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    • Posts Tagged ‘Colin Middleton’

    COLOURFUL LE BROCQUY TAPESTRY LEADS ADAMS ART AUCTION

    Monday, March 17th, 2025

    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.

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    ONLINE IRISH ART SALE BY MORGAN O’DRISCOLL

    Saturday, March 1st, 2025

    Sean Scully – Raval 7 (1996) (€3,000-5,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER

    The Fishing Village by Colin Middleton leads Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale which ends from 6.30 pm next Tuesday.  It is estimated at €10,000-€15,000.  There is art by Liam O’Neill, Felim Egan, Stephen McKenna, Arthur Maderson, Sean Scully, Mark O’Neill, Graham Knuttel, Kenneth Webb, Dan O’Neill and a wide variety of other popular artists.

    The auction kicks off with an untitled (1973) gouache on paper by Tony O’Malley. Vividly coloured it is estimated at €1,000-€1,500.  This is followed by a gouache of a Lily Pond by Mainie Jellett (€1,200-€1,800). 

    Colin Middleton (1910-1983) – The Fishing Village. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

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    IRISH ART MARKET PROVING TO BE ROBUST

    Saturday, November 30th, 2024

    The Window with a view of the town by Jack B Yeats at Adams. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD AT THE AUCTION AND SOLD LATER FOR €250,000

    The record for an Irish artwork sold in 2024 was broken three times in quick succession at Sotheby’s and Christie’s this month. It was a similar story on the global market.  Expectations around sales of Irish art at Whyte’s, Adams and Bonhams next week are high. 

    First Orpen’s portrait of Evelyn St. George made £720,000 (€864,010) at Sotheby’s, then The Thinker on the Butte de Warlencourt by Orpen made £756,000 (€907,210) at Christie’s followed later in the sale of the Hobart collection by O’Connell Bridge by Jack B Yeats which made £886,000 (€1,063,210).

    The art market is proving to be robust in the face of two years of downturn and continuing global uncertainty. The global market breached the $100 million barrier only once this year when Magritte’s Surrealist masterpiece L’empire des lumieres made $105,000,000 ($121,160,000 with fees) at Christie’s last week.   The more conservative and resilient Irish market got a million euro plus artwork in 2024.

    On the home front the combined top estimate of €2.5 million for the top four lots at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on December 4 speaks volumes about the current state of the Irish art market. The four, three by Yeats and one by Orpen, are from the collection of Jacqueline and Vincent O’Brien. Horsemen (1947) (€500,000-€800,000) and He Reads a Book (1952) (€500,000-€700,000) both feature horses, a subject by Yeats that is particularly prized by collectors. 

    Old John’s Cottage, Connemara by Sir William Orpen at Adams depicts an American wake in 1908. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD AT THE AUCTION AND LATER SOLD FOR €250,000

    There is much excitement around these works, and no wonder.   They are from the collection of Ireland’s greatest trainer, voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll in 2003.  Orpen’s Old John’s Cottage, Connemara is estimated at €300,000-€500,000 as is another Yeats from their collection, The Window with a view of the Town from 1951.

    John Joseph Tracey (1813-1873) – THE IRISH PEASANT’S GRAVE, 1843 AT WHYTE’S. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,000 AT HAMMER

    Paul Henry and Jack B Yeats share the top billing at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International art in Dublin next Monday evening (Dec 2). Killary Bay by Paul Henry and The Dust on thy Chariot Wheel by Yeats are each estimated at €100,000-€150,000. A self portrait by Roderic O’Conor has an estimate of €70,000-€90,000.

    The sale at Whytes includes nine lots from the Bank of Ireland collection including Colin Middleton’s Evening Star, Clonelly, Co. Fermanagh from 1970 (€18,000-€22,000).  There is art by Maurice MacGonigal, William Crozier, Michael Farrell and Peter Collis.  Amongst other lots Walter Osborne’s Girl Feeding a tortoiseshell cat is estimated at €60,000-€80,000 and the sale offers art by Nano Reid, Flora Mitchell, Letitia Hamilton and many more artists. The large sculpture section includes work by Rowan Gillespie, John Coll, Eamonn O’Doherty and Linda Brunker.

