SIR JOHN LAVERY – THE TURQUOISE SEA, MIMIZAN, 1917. UPDATE: THIS MADE 58,000 AT HAMMER
Early viewing gets underway at Whyte’s on Molesworth St., Dublin today for a sale of Irish and International art on December 2. There is art by Yeats, Paul Henry, Louis le Brocquy, Roderic O’Conor, Tony O’Malley, William Crozier and many more artists. Pictured here is The Turquoise Sea, Mimizan, a 1917 work by Sir John Lavery which is estimated at €60,000-80,000. He painted it while staying at the Duke of Westminster’s shooting lodge at the Landes. At that time he had been unable to paint seascapes since 1914 due to World War I.
Set of 10 Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskeys, 2016 to 2024. UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,400 AT HAMMER
This set of ten Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskeys, all in their original boxes from 2016 to 2024, leads Dolan’s live online auction of Irish paintings, rare whiskeys and antiques which runs until November 25. The estimate is €6,000-8,000. Among the artworks is Horseman and Hound, The Warrior a gouache by Evie Hone with an estimate of €4,800-6,000. There is a sketch by Sir William Orpen and art by Cecil Maguire, Mark O’Neill, Flora Mitchell, Charles Harper, Brian Ballard, Susan Cronin and many more. The catalogue is online.
Evie Hone – Horseman and Hound, The Warrior. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, comprised of a banana fastened to a wall with duct tape, sold to cryptocurrency entrepeneur Justin Sun for $6.2 million at the Now and Contemporary auction at Sotheby’s in New York last night. It comes with instructions of how to replace the banana if it rots. The New York Times reported that the actual banana was bought earlier yesterday for 35 cents and Justin Sun, who outbid six other rivals, plans to eat it as part of the artistic experience. Comedian was first unveiled in 2019 and became a viral sensation. Justin Sun runs the Tron blockchain network, which facilitates some cryptocurrency transactions.
ED RUSCHA (B. 1937) – Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half sold for $68.2 million
Led by record-breaking Magritte and Ruscha masterpieces, Christie’s 20th/21st Century art week in New York achieved $486 million on night one. Magritte’s L’empire des lumières became the most valuable work of Surrealist art ever sold at auction. Seven records were set across Mica: The Collection of Mica Ertegun Part I and the 20th Century evening sale. Together they totalled $485,922,600, selling 83 per cent by lot, 92 per cent by value, and 120% hammer and premium against low estimate. The top lot – René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières – made $121,160,000, a world-record price for a Surrealist work at auction. Seven records were set, including artist records for Magritte, Ed Ruscha, Christian Schad, Susan Rothenberg and Amedee Ozenfant. Magritte and Roy Lichtenstein also set records for works on paper. There were bidders from around the world and 1.25 million viewers watched the sales across Christie’s global platform.
David Hockney’s Still Life on a Glass Table (1971) made $19,040,000. The painting was made after the end of his romance with Peter Schlesinger and is a tribute to the beauty, pain and fragility of love. Its nine objects — many associated with Schlesinger — are rendered with crystalline intimacy producing a dynamic work which was in major retrospectives including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1988) and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2017).
DAVID HOCKNEY – Still Life on a glass table (1971) sold for $19,040,000
There was a new world record for Rene Magritte at Christie’s in New York on November 19 when L’empire des lumières sold for a hammer price of $105,000,000 ($121,160,000 with fees). This was a record too for a painting sold at auction in 2024 as it was the first picture this year to break the $100 million barrier. The painting was from the collection of designer and philanthropist Mica Ertegun whose world-class collection includes art, exquisite furnishings, jewellery and more.
A significant portion of the seller’s sale proceeds is intended to benefit philanthropic initiatives. During her lifetime, Mrs. Ertegun generously supported the Graduate Scholarship Programme in the Humanities at Oxford University, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the World Monument Fund and more.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 23, 2024)
This unique Lilium low table by Joseph Walsh sold for $78,000 at Sotheby’s in New York today. It was from the collection of Sydell Miller whose enthusiasm for the work of the Irish sculptor started when she first encountered one of his works at an art fair. The commission of two site-specific low tables ensued, including the present lot, with Walsh designing the pieces with the proportions of her sitting rooms in mind. As functionality was primordial to the patron, Walsh included to the design unique moulded glass insets punctuating the top, ensuring that objects could be placed on its surface. In fact, Miller provided the artist with a curated list of objects that she wished to place on the tables.
