Roderic O’Connor – Paysage, Pont Aven, 1892. UPDATE: THIS MADE £378,000
Paysage, Pont Aven, an important and vibrant example of Roderic O’Conor’s stripe pictures, comes up at Christie’s Modern British and Irish art evening sale in London on March 19. It was exhibited in Paris at the 1892 Salon des Indépendents demonstrating its avant-garde approach and technique. The stripe pictures are generally accepted as the artist’s most desirable period. The estimate is £200,000-£300,000.
The auction features an interior by Sir John Lavery, The Hall, Argyll House, A summer’s day (1925). Argyll House on the King’s Road was home to Sybil Colefax and her husband Arthur in 1925. Known for her exceptional taste, she founded her business in the 1930’s and in 1938 was joined by John Fowler. Her business became known as Colefax & Fowler. The estimate is £100,000-£150,000.
Sir John Lavery – The Hall, Argyll House – A Summer Day, 1925. UPDATE: THIS MADE £157,500.
Cavanagh (1974) by Louis le Brocquy. UPDATE: THIS MADE 76,000 AT HAMMER
A large, colourful and unique tapestry by Louis le Brocquy, commissioned for Setanta House in Dublin in the mid 1970’s, is the leading lot at the James Adam evening sale of Important Irish Art on March 26. The Aubusson wool tapestry produced by Tabard Freres & Soeurs is estimated at €80,000-€120,000.
The catalogue cover lot is Pont du Gard by Mary Swanzy, an oil on canvas with a definite wow factor in which the artist painted a simplified Roman aqueduct with exceptional freedom. The estimate is €25,000-€35,000.
Pont du Gard by Mary Swanzy. UPDATE: THIS MADE 40,000 AT HAMMER
The Promised Land by Colin Middleton (€20,000-€30,000) was painted in 1947 when horrifying newsreel footage of the liberation of the concentration camps was widely viewed. Deeply deeply affected by these images Middleton here depicts two isolated and anonymous figures dispossessed by war caught up in swirling tides not of their own making and in search of a new land. Sadly this theme is as apposite now as it was in 1947. Plus ca change.
A c1886 Portrait Interior with Oriental Screen by Sir John Lavery is a chance discovery made when the vendor turned up at Adams looking for a valuation with no idea who the artist was. Adams had Lavery expert Professor Kenneth McConkey take a look and he confirmed the attribution. The oil on panel, measuring 42cm x 28cm, is estimated at €5,000-€8,000.
The Promised Land by Colin Middleton UPDATE: THIS MADE 22,000 AT HAMMER
Demand for George Russell (AE) is steady and consistent and there are a number of works by the artist in the sale, headed by An Apparition from 1921, an oil on canvas that reveals the influences of Symbolism (€8,000-€12,000).
The artist Gerard Dillon experiments with geometric forms, line and colour in Abstract by Night, a large scale work in an arresting palette of colours. The lot is estimated at €8,000-€12,000.
The auction offers art by John Doherty, Barrie Cooke, Camille Souter, Frank McKelvey, Lady Beatrice Glenavy, Sean Keating, Dan O’Neill, Hilary Heron, Tony O’Malley, John Shinnors, Cecil King, Felim Egan, Deborah Brown, Sarah Purser, James English, Pauline Bewick and many more artists among 145 lots. The sale is on view at Adams from March 21 and the catalogue is online.
William Scott (1913-1989) – Arran 1960. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This lithograph by William Scott, number 32 from an edition of 50, is at Whyte’s Spring online art sale which runs until March 24. Printed at the Curwen Studio and published by Johanna Schiessel Abstracta-Verlag, Freiberg it is estimated at €2,500-€3,500. Among the artists represented are William Orpen, Mary Swanzy, George Campbell, Gerard Dillon, Patrick Collins, William Scott, Robert Ballagh, Louise Mansfield, Harry Kernoff, John ffrench and Auguste Edouart. A set of four silhouettes by Edouart is estimated at €1,000-€1,500. The sale is on view at Whyte’s in Dublin from March 18.
Auguste Edouart (French 1789-1861) – A set of four silhouettes, three signed and dated. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS UNSOLD
A set of four George II candlesticks by Robert Calderwood, Dublin c1745 at the Limerick fair.
Collectors know all about having to make choices. One choice available this St. Patrick’s Weekend is Ireland’s biggest fair or Europe’s biggest fair. Limerick or Maastricht. If you can avail of either more power to your elbow.
The array of dealers at Limerick Racecourse today and tomorrow is impressive. They have assembled from Donegal to Dublin, Belfast to Kerry, Tipperary to Roscommon, Antrim and Drogheda to Kilkenny and Galway and all points between. On offer is everything from silver, rugs, jewellery and porcelain to art, antique furniture, militaria, vintage fashion and collectibles of every type.
TEFAF Maastricht is a world fair which brings curators from major museums and heavy hitting private collectors with deep pockets to a beautiful Dutch town every year. It runs until March 20. So refreshing to see the super rich looking at objects ranging from antiquities to cutting edge contemporary art instead power playing with global politics on an inept scale. World domination aside if you can’t find something you want at either of these venues you are just not looking properly.
Gallerie Maria Wettergren, Paris will show After the Storm (Square) by Gjertrud Hals at TEFAF Maastricht : Photo Omar Sejnaes.