    The Irish Sale: Vision and Voice online at Bonhams until December 5 features work by Sir John Lavery, Mainie Jellett, Mary Swanzy, John Doherty, Dan O’Neill and a collection of 20 works by Norah McGuinness consigned by her family.

    The Long Memory (Westerness Series) by Colin Middleton at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 30,000 AT HAMMER

    In New York last week Standard Station – Ten cent Western being torn in half by Ed Ruscha sold for $68.5 million at Christie’s. A monumental Water Lilies by Claude Monet made $65.5 million at Sotheby’s. 

    The question now is will more records be broken in Ireland in December?

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    A DAZZLING PORTRAIT BY ORPEN AT SOTHEBY’S IRISH SALE

    Saturday, November 2nd, 2024

    Sir William Orpen – Portrait of Evelyn St. George. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £720,000

    A dazzling portrait by an artist dazzled by his subject is among the leading lots at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish art auctions in London on November 14 and 15.

    Sir William Orpen’s portrait of Mrs. Evelyn St. George depicts his lover and the woman he was in love with for much of his life.  They met around 1906 through family connections.  The artist’s mother, formerly Annie Caulfield, was related to Howard St. George, an Irish land agent.  Evelyn was an American millionaire, daughter of George Fisher Baker, president of the National Bank of America.  He was considered to be the third richest man in America after Henry Ford and John D Rockefeller.

    Evelyn was eight years older than Orpen and a foot taller. Both were married. Their relationship was long and enduring and they became known as little and large.  She commissioned a number of portraits of herself. Orpen was known for his brilliant portraits of wealthy and fashionable members of Edwardian society. He was knighted in 1918 for his wartime service as an official war artist. A collection of his work is held at the Imperial War Museum in London.

    Sotheby’s describe this painting as one of his greatest masterpieces of portraiture.  Estimated at €720,000-€960,000 it is on display today and tomorrow at the RHA in Dublin alongside a collection of Irish artworks to be offered later this month in London.

    George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson – The Steam Yacht Victoria and Albert in Cork Harbour 1849. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £45,600

    The exhibit and sale will include maritime paintings by the Atkinson family of Cobh collected by the late Dr. Denis Wilson of Cork.  All were exhibited at the Maritime Paintings of Cork exhibition by the Port of Cork at the Crawford Gallery in 2005.  The White Squadron in Cork Harbour and The ironclad battleship Alfred in Cork Harbour by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson are each estimated at £8,000-£12,000 (€9,600-€14,400); The steam yacht Victoria and Albert in Cork Harbour, 1849 and Two Naval Ships at anchor in Plymouth by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson are each estimated at £7,000-£10,000 (€8,400-€12,000) and Three masted barque and two sailing ships at Queenstown by Richard Peterson Atkinson is estimated at £5,000-£7,000 (€6,000-€8,400).

    Colin Middleton – The Piano Player UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    The Bathing Hour, Lido, Venice by Sir John Lavery is estimated at €720,000-€960,000 and the auction will include two works by Gerard Dillon and art by Colin MIddleton, Paul Henry, Nanon Reid, Jack Coulter, Hughie O’Donoghue, Maser, Melissa O’Donnell, Gareth Reid (Sky Portrait artist of the Decade, 2023) Richard Hearns and Blaise Smith.  There is sculpture by John Behan, F.E. McWilliam, Patrick O’Reilly, Rowan Gillespie and Orla de Bri.

    Friday Fare by Nano Reid is from 1945 and was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1950.  One of her best known works it is estimated at €24,000-€36,000.  There will be a pre-sale exhibition at Sotheby’s on New Bond St. in London from November 9-14.

