Here are some examples from his collection:

    Alberto Giacometti
    Homme (Apollon)
    Bronze with golden brown patina
    Conceived in 1929, this bronze version cast circa 1948–56 in an edition of six (£800,000-1.2 million)© Christie’s Images Limited 2017

    Pablo Picasso Le coq saigné (‘The bled cock’)
    1947-8 (£2.2-2.8 million) © Christie’s Images Limited 2017

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    IRELAND’S RAREST ISSUED COIN MAKES 7,500 AT WHYTE’S

    September 11th, 2017

    Cast members copy of the script for The Quiet Man, winner of two Oscars and shot in Cong, Co. Mayo in 1951,

    A 1943 florin, Ireland’s rarest issued coin, was the top lot at Whyte’s eclectic collector sale in Dublin on September 9.  It sold for a hammer price of 7,500.  Other top lots which excited collectors included a set of photographic stills from The Quiet Man (4,200), The Quiet Man shooting script (3,600), a gold 1811 USA five dollars (3,200), a signed copy of The Beatles Love me Do (3,000), a trio of medals to a Scottish family involved in the 1916 Rising (2,700), a signed Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers album (2,600), a signed first edition of At Swim Two Birds by Flann O’Brien (2,300) and a 1934 Irish Army Volunteer Force uniform (2,200).

    More than 80% of lots were sold.  The auction grossed 230,000.

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    MOST COMPREHENSIVE EVER COLLECTION OF TEN SHILLING NOTES

    September 11th, 2017

    The most comprehensive private collection of Irish Ten Shilling notes ever assembled will be auctioned by Dix Noonan Webb on September 25 in London. The collection of the late Tony Lenny, who latterly lived in Wicklow,  displays extraordinary perseverance.  He spent 40 years putting it together and acquired examples of 230 of the 231 dates on which Irish Ten Shilling notes were issued. Opinion differs on whether the one that evaded him actually exists.

    The Lenny Collection is being auctioned in two parts. Among the 78 lots to be offered later this month are the only known examples of a particular date or prefix. Rare notes from the 1920’s and 1930’s are included along with a fascinating group from the early 1940’s all stamped with single code letters as a wartime security measure. Estimates brange from £100 to £150 up to £800 to £1,000 for a rare note dated 31 December 1929.

    Born in 1924 in Cookstown, County Tyrone Tony Lenny worked as an executive at the Irish Grain Board and at R. & H. Hall. He and his wife Dympna moved to Bray, raised five children and ran a wool shop. Tony Lenny loved horse racing and he opened two betting offices, one in Bray and the other in central Dublin.

    UPDATE: All 78 lots were sold for a total hammer price of £25,680 (£30,816 with commission) – the two top lots each made £1,200 at hammer.

    A RARE TEN SHILLING NOTE FROM DECEMBER 1929.

    THE LATE TONY LENNY

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    HOWARD HODGKINS COLLECTION TO BE SOLD

    September 10th, 2017

    Antiques, textiles and objects often acquired at auction by the artist Howard Hodgkin, who died aged 84 in March, are to come under the hammer at Sotheby’s  in London on October 24.  More than 400 lots, including tiles, carpet fragments, antiques, drawings and paintings, will be sold.  There are Ottoman, Indian and Islamic tiles, textiles and rugs and fragments of calligraphy, Italian pietra dura marble, prints, mezzotints and engravings.

    The collection also includes artworks by his friends such as Patrick Caulfield, represented by a blue still life of a sweet bowl (£300,000-£500,000); a work by Bhupen Khakhar , The De-Luxe Tailors (£250,000-£350,000) and a Peter Blake postcard on a green felt background, which he gave Hodgkin in 1974 (£8,000-£12,000).

    Hodgkin did not keep his own work as he said they got in the way of new work, though he did keep two paintings from his debut show at the ICA in 1962,  Bedroom and Travelling.  “I have absolutely no desire to collect my own work, but do have what with age seems an almost unquenchable thirst for acquiring other things to look at,” he said.

    Highlights will be on view in Mumbai in September and in Dubai in October. Here is a small selection:

    An interior shot of his home in Bloomsbury, London with items to be auctioned.

    Patrick Caulfield – Sweet Bowl  UPDATE: THIS MADE £524,750

    Howard Hodgkin – Travelling  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Bhupen Khakhar – De-Luxe Tailors  UPDATE: THIS MADE A RECORD £1.1 MILLION

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    ADAMS PICKS TO WHET APPETITE OF YOUNGER BUYERS

    September 10th, 2017

    In an attempt to whet the appetite of the younger generation for its jewellery sales Dublin based auction house James Adam has set out on a new path. To bring a sense of fun to the sales with bold contemporary pieces Claire Mestrallet, head of jewellery at Adams,  has enlisted the help of Shelly Corkery, fashion director at Brown Thomas, who has reviewed the sale scheduled to take place on September 19.  Corkery’s favourite picks include an on trend green tourmaline and diamond necklace by Margherita Burgener (4,200-5,200), a c1945 diamond set bracelet (7,000-9,000) and the aquamarine and diamond dress ring by Mario Buccelati (5,000-7,000) pictured here.  The sale highlight is a c1920 sugar loaf sapphire and diamond ring (16,000-20,000).

    UPDATE: The sugar loaf sapphire sold for 22,000 at hammer, the acquarmarine and diamond ring by Mario Buccelati made 10,500 at hammer, the c1945 bracelet sold for 11,800 and the tourmaline and diamond necklace was unsold.

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