Prodigal Son by Hughie O’Donoghue, which comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International art auction on April 26, is based on a poignant First World War photograph from the Imperial War Museum in London. The subject – a dazed German soldier waiting for stretcher bearers – is linked by O’Donoghue to his Kerry grandfather, countless economic migrants like him and even preserved Iron Age bodies found in bogland. According to a catalogue note by Aidan Dunne they all represent painting as an act of excavation for the artist, a means of recording lost and forgotten histories of people helplessly caught up in the currents of their time like emigration, war and disaster. O’Donoghue, he explains, addresses the universal in the particular, the nature of life and the limitations within which people pursue their ambitions.
STEVE BURGESS (B.1960) CANADIAN – Pint and a Packet (2021). UPDATE: THIS MADE 850 AT HAMMER
REDOLENT of a pub culture slowly returning to Ireland Pint and a acket by Canadian artist Steve Burgess is lot 6 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall online art auction which runs until March 14. The oil on board, signed and dated ’21, is estimated at 800-1,200. There is a selection of highly affordable art and sculpture on offer. The catalogue is online and the sale is on view on March 10, 11 and 14 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s offices in Skibbereen.
Anne Yeats (1919-2001) – Image of Solitude at Whyte’s (€3,000-€5,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,800 AT HAMMER
With big sales in the offing by Whyte’s, Morgan O’Driscoll, de Veres and Adams and Sotheby’s actively seeking works for a major sale in Paris in May the selling year for Irish art really notches up a gear this month. War in Ukraine notwithstanding there is at this stage little to suggest that 2022 will not equal or even surpass the stellar year that was 2021 when the market performed in a rock solid fashion.
The evening sale of Irish and International Art by Whyte’s at Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth St., Dublin on March 7 is on view this weekend. There is work by Paul Henry, Dan O’Neill, Colin Middleton, Sir John Lavery, Roderic O’Conor, Grace Henry, Walter Osborne, Norah McGuinness, Anne Yeats, John Shinnors, Patrick Hennessy, Patrick Scott, Louis le Brocquy, Pauline Bewick, Stephen McKenna and many others. The sale includes a selection of work from the collection of Lady Augusta Gregory with art by John and Jack Yeats, George Russell and Robert Gregory. Among them are portraits of Robert Gregory and J.M. Synge by John Butler Yeats. The most expensively estimated work is Lobster Fishermen off Achill by Paul Henry (€200,000-€300,000). Dan O’Neill’s Girl with Tambourine is estimated at €30,000-€50,000, as is another Paul Henry work, a west of Ireland landscape from 1929. Adam, one of three works from Louis le Brocquy’s Garden tapestries series (1999-2011) is estimated at €30,000-€40,000. A number of works on offer, like Grace Henry’s Fair Day, Connemara (€15,000-€20,000), Figure and Cottages, Carraroe by Charles Lamb (€2,000-€3,000) and Ireland’s Teardrop (The Fastnet Rock) Ciaran Clear’s atmospheric night oil complete with large sailing ship presumably headed out to the Atlantic (€3,000-€5,000), hark back to a vanishing Ireland of yesteryear. There is no shortage of contemporary art including an archival pigment print by the Cork street artist making big international waves Conor Harrington (born 1980) whose Study for the Blind Exit is estimated at €4,000-€6,000 at Whyte’s. On a completely different tack is Sir John Lavery’s 1931 oil sketch for the portrait of Hugh Lowther, the Earl of Lonsdale commissioned by the city of Doncaster. The second son, Hugh was not expected to inherit the title and his wild youth included running away from Eton to join the circus. Later in life Lonsdale promoted Doncaster race course and opened the airport, was first president of the National Sporting Club, inaugurated The Lonsdale Belt in 1909, was a senior steward at the Jockey Club and chaired the Automobile Association and Arsenal Football Club. The Lavery is estimated at €25,000-€40,000.