This painting by Sophie Taeuber-Arp – one of the major figures of modernity – is a highlight at Christie’s stand alone auction in Paris on April 8 of the collection Funck-Brentano. In 2021 and 2022, Living Abstraction – a retrospective organised jointly by the Kunstmuseum Basel, Tate London and MoMA in New York – and the Elles font l’abstraction exhibition at the Centre Pompidou confirmed her key role in the history of art. The power and significance of multidisciplinary work by Taeuber-Arp have had a lasting and profound influence on contemporary artists and designers. The art market has shown a keen interest and the work is rare at auction.
Completed in 1937, Relief rond en quatre hauteurswas acquired directly from the artist’s studio by Michel Seuphor, who donated it to the Funck-Brentanos in 1987, as a gesture of gratitude. It is estimated at €1.9 – €2.5 million. Ten wooden reliefs by Sophie Taeuber-Arp are known and only three are still in private hands. The record for a work by Sophie Taeuber-Arp, set in 2003 in Paris, is €1.2 million.
Born in Germany Liselotte Kahn (1929-2020) was initially stateless when she arrived in France in 1936, and found refuge in Switzerland. A childhood spent in exile led to deep-seated European convictions, which she shared throughout her life with Roland Funck-Brentano (1929-2013), whom she met whilst studying law at university in Paris. In 1954 they founded what was to become one of the leading corporate law firms in Paris, deeply involved in the internationalisation of law and specialised in the development of European Community legislation.
Carl Fabergé – An Imperial enamelled gold and gem-set egg pendant 1896-1908
This Fabergé egg, made with silver, gold, enamel and diamonds, will be feature by Wartski at TEFAF, Maastricht. The egg pendant, measuring just 2.4 cm, is decorated with opalescent white guilloché enamel, bound with a single band of rose cut diamonds mounted in silver, from which spring alternating chased yellow and green gold oak leaves. Wartski is a British firm of antique dealers specialising in Russian works of art.
Among many highlights at TEFAF, which offers unparalleled collecting opportunities, is a grand piano by Ruhlmann with Macassar ebony veneer, walnut, and violet wood and a case ornamented with gilded wood and gilded bronze. The Pleyel piano was commissioned by François Ducharne, then head of Soieries F. Ducharne, for his private mansion in Paris. This rare piano will be showcased alongside a unique collection of Ruhlmann furniture and objects, including rugs, armchairs, pedestal tables, and a coffee table, all featured by Galerie Marcilhac of Rue Bonaparte in Paris.
TEFAF. globally recognised as the premier fair for fine art, antiques, and design, runs from March 15 – 20 with an invitation only preview today and tomorrow.
PAIR 19TH-CENTURY FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD & MARQUETRY SIDE TABLES. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
Viewing gets underway in Durrow today for the re-scheduled Paradigms and the Unexpected auction by Sheppards from March 18-20. The auction was to have been held this week but it was postponed after the unexpected death of Sheppards director Philip Sheppard. Pictured here is lot 331, a pair of 19th century French side tables. They are estimated at €4,000-€6,000. More than 1700 lots will come under the hammer and the catalogue is online.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish – Blue Dove with Flowers. UPDATE: THIS MADE 300 AT HAMMER
This lithograph by Picasso is lot 89 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall online art auction which finishes this evening. Signed on the plate and numbered 605/1000 it is after a 1961 drawing. The litho was published by SPADEM in 1983 on watermarked Arches paper. The estimate is €300-€500.
A rare Youghal Art Metal Workers mirror, Killarney furniture and a treen collection
The enduring popularity of antique fairs lies in discoveries waiting to be made. The St. Patrick’s Weekend Fair at Limerick Racecourse on March 15 and 16 is no exception. Here you will find everything from a French Restauration chest of drawers in flame mahogany and a George I sugar bowl made by George Newenham in Cork c1720 to Killarney furniture and a rare Youghal Art Metal Workers mirror.
Shortly after the Cork International Exhibition of 1902, where Thomas Sparks of the Keswick School of Industrial Arts had given demonstrations, skilled local dockyard workers and coppersmiths aided by Sparks formed the Youghal art group in 1904. A number of their large mirrors were purchased by the Abbey Theatre. Ink Jar antiques and gallery from Donegal will bring a circular Youghal mirror to the Limerick Fair along with Killarney wood pieces and a collection of treen.
Cork silver dating back more than 300 years is not something you come across every day so there will be significant interest in the Newenham sugar bowl at Weldons stand. They will also showcase four Irish George II candlesticks by Robert Calderwood, Dublin c1745. Ashbrook Antiques of Roscrea will bring French furniture. With dealers from right around the country this packed to rafters fair will offer everything from art and antique furniture to porcelain, jewellery, vintage fashion, Irish coins and banknotes, Oriental rugs and all sorts of collectibles.
Dan Flavin (1933 – 1996) – untitled (for Fredericka and Ian) 3
An exhibition dedicated to the work of Dan Flavin (1933-1996), one of the leading exponents of minimalism and a pioneer of installation art, runs at Ordovas at Saville Row in London until April 25. The chronological show begins with an installation entitled four red horizontals (to Sonia). It was conceived in 1963, the pivotal year when Flavin first started using his signature fluorescent light bulbs, turning an everyday object into a work of art and exploring the ways in which light sculpts space. At Ordovas there is work from the 1960’s, ’70’s and ’80’s.