The ebonized bentwood, characteristic of Joseph Walsh’s practice, beautifully complements the crystal inclusions, which turned out to be the most technically challenging part of the production process. A relatively new technique for the artist at the time, Walsh collaborated with Waterford crystal manufacturer and the Corning Museum of Glass in the production and moulding of each unique glass element, shaped like delicate teardrops.
The day auction of the Sydell Miller collection brought in $11,605,680
Claude Monet – Nymphéas (Water Lilies) (executed c1914-17)
A monumental Water Lilies by Monet sold for $65.5 million at Sotheby’s in New York this evening. The most expensive artwork sold so far at auction in 2024 was from the collection of Sydell Miller. Known to many as the “queen of the beauty industry” Sydell Miller’s extraordinary collection has taken centre stage at Sotheby’s marquee sales week in New York and feature the major artistic movements of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
In both its composition and size the present Nymphéas marks a radical shift in Monet’s approach to a subject which, both at the time and in posterity, has come to be regarded as one of the most celebrated motifs in his canonical oeuvre. Measuring a remarkable 68 by 51 inches the work is a towering example of the monumental canvases which would come to populate his late output. Larger canvases like that of the present work allowed the artist to explore the Nymphéas theme with a freedom of expression that was otherwise restricted by his earlier, smaller scale. The resulting close chromatic range and all-over composition, which heralded a shift from the painterly conventions of its time, prophetically anticipates the origins of the large-scale gestural canvases of the later New York School.
The evening auction of 25 lots and including works by Lalanne, Yves Klein, Picasso, Kandinsky, Henry Moore and Franz Klein, realised a total of $215,953,500
The Thinker on the Butte de Warlencourt by Sir William Orpen. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £756,000
The private collection of Mary and Alan Hobart, founders of the Pyms Gallery, comes up at Christie’s in London on November 19. From premises in Belgravia and Mayfair the Hobarts mounted pioneering exhibitions at the Pyms Gallery, founded in 1974, which championed Irish art in Britain for the first time since Sir Hugh Lane at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Key artists included in Christie’s sale are William Orpen, Jack Butler Yeats, Mary Swanzy, F. E. McWilliam, Jerome Connor, William Crozier, Rita Duffy, Micheal Farrell, Cecil King, Charles Tyrrell, William Scott, Sean Scully, Grace Henry, Gerard Dillon, Augustus John, Bridget Riley, Patrick Heron, John Tunnard and Eileen Agar. The Hobarts collection was showcased at an exhibition at IMMA in Dublin last year.
The Poet by Orpen made £504,000 and his Changing Billets, Picardy made £441,000. An Afternoon in Dorset by Augustus John made £214,200, a world record for an oil on panel by the artist. There was a world record for Grace Henry when The Rosary sold for £47,880 and one for Rita Duffy when Crossroads Dancing made £14,490.
UPDATE: THE COLLECTION REALISED £5,979,204
O’Connell Bridge by Jack Butler Yeats. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £882,000
A 19th century Vietnamese Imperial ceremonial sword UPDATE: THIS MADE 370,000 AT HAMMER
An exceptional Imperial ceremonial sword leads the auction of Fine Asian Art at James Adam in Dublin on November 18. Inlaid with rubies and mounted in gold the Vietnamese sword dates to 1840 and is from the reign of Emperor Minh Mang of the Nguyen Dynasty. The estimate is €100,000-€150,000. There are 473 lots on the catalogue including prints, Oriental porcelain, jades, furniture, collectibles. The catalogue is online.
Edwin Mercer will show this Victorian correspondence box at the National Antiques, Art and Vintage fair at Limerick Racecourse this weekend. Inlaid with mother of pearl and with its original key and slots for unanswered and answered letters it is one of thousands of collectibles objects at this fair. There is everything from tribal art, vintage fashion, Irish contemporary art, jewellery, silver and antique furniture to coins and banknotes, militaria and rugs. Opening times are from 11 am to 6 pm today and tomorrow.