Albert Hartland (1840-1893) – Gougane Barra, Co. Cork at Morgan O’Driscoll (€400-€600). UPDATE: THIS MADE 460 AT HAMMER
There will be viewing in Skibbereen on Monday and Tuesday for O’Driscoll’s Important Irish Art auction which gets underway at 6.30 pm on March 8. Morgan O’Driscoll is the online sale specialist and this auction will attract a national and international following. Arthur Maderson, Evie Hone, Kenneth Webb, Markey Robinson, Bridget Flannery, Patrick Scott, Roderic O’Conor, Jack Yeats, Paul Henry, Maurice Wilks, Pauline Bewick, Sean Scully, Brian Maguire, Mr. Brainwash, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Christo, John Behan, Siobhan Bulfin and Helen Walsh are among the artists and sculptors whose work will feature in a wide ranging sale of 264 lots in total.
Andy Warhol(1928-1987) American – Marilyn (Announcement Castelli Graphics 1981) offset lithograph in colours on wove paper. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,800 AT HAMMER
Andy Warhol’s Marilyn lithograph comes up as lot 51 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current online auction of Important Art which runs to March 8. The signed image, printed by Colour Editions, Inc. and published by Castelli Graphics, New York, as an announcement for their exhibition ‘Warhol: A Print Retrospective 1963 – 1981’, is estimated at €4,000-€6,000. With art by Pauline Bewick, Damien Hirst, Paul Henry, Donald Teskey, Mr. Brainwash, Maurice Wilks and Cecil Maguire the sale offers a wide variety of art to collectors of every sort. The catalogue is online.
ARTHUR ARMSTRONG (1924-1996) – The Study. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,100 AT HAMMER
The Study by Arthur Armstrong comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current online sale of Irish art which runs until January 31. The oil on canvas measuring 13.6″ x 10.6″ is estimated at 600-900. The catalogue is online and the auction of 449 lots is on view in Skibbereen on today, tomorrow and Monday.
DAMIEN HIRST (B.1965) BRITISH – Self Portrait (2008). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,100 AT HAMMER
In 2007, just before the financial crash, a diamond encrusted platinum skull by Damien Hirst was bought by an investment group for $100 million. Cast from a 35-year-old 18th century European man and retaining the original teeth, the skull is coated with 8,601 diamonds with a large pink diamond on the forehead.
An x-ray self portrait skull by Hirst comes up at lot 118 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online art auction, which runs to January 24. The limited edition light box and x-rays piece is estimated at just €500-700. No diamonds this time.
MARKEY ROBINSON (1918-1999) – Winter Landscape. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
This winter landscape by Markey Robinson comes up as lot 9 in Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online sale, which runs until January 10. The work in gouache is estimated at 2,000-3,000. Morgan O’Driscoll’s auction is on view in Skibbereen by appointment and subject to the current government Covid guidelines. There are 447 lots in the auction and the catalogue is online.
BANKSY (20TH/21ST CENTURY) – Peckham Rock (2018). UPDATE: THIS MADE 700 AT HAMMER
This wooden replica of Peckham Rock by Banksy recreated by the British Museum in 2018 is Lot 43 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall online art auction which runs until January 10. Unframed it measures 4.9″ x 7.2″ and the framed size if 14.6″ x 13.8″. It is estimated at 500-600. There are 447 lots on offer and the catalogue is online.
Home to Cuas by the Dingle based artist Liam O’Neill made a hammer price of €14,000 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall art auction last week. It is a colourful treatment of three men in a currach returning from a fishing trip. Cuas is located near Brandon Creek, reputed to be the starting point for St. Brendan to set sail across the Atlantic in the 6th century.
KENNETH WEBB (B.1927) – Spring Meadow. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER
Spring Meadow by Kenneth Webb comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online sale of Irish art. The small oil on canvas is estimated at €1,200-€1,800. The catalogue for this sale of 450 lots is online. The auction runs to the evening of December 6.
