Harry Kernoff – Clare Island from Foynes on the River Shannon (1929) UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,700 AT HAMMER
John Shinnors, Patrick Scott, Sir William Orpen, Harry Kernoff and Dan O’Neill are amongst the stellar line up of Irish artists featured at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online auction which runs until July 28. Don Quixote (Self-Portrait) by Dan O’Neill (€6,000-€9,000) was in the collection of the late Gerald Goldberg, former Lord Mayor of Cork. It featured in the sale of contents from his Rochestown Road residence by Mealy’s back in 2004.
Market Place at Cany by Sir William Orpen, once in the Orpen Family collection, was shown at the Orpen Centenary Exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland in 1978. The mixed media work is estimated at €3,000-€4,000. An oil on board by Harry Kernoff, Clare Island from Foynes, Co. Limerick on the River Shannon dates to 1929 and is estimated at €3,000-€5,000. Falling, an oil on linen by John Shinnors dates to 2000-01 and has an estimate of €8,000-€12,000. The catalogue is online.
James Brohan – Harvest Time. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,800 AT HAMMER
Sean Keating – Study for An Allegory. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The pointlessness of civil war, specifically the Irish civil war, is the inspiration for this watercolour and charcoal study by Sean Keating. Based on his famous An Allegory at the National Gallery and unseen in public for many years it comes up at Dolan’s timed online auction which runs until August 26 with an estimate of €60,000-€80,000. Central to the painting is a mother and her baby, wrapped in white for purity and innocence. The figure is Sean Keating’s wife May in the guise of Mother Ireland. Keating portrays himself at her side, weary of the destruction of the Civil War which followed the War of Independence.
The catalogue for the sale, which features Irish art including a watercolour titled A Limerick Farm (1929) by Harry Kernoff and Salthill Diving Boards by Susan Cronin, rare Irish Midleton and Jameson whiskey along with wine, stamps, books and collectibles including a wooden rocking horse, is online.
Harry Kernoff – A Limerick Farm (1929). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This 1936 portrait of Desmond McCarthy by Harry Kernoff comes up at the James Adam online picture auction which runs until July 16 with an estimate of €1,000-€1,500. The foremost literary and dramatic critic of his day Sir Charles Otto Desmond McCarthy was a descendant of the last McCarthy chief and a member of the Cambridge Apostles. Born in Plymouth in 1877 and a part of the Bloomsbury group he became a journalist in 1903. As literary editor of the New Statesman he recruited Cyril Connolly in the 1920’s. Later on McCarthy became a literary critic for The Sunday Times. The artist Harry Kernoff painted numerous portraits of many figures in the public eye, including W B Yeats, Sean O’Casey and Eamon de Valera. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD.
The accessories of a Manchu gentleman at Adams. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The embroidered silk accessories of a Manchu gentleman and a fine pair of arts and crafts hanging tapestries or a suite of sapphire, ruby and diamond ring with ear clips and a homage by Harry Kernoff to Francois Boucher’s portrait of Marie Louise O’Murphy, mistress of King Louis XV of France, the choice is yours at sales in Ireland next week.
These unusual lots can be found respectively at a Fine Asian and African art sale at James Adam and Aidan Foley’s online auction of contents from the Convent of St. Joseph of Cluny in Killiney on June 25 and at The Jewellery Box sale at Adams and Morgan O’Driscoll’s online art auction on June 24.
If lot 101 at Adams is any guide the Manchurians dressed to impress. They conquered China in the 17th century, established the Qing Dynasty and ruled for more than 250 years, The 19th century gentleman’s embroidery yellow silk accessories showcase a peacock, three goats representing peace and prosperity and a phoenix surrounded by peonies as part of a set featuring a fan holder, a double gourd betel nut pouch, a wallet and a pocket watch holder. The estimate is a cool €6,000-€8,000. Among 574 lots on offer are Tibetan fabrics, Chinese ceramics, ritual bronze vessels, carved jades, gilt bronze figures, a Japanese lacquered tray, cloisonne, mother of pearl inlaid furniture and even a fetish statue from the Congo.
A pair of Art and Crafts hanging tapestries at Aidan Foley’s sale. UPDATE: THIS LOT MADE 720 AT HAMMER
Nearer home but no less exotic is a pair of Arts and Crafts hanging tapestries (€600-€1,000) at Aidan Foley’s online auction in conjunction with Niall Mullen of contents from the St. Joseph of Cluny convent offers all sorts of choices. There is a selection of antique furniture, a brass and gilded tabernacle, a walnut organ, a collection of linen, kneelers and church pews and ecclesiastical brass items. The sale will be on view at the convent in Killiney from today.
Early 20th century aquamarine and diamond earrings at Adams. UPDATE: THESE MADE 7,000 AT HAMMER
A pair of early 20th century aquamarine and diamond pendant earrings of chandelier design feature among an appetising selection of 289 lots at the Jewellery Box sale at Adams on Monday afternoon. The estimate is €4,000-€5,000, not quite as much as a single stone diamond ring of 3.01 carats graded as G colour which is, at €7,000-€8,000, the most expensively estimated lot of the auction. Other top lots include a diamond and sapphire crossover bangle (€6,500-€7,300), a pair of diamond pendant earrings (€5,000-€7,000) and three c1987 gem set Patrizia rings by Marina B with pink tourmaline, citrine and blue topaz (€5,500-€6,500). There are lots from €50 euro upwards.
