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    • DIVERSITY A FEATURE OF SCULPTURE AUCTION AT RDS

    June 4th, 2014

    The sculpture auction by Morgan O’Driscoll at the  RDS Minerva Suite in Dublin on June 9 features 96 lots.  The collection on offer is notable for its diversity and features work by Irish, UK and French artists. No less than 82 lots are to be sold entirely without reserve.  The catalogue is online. Here is  a small selection.

    John Behan (b1932) Ghost Famine Ship (unique) (15,000-20,000)

    John Behan (b1932) Ghost Famine Ship (unique) (15,000-20,000)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 13,000

    Sea Horse by Helen Walsh (unique) (1,000-1,500).

    Sea Horse by Helen Walsh (unique) (1,000-1,500).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 1,600

    A Slice of Dublin (unique) by John Cohen (b1932) (2,000-2,500).

    A Slice of Dublin (unique) by John Cohen (b1932) (2,000-2,500).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 1,700

    Goldfish by Peter Killeen (edition 2/6) (900-1,200)

    Goldfish by Peter Killeen (edition 2/6) (900-1,200)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 1,300

    Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on DIVERSITY A FEATURE OF SCULPTURE AUCTION AT RDS

    IRISH ELK ANTLERS AT LONDON AUCTION

    June 4th, 2014
    THE Irish Elk antlers to be sold in London.

    THE Irish Elk antlers to be sold in London.  UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD

    A set of Irish Elk antlers is one of the more unusual lots at the Thomas Del Mar auction of antique arms, armour and militaria at Blythe  Road, London W14 on June 25.  The Megalocerus Giganteus antlers measure just over three meters and date from the Pleistocene Period. The estimate is £20,000-30,000.

    The sale contains items from the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago.  The latter institution is selling more than 20 lots to benefit the Harding Collection including a mounted armour for the Jousts Real in the Spanish style of c1500-1510, consisting mainly of 19th century pieces with some 16th century elements. A composite North Italian etched corslet – breastplate and backpiece –  from the late 16th century, once in the collection of Prince Peter Soltykoff, is being sold by the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum. It is estimated at £12,000-18,000.

     

    Posted in AUCTIONS, COLLECTIBLES | Comments Off on IRISH ELK ANTLERS AT LONDON AUCTION

    THE BUFFALO BILLS AND CLAUDE MONET

    June 4th, 2014

    A group of four works from the collection of Ralph C. Wilson jnr., founder of the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise, will lead Sotheby’s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in London on June 23.  The collection is highlighted by two paintings by Claude Monet.  Ralph Wilson was best known as the longtime owner of the Buffalo Bills. He was also a passionate collection of art.  Seeking out the finest examples he acquired these four examples in the 1990’s. Monet’s La Seine a Argenteuil is estimated at £7-10 million while his 1888 view of Antibes has an estimate of £6-8 million; Jeunes Femme dan les Fleurs by Edouard Manet is estimated at £4-6 million and Les Bords du Loing by Alfred Sisley is estimated at £1-1.5 million.

    CLAUDE MONET (1840 – 1926) LA SEINE À ARGENTEUIL

    CLAUDE MONET (1840 – 1926)
    LA SEINE À ARGENTEUIL  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £8,358,500

    ALFRED SISLEY (1839 – 1899) LES BORDS DU LOING

    ALFRED SISLEY (1839 – 1899)
    LES BORDS DU LOING  UPDATE: THIS MADE £1,082,500

     

    Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on THE BUFFALO BILLS AND CLAUDE MONET

    BACON PORTRAIT OF GEORGE DYER AT SOTHEBY’S

    June 2nd, 2014
    Francis Bacon Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer (on Light Ground)

    Francis Bacon
    Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer (on Light Ground)  (CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £26,682,500

    An outstanding example by Francis Bacon – Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer (on light ground) – will come up at Sotheby’s in London on  June 30.  The small scale triptych dates from 1964 and is estimated at £15-20 million. It is one of only five known depictions of Dyer in this intimate format reserved by the artist for what are widely regarded as the most profoundly personal and  intense portraits of the 20th century.  The record for a small scale triptych by Bacon is £23 million set at Sotheby’s in London in 2011 for his portrait of Lucian Freud.