    Nano Reid – Friday Fare, 1945 UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £57,600

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    IMAGE OF BECKETT BY LE BROCQUY TOPS SOTHEBY’S IRISH SALE IN PARIS

    Thursday, May 2nd, 2024

    COLIN MIDDLETON – HALLOWEEN SOLD FOR €63,500

    An image of Samuel Beckett by Louis le Brocquy was the most expensive lot sold at Sotheby’s Irish art sale in Paris today. It made 88,900 against an estimate of 40,000-60,000 in a sale that brought in €529,463. Halloween by Colin Midleton made 63,500 against an estimate of 50,000-80,000 and an image of James Joyce by le Brocquy brought in 63,500 against an estimate of 50,000-70,000. Among the other top lots were A Shining Palace, Venice by William Leech (50,800), Tangier by Sir John Lavery (38,100), Two Clowns Fooling by Camille Souter (21,590), Later Love by Rowan Gillespie (19,050) and Head by Louis le Brocquy (19,050). A 1922 drawing of Michael Collins by Hazel Lavery made 13,970 against a top estimate of 5,000.

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    IRISH ART AND SCULPTURE IN THE FRAME AT UPCOMING SALES

    Sunday, March 24th, 2024

    K. Knitting by Colin Middleton at James Adam. UPDATE: THIS MADE 21,000 AT HAMMER

    This one or that one?  With sales of Irish art at de Veres on Tuesday on March 26, James Adam on the following evening and a Spring online art sale running at Whyte’s until March 25 the key decision facing many collectors of Irish art in the coming week is what to choose.

    If like so many collectors you love John Behan’s Famine Ships and have not yet got around to acquiring one there will be an opportunity to do so at de Veres.  Lot 21, a signed and dated bronze Famine Ship from 2021, is estimated at €8,000-€12,000.  The most expensively estimated lot is Sean Keating’s Eliza Doolittle in Dublin (€50,000-€70,000).  Art by Keating, Colin Middleton, Patrick Collins, John Behan, John B Vallely, Felim Egan and George Russell head up the catalogue at de Veres.  

    Famine Ship (2021) by John Behan at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,000 AT HAMMER

    The sale is characterised by a variety that encompasses fairly abstract works like  Menhirs on the Plain by Patrick Collins (€10,000-€15,000) and Pool by Felim Egan (€7,000-€10,000) to landscapes like Resting in the Wood by George Russell (€7,000-€10,000) and a Wind Blown Tree in Killary by Letitia Marion Hamilton (€4,000-€6,000). There is a collection of works on paper by Mainie Jellett and art by Tim Goulding, Peter Curling, Tony O’Malley, Sean McSweeney, Barrie Cooke, Desmond Carrick,  Roy Lyndsey, Arthur Maderson and many others with estimates from as little as €100.

    Painting and sculpture by many of Ireland’s best loved artists from the 19th century to the present day will feature at Wednesday evening’s sale of Important Irish Art at James Adam. The most expensively estimated lots are The Bog (1911) by Paul Henry (€60,000-€80,000), Spring Morning (1957) by Patrick Collins (€30,000-€50,000)  from the collection of Sir Basil Goulding and K. Knitting by Colin Middleton from the early 1960’s (€15,000-€20,000).  This modernist work in Cubist style depicts the artist’s wife Kathleen in an intimate domestic scene. 

    Aubusson Tapestry entitled Woman and Two Bantam Cocks by Pauline Bewick and Regine Bartsch at James Adam. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER

    There are estimates of from €10,000-€15,000 on Lot and his Daughters by Dan O’Neill, Being by Louis le Brocquy, Solitude, Lough Neagh by Dan O’Neill and Rebuilding of Monte Cassino by Patrick Hennessy which featured on these pages last Saturday. This work was exhibited at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2016 and is one of a number in the sale by Patrick Hennessy and Harry Robertson Craig from the collection of Dublin couple George and Pamela Fegan, friends of both artists. 

    There is a selection of work by women artists like sisters Eva and Letitia Hamilton, Grace Henry, Evie Hone and Pauline Bewick. Bewick is not widely known for her tapestries and the sale offers a collaboration with Kerry based artist Regine Bartsch titled Woman and Two Bantam Cocks.  Woven by Aubusson master weaver Bernard Battu in 2003 it is based on a tapestry woven by Bartsch for Bewick in the mid 1980’s and is estimated at €1,000-€2,000.

