Barry Flanagan – Lament. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £180,000
Barry Flanagan’s bronze sculpture Lament (2007) at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish evening auction in London on June 6 is a late exemplar of perhaps the artist’s most celebrated series of works. Cast only two years before Flanagan’s death it combines figuration and abstraction, whimsy and sorrow. The hare becomes anthropomorphic, its arms raised in a theatrical gesture. The hare is captured in a moment of expressive exultation or anguish, as the contorted and twisted body appears to be fluctuating on the verge between the two. Number 1 from the edition of 8, plus four artist’s casts, it is estimated at £150,000-£250,000.
Barry Flanagan – Acrobat on Pyramid. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR €127,000
Acrobat on Pyramid by Barry Flanagan (1941-2009) is among the highlights at Sotheby’s Contemporary Discoveries auction in Paris. The sale, which focuses on artwork from the 1960’s to today, is open for bidding from today until February 20 and includes pieces by Andy Warhol, Simon Hantaï, Bernar Venet, Zao Wou-Ki, and Olivier Debré. Acrobat on Pyramid is incised with the artists monogram, numbered AC/2 and bears the Dublin Art Foundry mark. Executed in 2000 it is the artist’s proof number 2 from an edition of 8 plus 4 artist’s proofs. The estimate is €100,000-€150,000.
The Yellow Man by Hughie O’Donoghue. UPDATE: THIS MADE 57,000 AT HAMMER
Hughie O’Donoghue’s Yellow Man II from 2008 from a series inspired by a Van Gogh self-portrait known only from photographs and thought lost in a fire, comes up at Adams sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on June 1. It is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. Another 21st century work of note is Barry Flanagan’s Horse on Anvil (€20,000-€30,000). Best known in Ireland for his remarkable sculptural hares exhibited around O’Connell St. at the time of his Dublin retrospective in 2006 Barry Flanagan is celebrated too for sculpted horses, cougars and elephants. There are prominent horse sculptures by him in Cambridge and in Montreal.
The Bridge at Skibbereen (1919) and The Folded Heart (1943) by Jack Butler Yeats are estimated respectively at €400,000-€600,000 and €250,000-€350,000. Gerard Dillon’s Across from Innislacken (€60,000-€80,000) dates to c1951 while Tony O’Malley’s Arrieta-Orzola (Lanzarote) from 1988 is estimated at €25,000-€35,000. Sun Rising; An extensive wooded landscape with fishermen by George Barret (€100,000-€150,000) is described by Adams as a masterpiece of 18th century Irish art. Chiswick Baths by Sir John Lavery is estimated at €80,000-€120,000. The Adams sale, which includes a 1916 copy of The Proclamation (€150,000-€200,000), is on view at St. Stephen’s Green today and every day until next Wednesday at 4 pm and online. There are 118 lots and it gets underway at 6 pm on Wednesday.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for May 21, 2022)
Horse on Anvil by Barry Flanagan. UPDATE: THIS MADE 30,000 AT HAMMER
David Hockney – The Sea at Malibu, (1988) at the Post War and Contemporary sale on February 11 (£600,000-800,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2016.
Major British artists David Hockney and Barry Flanagan and art by Joan Miró and Andy Warhol from the Miles and Shirley Fiterman collection will feature at Christie’s sales in London in February. Eleven works will be offered at The Art of the Surreal Evening sale on February 2 and the Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction on February 11. This follows the successful sale of work from the collection in New York in November.
From Minnesota to Palm Beach, New York, and beyond, the Fitermans held a lifelong and deeply shared affinity for fine art, and built a collection that featured artistic pioneers such as Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Miró, Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol. Their collection was founded on not only the appreciation of scholarship and visual flair but also an understanding of the importance of establishing longstanding connections with artists.