Marie Louise O’Murphy after Boucher by Harry Kernoff at Morgan O’Driscoll. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,000 AT HAMMER
At Morgan O’Driscoll’s online art auction next Monday evening Harry Kernoff’s homage to Marie Louise O’Murphy after Boucher is estimated at €2,000-€3,000. In later years Boucher’s painting was also referenced by Michael Farrell (1940-2000) who produced political versions in a Miss O’Murphy series in the 1970’s and ’80’s. There is a 2024 Famine Ship by John Behan (€15,000-€20,000), a Cubist Still Life by Nano Reid (€500-€700), continental landscapes by Letitia Hamilton (€6,000-€9,000), three offset lithographs from Andy Warhol’s Endangered Species series (1,500-€2,000) and Duffy’s Circus by Barbara Warren (€400-€600) among a particularly wide selection of art. All catalogues are online.
Edwin Mercer will display this Victorian lady’s vanity box at the Limerick fair this weekend.
In the run up to Christmas the antique and art season is beginning to really hot up. Limerick racecourse is the venue for the National Antiques, Art and Vintage fair today and tomorrow. Outstanding Irish art will come under the hammer at de Veres in Dublin next Tuesday and Sotheby’s expects around €2 million worth of Irish art to change hands at evening and day sales in London on Tuesday and Wednesday. The calendar for the next few weeks is brimful of interest and offers a huge array of choice to eager collectors across all price levels and genres. Limerick Racecourse has proven to be an ideal venue for Hibernian Antique Fairs. There is easy access and lots of space for antique shops, art galleries and vintage dealers. An across the board selection this weekend includes a Victorian vanity box complete with travel accessories, bottles and even hat pins. Along with a covetable selection of antique furniture including a c1790 Irish double sided library table with hairy paw feet and Irish art there are selections of clocks and watches, militaria, jewellery, porcelain and silver.
Rugby Sculpture (2007) by Barry Flanagan at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 40,000
Art by Paul Henry, Walter Osborne, Gerard Dillon, Tony O’Malley, Norah McGuinness, William Scott, John Shinnors and Barry Flanagan will feature strongly at de Veres on Tuesday evening. Bidding on this timed online sale which draws to a close from 6 pm on November 21 is already open. It is on view at Kildare St. in Dublin for the next four days.
Bathers, Naylor’s Cove, Bray by Harry Kernoff at Sotheby’s in London. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The evening and day sales at Sotheby’s in London on November 21 and 22 are part of British and Irish art week, a series of events celebrating the art of Ireland and Britain from the 19th to the 21st centuries. A total of 54 lots of Irish art will feature with the evening sale headed by two works from Sir John Lavery and two by Jack B Yeats. The Lavery’s have emerged from the collection of the artists family. Another evening highlight is a significant early carving by F.E. McWilliam titled Woodhenge. The estimate for the piece is €229,220-€343,830. Meantime Bonhams first sale on the island of Ireland is now open for bidding online. The Irish Sale: Vision and Voice will offer art by Paul Henry, Donald Teskey, Sir William Orpen, Maeve McCarthy, Margaret Clarke, Frank McKelvey, Wiliam Leech and Jack B Yeats along with an annotated typescript of Finnegans Wake by James Joyce and handwritten lyrics of Your Song Saved My Life by Bono. The auction will be on view at the City Assembly House in Dublin from November 24-28, when the sale will be held.
Woodhenge by F.E. McWilliam at Sotheby’s. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Harry Kernoff – La Place du Tertre Montmartre at Sotheby’s Irish art sale in Paris. UPDATE; THIS MADE €50,800
Art by Harry Kernoff, Hughie O’Donoghue and Rowan Gillespie will feature among a strong selection at Sotheby’s second Irish art sale in Paris in May. Highlights from the auction will be on view at Sotheby’s on Molesworth St. in Dublin on April 3, 4 and 5. Already consigned are works by William Leech, Roderic O’Conor, John Yeats, Louis le Brocquy, Sean Scully, Patrick Scott, Basil Blackshaw, Camille Souter, LM Hamilton, Jack Coulter, Maser and Richard Hearns.
In his painting La Place du Tertre, Montmartre Harry Kernoff discreetly places himself wearing his customary trilby hat in a cafe named Jeune Peinture. It is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. Hughie O’Donoghue’s Medusa III (€15,000-€20,000) is from a series in which he engages with the past using personal records of his father’s experience of World War II to create intense and emotionally powerful images. Given that the book was first published in Paris Ripples of Ulysses, Study, 1999 (€10,000-€15,000) by Rowan Gillespie is especially apt. It relates to two life sized James Joyce sculptures, one at the Merrion Hotel, Dublin the other at Regis University, Denver. The artist places Joyce at the centre of his masterpiece, Ulysses, the words of which ripple outwards in 18 concentric circles. The sculpture spins because it is never ending.