    The rare lifetime depiction of Dyer, the man who was the love of Bacon’s life at the moment when they were most deeply involved, is full of the painterly exuberance that marks out Bacon as one of the greatest painters of the 20th century.  The work is a counterpoint to the black portraits of Dyer painted in the early 1970’s.  Their affair began in 1963. In the autumn of 1971 they travelled to Paris for the major Bacon retrospective at the Grand Palais. Barely 36 hours before the opening George Dyer was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills in their hotel suite.   Grief stricken and haunted, Bacon continued to paint Dyer for a number of years.

    This museum quality work is in all likelihood the first painting for which Bacon used the legendary photographs by his friend John Deakin as the source material.  In early 1964 Bacon commissioned Deakin, a former Vogue photographer and a drinking pal,  to take photos of Dyer and other regulars at Soho’s Colony Room. These photographs had a huge influence on his portraits from then on. The painting, which has been in the same collection since 1970, comes to auction for the first time ever. 

    Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on BACON PORTRAIT OF GEORGE DYER AT SOTHEBY’S

    CORK REGENCY BOOKCASES AT LYNES AND LYNES

    May 31st, 2014

    A pair of Cork Regency bookcase cabinets are a feature lot at Lynes and Lynes sale in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork on June 7.  In original condition and complete with brass trellis doors they are estimated at 4,000-6,000.   The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection.

    A pair of Cork Regency bookcases (4,000-6,000).

    A pair of Cork Regency bookcases (4,000-6,000). UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD

     

    A c1830 Regency sofa table (1,000-1,500)

    A c1830 Regency sofa table (1,000-1,500) UPDATE: THIS MADE 900

     

    A set of four c1820 Cork Georgian hall chairs (1,000-1,500).

    A set of four c1820 Cork Georgian hall chairs (1,000-1,500). UPDATE: THESE MADE 1,100

     

    An Irish yew carver (300-500).

    An Irish yew carver (300-500).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 150

     

    Posted in AUCTIONS, FURNITURE | Comments Off on CORK REGENCY BOOKCASES AT LYNES AND LYNES

    VAN DYCK SALE TO BENEFIT ECUMENICAL RETREAT HOUSE

    May 31st, 2014

     

    The portrait study by van Dyck.

    The portrait study by van Dyck.  UPDATE: THIS FAILED TO SELL.

    A portrait study by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), recently re-discovered on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, will be offered at Christie’s Old Master & British Paintings sale on July 8.  Bought by Fr. James MacLeod at an antiques shop in Cheshire for just £400 twelve years ago the work is estimated at £300,000-500,000.  It is a preparatory sketch for van Dyck’s full-length group portrait of The Magistrates of Brussels painted in 1634-35. 

    The proceeds of the sale will go towards the acquisition of new church bells for Whaley Hall Ecumenical Retreat House in Derbyshire to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War.

     

    UPDATE: THE WORK FAILED TO SELL

    Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on VAN DYCK SALE TO BENEFIT ECUMENICAL RETREAT HOUSE

    O’CONOR MAKES 210,000 AT JAMES ADAM

    May 29th, 2014

    Roderic O’Conor’s Chemin Menant a Grez was the top lot at the highly successful James Adam sale of Imortant Irish Art in Dublin on May 28.  It made a hammer price of 210,000. O’Conor’s Landscape with Garden and Mountain made 36,000 and his Landscape with Trees made 25,000 at hammer.  The fourth, a nude, was unsold.

    Beero by William Conor made 97,000 at hammer over a top estimate of 50,000 and was one of a good number of lots to sell above estimate.  Cuchulainn  IV, a tapestry by Louis le Brocquy, sold for 120,000 over a top estimate of 60,000.  Sean Scully’s Passenger Line, Black made 80,000 over a top estimate of 60,000.
    The Bellman, a sculpture by Jerome Connor sold for 11,500,, Gerard Dillon’s Footing the Turf made 29,000, Mountain Village, Andalucia by George Campbell made 13,000 over a top estimate of 3,500 and Achill Woman by Grace Henry made 3,200 over a top estimate of 3,000. A Dusty Rose by Jack Butler Yeats made 62,000 at hammer and The Port Authority by Sean Keating sold for 80,000.  An oil on board by John Shinnors, The Bunny on the Bank, made 5,400 over a top estimate of 5,000 and a portrait of Thomas Moore attributed to Martin Archer Shee sold for 3,000 over  a top estimate of 1,500.
    (SEE posts on antiquesandartireland,com for May 24 and May 16, 2014)
    Cuchalainn IV, a tapestry by Louis le Brocquy sold for 120,000