    The sale offers 19th century oils by James Arthur O’Connor, John Henry Campbell and Thomas Sautelle Roberts and 20th century sculpture by artists including John Behan, Bob Quinn, Oisin Kelly, Eamon O’Doherty and Patrick O’Reilly.

    The Spring art online sale at Whyte’s celebrates a selection of affordable art from Ireland and around the world. There should be Cork interest in two etchings by James Barry (€500-€700), a pencil drawing by Daniel Maclise (€150-€200) and a miniature portrait of a boy by Adam Buck (€400-€600). There are prints and etchings by William Crozier, Elizabeth Frink, Ronnie Wood, Jack B Yeats, Elizabeth Rivers and Bernard Dunston and a wide selection of work by acclaimed Irish artists.

    Catering for many tastes and both deep and shallow pockets these sales combine to present a fascinating and complex array of beautiful choices.  Now it is over to you….. 

    Wind Blown Tree, Killary by Letitia Marion Hamilton at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 12,000 AT HAMMER

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    HENRY TOPS THE BILL AT WHYTE’S ART SALE

    Monday, March 7th, 2022
    Paul Henry – Lobster Fishermen off Achill

    Paul Henry’s Lobster Fishermen off Achill made a hammer price of 200,000 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art in Dublin this evening. Among other leading hammer prices were Sir John Lavery’s The Earl of Lonsdale KG 1931, 25,000; Louis le Brocquy, Adam, 22,000; John Shinnors, The baby, 20,000; Guggi, Vessels, 20,000; Patrick Scott, The White and Orange Device, 16,000 and Colin Middleton, Evening Boa Island, Co. Fermanagh, 16,000.

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    COLIN MIDDLETON SOARS PAST ESTIMATE AT DREWEATTS

    Thursday, March 18th, 2021

    AN oil on canvas by Colin Middleton, Sundown, Canalridge, No. 2 sold for a hammer price of £13,000 over a top estimate of £5,000 at Dreweatts in Newbury, Berkshire today. Dated January 1960 it was from a private collection of Irish art including in a sale of Modern and Contemporary Art by the English auctioneers. Kitty Wilmer O’Brien’s Boathaven, Old Head, Louisburg, Co. Mayo made £3,700 at hammer over a top estimate of £1,500, a Markey Robinson of Shawlies in the Village made £2,800 over a top estimate of £2,000, Gallery Visitors by Gladys Maccabe made £1,800 over a top estimate of £1,500 and works by Henry Healy and Sean McSweeney also exceeded the top estimates.

    (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for March 13, 2021 and February 16, 2021)

    Colin Middleton (Irish 1910-1983), Sundown: Carnalridge. No. 2

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    MIDDLETON AND O’DONOGHUE AND SOTHEBY’S ONLINE

    Thursday, September 10th, 2020

    Artworks by Hughie O’Donoghue and Colin Middleton feature at Sotheby’s Made in Britain auction online until September 16. The sale of art and objects by artists and makers working in Britain in the 20th and 21st offers paintings, works on paper, sculpture, prints, photography, design and studio and contemporary ceramics. There are ceramics by Lucie Rie and Jennifer Lee, paintings from Gary Bunt and Mary Fedden, photographs from Terry O’Neill and a selection of prints by David Hockney. A group of Donald Hamilton Frasers offered from the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum is included too.

    HUGHIE O’DONOGHUE | MEDUSA: EXODUS (£15,000-£25,000). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £20,160

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    AFFORDABLE ART AT MORGAN O’DRISCOLL SALE

    Thursday, January 23rd, 2020

    The latest ‘Off the Wall’ affordable Irish art auction by Morgan O’Driscoll runs until the evening of January 27. There are 439 lots on offer with work by a variety of artists including Julian Opie, Norman McCaig, Estella Solomons, Colin Middleton, Graham Knuttel, John Morris, Henry McGrane and many more. The catalogue is online.

    Julian Opie (b.1958) Imagine You Can Order These Green (1999)
    lithograph – published by the artist in 1999 . UPDATE: THIS MADE 500 AT HAMMER

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