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    • ART OUTPERFORMS ANTIQUE FURNITURE AT IRISH AUCTIONS

    February 16th, 2012

    Irish art continues to outperform antique furniture on the Irish auction market in 2012.  In the continuing absence of movement on the property market front this continues to be a buyer’s market for furniture. There is value to be had.  Art by Mainie Jellett and Dan O’Neill produced the best results at the sale at Adams Blackrock, Dublin on February 14.  Furniture prices remained low and represented in some cases value that can be described as incredible when compared to what would have been paid in the not too distant past.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 6)

    Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) 'Two Women by the Sea' sold for 11,000 at Adams, Blackrock.

    This work by Mainie Jellett (1897 –1944) sold for 23,000 at Adams, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.

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    MODERN BRITISH SCULPTORS IN LONDON IN MARCH

    February 16th, 2012

    AN exhibition of Modern British Sculptors at Robert Bowman, Duke St., St. James’s, London in March 2012 includes work by Kenneth Armitage, Michael Ayrton, Lynn Chadwick, Jacob Epstein, Elizabeth Frink, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore.

    This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1952 Venice Biennale. That show introduced a new group of young British sculptors who had emerged the in the wake of the older Henry Moore immediately after World War II. Their work was characterised by the spiky, twisted forms famously described by the art critic Herbert Read as the ‘Geometry of Fear’. This  exhibition is an exploration of the period.  Moore’s Reclining Girl (1983, 12.5 cm), is in a bronze edition of nine. Other highlights include Kenneth Armitage’s “Children Playing”, Elizabeth Frink’s “Rolling over horse” and Jacob Epstein’s Portrait of Albert Einstein.  Prices start at £10,000.

    Henry Moore (British 1898-1986) ‘Reclining Girl’ 1983 Bronze Edition of 9 Height: 12.5 cm (5 inches) £48,000. (Click on image to enlarge).

    Dame Elizabeth Frink, RA (English 1930-1993) ‘Rolling Over Horse’, 1976 Height: 16 inches, Edition of 9 £120,000. (Click on image to enlarge).

    
				
    
				
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    ANTIQUE BOG OAK INKSTAND CARVED AS AN OWL AT HEGARTY’S
    
				February 16th, 2012 
				
    
					
    A 19th century bog oak inkstand carved as owl is among the more unusual lots at Hegarty’s sale in Bandon, Co. Cork on February 19.   The National Museum of Ireland has a similar owl which bears a maker’s label of Cornelius Goggin, who bore the title “Irish bog oak carver to Her Majesty” (Queen Victoria) in the business of carving bog oak artefacts at 13, Nassau Street Dublin, as early as the 1860’s.
    

    Bog oak is a black hardwood from the bogs of Ireland used for carving various objects. This piece is over one foot tall and is estimated at 2,000-4,000. More than 350 lots will come under the hammer at this auction.
    

     
    

    UPDATE:  This sold for 1,950.
    
				
    
				
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    RICHTER TOPS SOTHEBY’S CONTEMPORARY SALE
    
				February 15th, 2012 
				
    
					
    The scene at Sotheby's contemporary evening auction on February 15.
    

    Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (numbered 768-4) was the top lot at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening auction on February 15.  It made £4,857,250 in a sale which realised £50,688,450 and saw artists records for A.R. Penck and Albert Oehlen.  The auction was sold  90.5% by lot and 94.6% by value and nine works sold for over one million pounds.
    

    The second highest price was paid for Richter’s Eis of 1981 which made £4,297,250.  Sharing the third highest price the evening, of £ 4,073,250 Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (“Rot”) and Jean Michel-Basquiat’s Orange Sports Figure. A.R. Penck’s Methode, Fertigzuwerden made $325,250 and an untitled work by Albert Oehlen made £445,250. Both prices were artists records.  There were strong prices too for Chinese artist Zao Wou-Ki.  His Abstraction Figuration: 28.12.99 made £1,833,250 while 10.01.91 made £1,609,250.
    

    Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby’s chairman of Contemporary Art Europe, said: “We’re extremely pleased with the results of tonight’s sale and the above-estimate total of £50 million which we achieved. We witnessed a huge depth of international bidding right across the auction, with buyers coming from no fewer than 20 countries. Gerhard Richter once again dominated, with all six of his works selling for an aggregate sum of £17.6 million, above the combined estimate for the group of £14.8 million, with four of the pieces falling within the top-ten selling works in the sale.”
    

