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Paul Henry RHA RUA (1876-1958) – Mountain Landscape with Cottages c.1926-30
Paul Henry’s Mountain Landscape with Cottages and Early Morning in the Markets, Quimperlé (1883) by Walter Osborne shared top honours at the sale of Important Irish Art at James Adam in Dublin on May 29. Each made €110,000 at hammer. The Water Steps by Jack Yeats made €100,000 and Crossing the Canal Bridge, from the Tram Top (1927) by Yeats made €90,000.
Louis le Brocquy HRHA, 1916-2012 – Milles Tetes Gris Noir Blanc
This Aubusson tapestry by Louis le Brocquy, hand made by Tabard Freres & Soeurs, was the top lot at de Veres outstanding Irish art a sculpture auction in Dublin this evening. It made a hammer price of 155,000. A portrait entitled Edith, Gypsy Girl by Sir William Orpen made 100,000, The Overflow of the Canal by Jack B Yeats and an Image of W B Yeats by Le Brocquy each made 70,000, a Still Life by Roderic O’Conor made 60,000, a landscape by John George Mulvany (1766-1838) and Game of Chance by Colin Middleton from the Wilderness series each made 40,000. The auction brought in €1.6 million and was 85% sold.
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871 – 1957) – Crossing the Canal Bridge, from the Tram Top (1927). UPDATE: THIS MADE 90,000 AT HAMMER
This unusual night oil on panel by Yeats shows a view from the top of a double decker tram as it crosses the Grand Canal at Portobello in Dublin. The No. 15 tram ran from Nelson’s Pillar via Rathmines to Terenure. It comes up at Adams sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on May 29 with an estimate of 70,000-100,000. Viewing for the sale gets underway in Dublin today and continues until May 29. The catalogue is online.
The Captain by Jack B Yeats was the top lot at the James Adam sale of important Irish Art in Dublin tonight. It made €95,000 at hammer. Near Leenane by Paul Henry made €80,000, Aran Harbour by Sean Keating made €75,000, The Colloquy of Monus and Una, a pencil, ink and watercolour by Harry Clarke made €70,000, Keem Bay by Paul Henry made €65,000 and Paysage Sinistre by Henry made €60,000.
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.
Near the Docks, a small oil on panel by Jack B. Yeats, made a hammer price of €110,000 at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin this evening. An oil on board by Gerard Dillon, Norah and Johnny Conneely restirng, made €95,000 on the hammer, Girl with a Ruff Collar by Dan O’Neill made €40,000, Morning by John Shinnors made €38,000, Portrait of Paddy Moloney by Edward McGuire made €35,000, Gantries on a Sunday, Belfast by Harry Kernoff made €28,000, Peace II by Rowan Gillespie made €28,000, Sleeper in Spare Room by Gerard Dillon made €24,000, Dargle, Moonlight and Ruin by James Arthur O’Connor made €22,000 and Valley Walk II by Donald Teskey made €17,000.
The Sick Bed and The Duet, both by Yeats, made hammer prices of €160,000 and €70,000 respectively at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin tonight. They had been estimated at €150,000-€200,000 and €70,000-€100,000. Connemara Hills by Paul Henry made €92,000 over a top estimate of €60,000. Fantail, an oil on canvas by Louis le Brocquy made €50,000 (€40,000-€60,000) and The Garlanded Goat, an Aubusson tapestry designed by le Brocquy made €46,000 (40,000-€60,000). Abstract Composition by Evie Hone made €34,000 (€15,000-€25,000) and Lighthouse Man’s twin cats and Washing by John Shinnors made €30,000 (€30,000-€50,000). Children playing in a woodland glade by George Russell made €28,000 over a top estimate of €15,000 and Valley Wind, Jemisa by Tony O’Malley made €24,000 at hammer (€15,000-€25,000).
The auction brought in €1.135m gross and recorded a sold rate of 78%.
Among the highlights of a sale with something for everyone by Fonsie Mealy in Castlesomer on November 16 is an artwork by Jack B Yeats which focuses the mind on people with little or nothing. The Ballad Singers’ Children depicts the children of an itinerant singer left to fend for themselves in a makeshift tent while their parent tries to make a living at a race meeting nearby. A barefoot girl, the eldest of the three, looks out at a torrential downpour from a shelter made of tarpaulin spread over branches. The oil on board of a not untypical scene from the west of Ireland in the opening years of the 20th century speaks to our 21st century world with its growing numbers of dispossessed refugees. In this poignant work Yeats sides with the poor and the oppressed. It was exhibited in Dublin in 1902 and at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool in 1903. Acquired in that year by his patron the New York lawyer John Quinn it is now estimated at €10,000-€15,000.
The west of Ireland features in a trio of Aran Island works by Sean Keating. From a private institutional collection they are on the market for the first time. Waiting for the Steamer, Aran Islands is estimated at €50,000-€70,000, Man and Woman collecting Seaweed is estimated at €30,000-€40,000 and Village on the Aran Islands is estimated at €15,000-€20,000, Milking the cows by Maurice MacGonigal dates to around 1934 and is estimated at €7,000-€9,000. An 1880’s portrait of the artist Walter Osborne, who died of pneumonia aged just 43, by his friend and fellow artist August Burke is estimated at €5,000-€7,000. Eruption of Mount Vesuvius by William Sadler c1825 is estimated at €4,000-€6,000.
Lovers, an Aubusson tapestry by the late Pauline Bewick shows a couple locked in a passionate embrace on a seashore beneath the stars with a lighthouse in the background. In a catalogue note Dr. Peter Murray describes it as one of her finest works which sums up her affirmation of life and love. Composition by Evie Hone dates to 1925 and is estimated at €4,000-€6,000. There is more than 400 lots including prints, drawings, sketches, watercolours, oils and sculpture including work by John Behan, Edward Delaney and Brid Ni Rinn. Collectibles include a limited edition of Ulysses by James Joyce signed by Henri Matisse, Sumo by Helmut Newton and The Tain illustrated by Louis le Brocquy. A selection of wines and whiskies includes some rare Midletons.
The auction of outstanding Irish Art and Sculpture which runs until June 14 at de Veres offers significant works by Roderic O’Conor and Jack B Yeats alongside artists from David Godbold, Tony O’Malley and Norah McGuinness to contemporary artists like Hughie O’Donoghue and Elizabeth Magill to the sculptures of Sandra Bell, Patrick O’Reilly and F.E. McWilliam.
A Lament (The Funeral of Harry Boland) by Yeats is, at €250,000-€350,000, the most expensively estimated work closely followed by The Breaking Wave by Roderic O’Conor (€200,000-€300,000). There are estimates from €500 up in this auction of 126 lots including more than 50 works of sculpture. It all adds up to an auction of quality with something for all tastes. The catalogue is online and the sale is now open for bidding.
This Yeats painting is again on show in Paris this week. Sotheby’s has included it in their exhibition and viewing of lots for Ireland / France: Art and Literature sale which is open online for bidding until May 16. The sale includes a strong group of paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures by Ireland’s leading artists from the 19th century to the present day, including Roderic O’Conor, John Lavery, Jack B. Yeats, Mainie Jellett, William Scott and Rowan Gillespie. In addition are a select group of books by Ireland’s celebrated writers including Joyce, Beckett and Yeats.
The auction coincides with the centenary anniversary of the 1922 World Congress of the Irish Race – a significant event in modern Irish history in which the newly founded Irish State participated in a week-long international conference in Paris to promote the country’s national identity. In attendance were Irish politicians, diaspora delegates, writers, artists and musicians. It is on view in Paris until May 14.
