The Irish Sale: Vision and Voice by Bonhams opens for bidding today. Bonhams first sale on the island of Ireland will be on view at the City Assembly House in Dublin from November 24-28. Kieran O’ Boyle, Head of Bonhams Ireland and Northern Ireland commented: “Bonhams will be celebrating those whose vision and voice shaped the cultural and artistic identity of Ireland through Irish art, culture, design, and history. This sale offers an exciting and rich selection of works, not least the remarkable Irish News Collection.” Featuring over 30 works, The Irish News Collection will lead the sale. Formed over 40 years by the late Jim Fitzpatrick, former owner of The Irish News, Ireland’s largest selling morning newspaper, the collection features Irish art from the 19th century to the modern
day. Among the highlights is a portrait by Sir William Orpen (1878-1931) of his daughter Christine, universally known as Kit. Portrait of Kit, estimated at €80,000-120,000, was painted in 1912, when she was just six years old. Other artists represented in this impressive collection include Margaret Clarke, Harry Kernoff, William Conor, Frank
McKelvey, John Behan and Maeve McCarthy.
The sale will showcase works from the collection of Mary Hobart including artists Michael Farrell, William Leech, and John Butler Yeats. Paul Henry is represented in this sale with a quintessential west of Ireland landscape, Killary Bay,
Connemara (€120,000-180,000). The annotated typescripts from James Joyce’s novel, Finnegans Wake have an estimate of €40,000-60,000. Handwritten lyrics of Your song saved my Life by Bono are estimated at €10,000-15,000