    See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 25, 2012.
    
				
    
				
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    WORLD RECORD FOR A PRINT BY LUCIAN FREUD
    
				February 15th, 2012 
				
    
					
    Lucian Freud's Eli 2002 made a world record price for a print by the artist at auction when it sold for £145,250. Picture courtesy of Christie's Images Ltd., 2012. (Click to enlarge).
    

    There was a world record price for a print by Lucian Freud at Christie’s today.  The top lot at the sale of The Printer’s Proof: Etchings by Lucian Freud from the Studio Prints archive was Eli 2002.  It made  £145,250 against a pre-sale estimate of £50,000-70,000.  Overall the sale realised £1,479,675 and was 86% sold by lot and 91% sold by value.
    

    Afterwards Richard Lloyd of Christie’s said: “This morning’s highly successful sale was a tribute to Lucian Freud who was not only a painter of immense talent, but also an inspired printmaker. It was likewise a tribute to Marc Balakjian, the master printer who worked with Freud for the last twenty five years and from whose collection the sale came. The auction broke all previous records for Freud’s graphic work, and saw participation from many buyers new to this market. Single-artist sales are a concept in which Christie’s leads the field and we look forward to our second such sale, Hockney on Paper, at South Kensington on Friday 17 February.”
    

    See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 3, 2012.
    
				
    
				
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    HISTORIC GAA TICKET WITH A DIFFERENCE MAKES 5,400
    
				February 15th, 2012 
				
    
					
    The historic match ticket to the Bloody Sunday game. (Click on image to enlarge)
    

    AN historic GAA ticket with a difference sold for 5,400 at auction in Co. Clare on February 14.  The ticket to the infamous Bloody Sunday match at Croke Park in 1920 at which 14 unarmed spectators were shot dead aroused huge interest.  Bidders competed on the internet and the telephone, but it was knocked down to a buyer in the room at The Auction Rooms, Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare. The game between Tipperary and Dublin became a turning point in the Anglo-Irish War. In March 2007 another ticket from the game made 7,500 in Dublin.
    

    Bloody Sunday at Croke Park is such a seminal part of modern Irish history that Queen Elizabeth’s trip to the stadium during her historic first visit to the Irish Republic last May is regarded as an important new act of Anglo-Irish reconciliation.
    
				
    
				
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    SEDUCTIVE BACON PORTRAIT MAKES £21,321,250 AT CHRISTIE’S
    
				February 14th, 2012 
				
    
					
    Bacon's portrait of Henrietta Moraes sold for £21,321,250..
    

    Boat, Connemara by Lucian Freud sold for £657,250.
    

    FRANCIS BACON’S Portrait of Henrietta Moraes made £21,321,250 at Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Sale in London on February 14.  Regarded as Bacon’s most seductive female portrait it had been estimated at about £18 million. The sitter was a close friend of the artist and the work was painted towards the end of 1963.
    

    An orange abstract painting by Mark Rothko, estimated at up to £12 million, was withdrawn before the auction.  Lucian Freud’s Boat Connemara sold for £657,250 and Sean Scully’s Wall of Light Stone made £657,250.
    

    The evening auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art totaled £80,576,100, selling 95% by value and 89% by lot. This is the second highest total for the category at Christie’s London. When combined with Post-War & Contemporary art sale from a private European collection on February 9 and 10 sales in the category this month have realised £96.6 million.
    

    Christie’s February auctions of Post War and Contemporary art realised  £109,514,400.   This was the highest total for a series of such sales in London.
    

    See antiquesandartireland.com posts for January 20, 2012, January 30, 2012 and video post for February 9, 2012.
    

     
    
				
    
				
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    YEATS, HENRY AND O’MALLEY AT IRISH ART SALE IN CORK
    
				February 13th, 2012 
				
    
					
    Yeats, Henry and O’Malley all feature at Morgan O’Driscoll’s  Irish art sale at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, Cork on February 20.  The 289 lots on offer feature a broad cross section of Irish art and artists. The catalogue is on-line.  Here is a small selection.  The Yeats and Paul Henry works are featured on an post published on antiquesandartireland.com on January 12, 2012.
    

    Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) 'Garden Impression, Paradise Island, Bahamas' (40,000 - 50,000). (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: WITHDRAWN AT 34,000.
    

    Sean Scully (b.1945) 'Barcelona Diptych' limited edition print 7/24 (3,000 - 4,000) UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 2,600
    

    Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1875-1964) 'In Summer' (3,000 -5,000). (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: THIS FAILED TO SELL
    

    John Noel Smith (b.1952) 'Red/Black Lacerations' (4,000 - 6,000) (Click to enlarge).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 3,800
    
				
    
				
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    CHANGING TASTES OF COLLECTORS EVIDENT AT CHRISTIE’S
    
				February 10th, 2012 
				
    
					
    Personnages et oiseaux devant le soleil, 1946, by Joan Miró (1893-1983) made £5,081,250. (Click on image to enlarge).
    

    THE changing tastes of collectors was evident at a £30 million evening sale at Christie’s in London on February 9. The auction house charted the emergence of the kind of buyer who mixes and matches from different eras and places. This trend was evident at New York’s Armoury Show last month.  The top lot  at the evening auction Living with Art – A private European Collection on February 9 was a work by Miro which sold for just over £5 million. There was a world record of £3.5 million for a still life by Louis Melendez, whose work was subject of a popular exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland some years ago.
    

    This Still Life by Luis Meléndez (1716-1780) made £3,513,250. (Click to enlarge).
    

    “Collectors in today’s art market are no longer constrained to traditional collecting categories and are buying works of art with a focus on aesthetic quality, independent of origin or age. This trend was in great evidence this evening as we saw modern art collectors bidding for tribal art and furniture, and traditional collectors bidding for modern and contemporary pictures”, Orlando Rock, deputy chairman of Christie’s, Europe, said, adding: ‘ It is a great testament to the vision, quality and taste of this private collection that it attracted such competitive and diverse international bidding at this evening’s sale.”
    

    Impressionist and modern art in this sale brought in £15,775,700. Personnages et oiseaux devant le soleil, 1946, by Joan Miró (1893-1983) made £5,081,250.  Femme au fauteuil, 1949, by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) made £4,745,250 and La table devant le bâtiment, 1919, by Juan Gris (1887-1927) made £2,505,250.
    

    This 13th century bronze aquamanile in the form of a lion made £690,850. (Click on image to enlarge).
    

    Post-War and Contemporary Art from the collection realised £8,092,900. The top lot was Katezale (Enchained), 1956, by Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002) which made £1,945,250. Contracorrent (Crosscurrent), 1991, by Miquel Barceló (b. 1957) realised £1,497,250 and Die grosse Fracht (The Heavy Cargo), 2005, by Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) sold for £505,250. Old Master paintings realised £4,450,500. Oranges, nuts, spices, boxes of sweetmeats, a jug and a cask on a table by Luis Meléndez (1716-1780) made £3,513,250 and The Wedding Dance by Pieter Brueghel II (1564/5-1637/8) realised £937,250 against a pre-sale estimate of £500,000 to £800,000. An exceptional North German 13th century bronze aquamanile (an implement used for washing hands at the table) in the form of a lion made £690,850 and a gilt-copper and polychrome  enamel rectangular reliquary chasse from Limoges, circa 1200, realised £217,250.
    
				
    
				
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    BACON AT CHRISTIE’S CONTEMPORARY SALE ON FEBRUARY 14
    
				February 9th, 2012 
				
    
					
    CHRISTIE’S has released videos about specific artworks in the Contemporary art sales in London on February 14.  Here are videos on Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois and Mark Rothko, and also featuring works by Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Yves Klein, Jeff Wall, Lucian Freud, Gerhard Richter and Nicolas de Staël:
    

    UPDATE:  The Bacon sold for £21.3 million and was the top lot, the piece by Louise Bourgeois did not sell and the Rothko was withdrawn. Gerhard Richter”s Abstraktes Bild made £9,897,250 and Agrigente by Nicolas de Staël made £5.3 million. A Piero Manzoni sold for £2.7 million and Lucio Fontana made two million.  Freud’s Boat Connemara made £657,250. A work by Yves Klein sold for £1.7 million.  The work by Jeff Wall sold for £301,250 on February 15. (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for January 20 and January 30, 2012.)
    

    

    

    
				
    
				
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