Hughie O’Donoghue – Medusa III at Sotheby’s Paris. UPDATE; THIS WAS UNSOLD
Incrementum 2020/2023 by Richard Hearns is estimated at €8,000-€12,000. Born in Beirut during the civil war and adopted as an infant by an Irish UN peacekeeper the Burren based painter has said his dual heritage has inspired his paintings. He is considered to be one of the most exciting abstract painters working in Ireland today by Sotheby’s. The inaugural Irish art sale in Paris in May 2022 saw strong international bidding and a world record for a work on paper by Mainie Jellett. It also led to the return of many Irish artworks to this country. The success of that sale, which coincided with the centenary of the World Congress of the Irish Race in 1922, has spurred Sotheby’s on to repeat it in 2023. All international exposure of Irish art is to be welcomed. Bidding for this sale opens online on May 4 and runs until May 10. The auction will be on view at Sotheby’s, Paris on those dates.
Harry Aaron Kernoff – Last Bastion of the Old Theatre Royal. UPDATE: THIS MADE £17,640
Last Bastion of the Old Theatre Royal by Harry Kernoff – a rare record of Dublin past – comes up at Sotheby’s timed online Irish art sale which closes this afternoon with an estimate of £15,000-£25,000. Kernoff painted the remains of the Second Theatre Royal, which closed its doors in 1934, and was demolished shortly after. The first Theatre Royal was built 1821 and destroyed by fire in 1880. In 1897, the actor-manager Frederick Mouillot and a group of Dublin businessmen set about rebuilding the historic site, which was eventually redesigned by Frank Matcham. The theatre was noted for its opera and musical comedy, and in later years it was converted into a cinema. Mouillot worked tirelessly to draw in big name stars and companies to perform. In the early 1900s the theatre attracted Edward VII, who attended a state performance, and Charlie Chaplin, who performed as part of a musical act. A third Theatre Royal was built in 1935, and was a lively feature of the Dublin nightlife well into the 1960s.
Kernoff was extremely in the theatrical community and like his contemporary Lilian Lucy Davidson produced theatre designs throughout his career. In Kernoff’s portrayal, the theatre retains a certain a sense of its former glory, towering above the street like a medieval Cathedral.
UPDATE: Village on the Hill by Gerard Dillon made £94,500 over a top estimate of £60,000 and Paul Henry’s Entrance to Killarney Harbour made £75,600 over a top estimate of £60,000.
A set of 13 masquerade costumes by Harry Kernoff UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,000 AT HAMMER
Irish art sales continue their merry way at de Vere’s in Dublin on October 11. There is art by Sean McSweeney, Charles Brady, Tony O’Malley, Anne Yeats, Markey Robinson, Brian Maguire, Gerard Dillon and many others among 170 lots on the catalogue. A set of 13 masquerade costumes by Harry Kernoff is, at €8,000-€12,000 the most expensively estimated lot. A nude by Donald Teskey is estimated at €6,000-€9,000 and a landscape by Dan O’Neill is estimated at €5,000-€7,000. A wooden sculpture of an Irish dancer by Oisin Kelly is estimated at €1,000-€2,000. All price points are catered for and estimates range from €100-€12,000.
Irish Dancer by Oisin Kelly. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,700 AT HAMMER
Harry Kernoff, R.H.A. – Sunday Evening – Place du Combat, Paris – sold for 94,500
A 1937 oil by Harry Kernoff – Sunday Evening, Place du Combat, Paris – sold for €94,500 over a top estimate of €60,000 at Sotheby’s Ireland / France : Art and Literature sale in Paris today. Roderic O’Conor’s Rocks and Foam, St. Guénolé sold for €352,800; Pieta by Mainie Jellett made €88,200 over a top estimate of €25,000; A Sandhill near Tralee Bay by Jack B Yeats made €50,400 as did Bottle Still Life by William Scott and The Newly Married Man by Sean Keating made €44,100. The sale total was €928,116.
An art and antiques auction by Dolan’s takes place at Castletroy Park Hotel in Limerick on November 25. Paintings include Endymion, a Dubliner mentioned by James Joyce in Ulysses. Endymion was the nickname of James Farrell, a Dublin eccentric born in 1851 who worked for a time as an excise officer, reputedly in Guinness. He was injured when he tried to rescue a colleague who had fallen into a brewery vessel. In Dublin lore according to Oliver St. John Gogarty he went ‘natural’ after falling into an empty vat and breathing the fumes. He became eccentric and suffered from delusions. He lived in rented accommodation at various addresses in Dublin, which included boarding houses in Pleasants Street, off Camden Street, on Charlemont Road, Clontarf and Baggot Street, but was harmless and well liked. The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:
Harry Kernoff RHA, Endymion, (2,500 – 3,500 )
George Campbell, City Blues, Toledo, (8,000 – 10,000)
