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.
Nevill Johnson – Europe 1945. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 13,970
There is more than a sense of history repeating itself in this 1945 work by Nevill Johnson at Sotheby’s Irish Sale in Paris from April 25-May 2. The work was included in Johnson’s solo exhibition with Waddington in April 1950 and reflects his response to the inhumanity and destruction of war. The road sign acts as a signifier of the human figure, and also represents a modern civilisation that seems to have vanished, a road sign standing where no roads remain. A post-atomic cloud floats above a desert of stones, with hills in the distance; the skeletal, lizard-like form in the foreground is likely to be derived from a piece of the driftwood that Johnson collected. It comes up as lot 23 at Sotheby’s with an estimate of €7,000-€10,000. There is work by Roderic O’Conor, Louis le Brocquy, Colin Middleton, Patrick Scott, F E McWilliam, John Behan, Rowan Gillespie and others. The catalogue is online.
A Shining Palace by William Leech (1881-1968) is among the leading lots at Sotheby’s Irish Auction in Paris this year. Sales in 2022 and 2023 drew bidders from the UK, US, Canada, Australia, France, Austria and other European countries. In 2024 Sotheby’s will hold a third instalment of this sale from April 25-May 2 with a number of private tours and artists talks while the sale is on view in Paris. Work by Roderic O’Conor, Louis le Brocquy, Sir John Lavery, Gerard Dillon, FE McWilliam, Melissa O’Donnell, Rowan Gillespie, Orla de Bri, Gareth Reid, who was Sky’s Portrait Artist of the Decade and a group of works by Patrick Scott from the artist’s estate will feature. The auction remains open for consignments until the end of March. Highlights will be on view at Sotheby’s, Molesworth St., Dublin next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (March 26-29). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 50,800
Two artworks by Sir John Lavery and one by Jack B Yeats each made £381,000 (€437,520) at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish art sale in London today. The Donkey Show by Yeats and A Moorish Harem and Ariadne, both by Lavery, all sold above their low estimate of £300,000. The Trotter by Yeats made £88,900 over an estimate of £80,000-£120,000 but Woodhenge by F. E. McWilliam failed to find a buyer. The Modern British and Irish day auction at Sotheby’s takes place tomorrow.
JACK B YEATS – THE DONKEY SHOW. UPDATE: THIS MADE £381,000
The Donkey Show, a 1925 painting by Yeats, is among the headliners at Sotheby’s annual Irish art sales in London on November 21-22. His first painting of the annual Donkey Show at Goff’s Yard in Dublin was burnt in the Royal Hibernian Academy fire during the Easter Rising. In the second version, a decade later, the artist is totally released from his former representational manner. The viewer is invited into the scene by a group of grey donkeys in the foreground with distinctive pitched ears and the work is estimated at €458,440-€687,660. Evening and day sales will offer 54 works of Irish art estimated to bring in more than €2 million. There are two works by Lavery from direct descendants of the artist and contemporary artists featured include Hughie O’Donoghue, Linda Brunker, Orla de Bri, Richard Hearns, Melissa O’Donnell, Jack Coulter, Rowan Gillespie and Nick Miller. Works are on view at the RHA in Dublin today and tomorrow.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for November 2, 2023)
Jack B. Yeats’ – The Trotter. UPDATE: THIS MADE £88,900
Sotheby’s annual Irish Art sale in London on November 21 and 22 will be part of a newly created flagship sales series of Modern British & Irish Art. Evening and Day sales will comprise 54 lots of Irish art and feature the most beloved and esteemed names of the genre with works from the descendants of Sir John Lavery along with art by Jack Butler Yeats, F.E. McWilliam and Gerard Dillon. Together, they are estimated to bring in the region of £2 million. The sales will headline Sotheby’s British & Irish Art week – a dedicated week celebrating the artistic landscape of Britain and Ireland from the 19th to the 21st century.
Two works by Lavery, a Moorish Hareem and Ariadne, are each estimated at £300,000-500,000 / €343,830-573,050. They are from direct descendants of the artist. The Donkey Show and The Trotter by Yeats are estimated respectively at £400,000-600,000 / €458,440-687,660 and £80,000- 120,000 / €91,688 – 137,532.
The Day sale will comprise a dedicated 49 lot portion of Irish art, featuring classical Irish artists like Yeats and Dillon as well as a strong selection of works by contemporary artists including Hughie O’Donoghue, Linda Brunker, Orla de Bri, Richard Hearns, Melissa O’Donnell, Jack Coulter, Rowan Gillespie and Nick Miller. Works will be on view at Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin between November 9-12 and in Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries in London from November 17- 21.
Sir John Lavery – A Moorish Hareem. UPDATE: THIS MADE £381,000
Maurice MacGonigal PPRHA (1900 – 1979) – Autumn Fair Day, Clifden, Connemara (1972). UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,600 AT HAMMER
Anyone of a certain age would not have too much difficulty dating this oil on board by Maurice MacGonigal. The short skirts, the cars, the tarpaulin sheets are all aids to placing this charming painting redolent of its own time sometime in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s. It comes up as lot 29 at the James Adam sale of Important irish Art on the evening of September 27. Viewing gets underway at St. Stephen’s Green on September 22 and the catalogue is online.
Sir William Orpen R.A., R.H.A. – The Normandy Cider Press. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR €36,100
This 1900 oil on canvas by Sir William Orpen comes up as lot 12 at Sotheby’s Irish art sale in Paris. The sale is on view in Paris. It opens for bidding today and runs online until May 10. This painting was once in the collection of Oliver St. John Gogarty, who acquired it from the artist. It is estimated at €30,000-50,000.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for April 2, 2023)
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.
A Thought for Lunch by Conor Harrington at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 11,000 AT HAMMER
The Irish art sale season continues on its merry winter way on November 28 and 29. The sale of Important Irish Art at Whyte’s in Dublin next Monday evening offers significant works in contrasting styles by artists as diverse as Paul Henry and James Brenan to Louis le Brocquy and William Scott. A classical Henry landscape, Turf Stacks in the West, is estimated at €120,000-€180,000, as is an image of W B Yeats by Louis le Brocquy. There are two oils on canvas dated 2004 by Conor Harrington, the renowned Cork street artist and painter, A Thought for Lunch (€10,000-€15,000) and Lost in Space (€8,000-€12,000). The auction is on view at Molesworth St., Dublin this weekend and until 4 pm on Monday.
There will be viewing in Skibbereen on November 28 and 29 for Morgan O’Driscoll’s online evening Irish art sale with 242 lots which gets underway on Tuesday. The selection offers works by Kenneth Webb, Mainie Jellett, Cecil Maguire, Norah McGuinness, Arthur Maderson, Cecil Maguire, Louis le Brocquy and many other artists.
Sweet Pea by Kenneth Webb at Morgan O’Driscoll. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,200 AT HAMMER