    Cuchalainn IV, a tapestry by Louis le Brocquy sold for 120,000

    Jack Butler Yeats - A Dusty Rose sold for 62,000

    Jack Butler Yeats – A Dusty Rose sold for 62,000

    Beero by William Conor sold for 97,000

    Beero by William Conor sold for 97,000

    Sean Scully - Passenger Line, Black sold for 80,000

    Sean Scully – Passenger Line, Black sold for 80,000

    Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on O’CONOR MAKES 210,000 AT JAMES ADAM

    BOTTICELLI DRAWING AT SOTHEBY’S IN JULY

    May 28th, 2014
    Study for a seated St. Joseph, his head resting on his right hand Pen and brown ink heightened with white over black chalk, on beige-pink washed paper. Squared in black chalk for transfer (£1-1.5 million).

    Study for a seated St. Joseph, his head resting on his right hand
    Pen and brown ink heightened with white over black chalk, on beige-pink washed paper.
    Squared in black chalk for transfer (£1-1.5 million).  UPDATE: IT MADE £1.3 MILLION

    The only Botticelli drawing to appear on the market in over 100 years comes up at Sotheby’s in London on July 9.  Study for a Seated St. Joseph, his head resting on his right hand, is the only drawing by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) in private hands. This is the first sheet by the Renaissance master to come to auction since the 19th century and the only drawing which can be clearly linked with one of his painted compositions. The drawing is a study for the figure of St. Joseph to the left of The Nativity with adoring St. John the Baptist.

    It is from the collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson (1937-2013), art connoisseur, philanthropist and wife of the late John Seward Johnson, co-founder of Johnson and Johnson. Sotheby’s sale of Old Master and British Paintings on July 9 will present nine works from her estate.  The proceeds are to the benefit the Barbara Piasecka Johnson Foundation, the primary focus of which is helping children with autism.
    UPDATE: IT MADE £1.3 MILLION.  This was the highest price ever paid for a drawing by the artist at auction.

    Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on BOTTICELLI DRAWING AT SOTHEBY’S IN JULY

    EMIN’S BED AT CHRISTIE’S IN JULY

    May 28th, 2014
    TRACEY EMIN (B. 1963) My Bed mattress, linens, pillows and objects (£800,000-1.2 million). Courtesy Christie's Images Ltd., 2014.

    TRACEY EMIN (B. 1963)
    My Bed
    mattress, linens, pillows and objects (£800,000-1.2 million). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £2,546,500, A WORLD RECORD FOR THE ARTIST

    My Bed by Tracey Emin, one of the most iconic and shocking self-portraits of the contemporary generation, will be offered at Christie’s in London on July 1.  Dating from 1998 it was shortlisted for the Turner Prize the following year, causing a furore.  Estimated at £800,000-1.2 million it is being sold to benefit the Saatchi Gallery’s Foundation.

    It is a snapshot of a debauched period of the artist’s life after a period of suicidal depression brought on by the break up of a relationship. The bed is surrounded by personal effects including empty vodka bottles, cigarette packets, stained sheets,discarded condoms and soiled underwear.  The artist has said that she had a sort of mini-nervous breakdown and did not get out of bed for four days.   She had a drink of water, made her way back to the bedroom and was shocked by what she saw. Then in a sudden flash she saw the bed in a white space and saw that it looked brilliant.  When it was exhibited it was shocking to some people but Emin – in an interview with fellow artist Julian Schnabel – said she thought it looked like a damsel in distress, like a woman fainting or something and needing to be helped.
    UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £2,546,500, A WORLD RECORD FOR THE ARTIST

    Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on EMIN’S BED AT CHRISTIE’S IN JULY

    PURCELL TO BE HEAD OF COLLECTIBLES AT WHYTE’S

    May 28th, 2014
    Stuart Purcell.

    Stuart Purcell.

    Stuart Purcell has been appointed as head of collectibles at Whyte’s auctioneers in Dublin. He has more than 15 years experience and previously worked in Dublin with James Adam, Adams Blackrock and latterly as a director of Orr and Company, Delgany.  He has extensive knowledge of antiques and collectibles and acts as a valuer and advisor to several corporate clients.  He presents “Cash or Trash” on TV3 and appraises objects submitted by viewers.

    Whyte’s will hold separate sales of Movie Posters and Rock and Pop Memorabilia in Dublin on May 31.

    Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments Off on PURCELL TO BE HEAD OF COLLECTIBLES AT WHYTE’S

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