JOHN BEHAN (B.1938) – FAMINE SHIP. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This 2024 famine ship by John Behan is lot 109 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online auction which runs until June 24. The bronze is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. The auction features work by artists as varied as Letitia M Hamilton and Nano Reid to Patrick Hennessy, Harry Kernoff and Barbara Warren. Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Sean Scully are on the catalogue along with Brian Maguire, Willie McKeown and Felim Egan. The catalogue is online and the sale will be on view in Skibbereen from June 20.
GLADYS MACCABE (1918-2018) – STILL LIFE. UPDATE: THIS MADE 750 AT HAMMER
A still life by Glady’s MacCabe features at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online art auction of affordable art. It comes up as lot 51 with an estimate of 600-900. The Northern Irish artist was the founder of The Ulster Society of Women Artists. Bidding ends on the evening of May 27 and the catalogue is online.
DEREK HILL (1916-2000) – INTERIOR. UPDATE: THIS MADE 750 AT HAMMER
Interior, an oil on board by Derek Hill, comes up as lot 205 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current Irish art online auctions which runs until May 20. Measuring 15.5 by 12.6 inches it is estimated at 500-750 in a sale which offers an extensive choice of art and artists. The catalogue is online
FRANCIS BACON (1909-1992) – SECOND VERSION (1944). UPDATE: THIS MADE 26,000 AT HAMMER
THIS triptych by Francis Bacon – a lithograph in Arches wove paper and number 2 from an edition of 60 – comes up as lot 22 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish online art auction which runs until May 20. Each is signed on the lower right. It was co-published by Edition Frédéric Birr and Michel Archimbaud for Librairie Séguier, Paris in 1989. The estimate is €20,000-€30,000.
Crow Feathers by Tony O’Malley (1913-2003). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 at hammer
This 1983 work by Tony O’Malley comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online art sale which runs until April 15. The gouache on card is estimated at €1,200-€1,800. The catalogue for the sale is online and it features a wide variety of art and artists among more than 450 lots from Maurice Wilks to Mark O’Neill, Basil Blackshaw to Louis le Brocquy, John Behan and Oisin Kelly.
Composition by Evie Hone made a hammer price of €125,000 over a top estimate of €70,000 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International Art sale on April 9. It was the top lot at the sale. At the centre of Hone’s richly-coloured composition, framed within arcs and segments of yellow, green, light brown and red, is an intricately juxtaposed colour pattern that suggests a Madonna and Child. Villas near the Sea (Cassis) by Roderic O’Conor made €70,000, Dock St., Belfast by L.S, Lowry made €46,000, Master of Money and Mirrors by Conor Harrington made €40,000, Estuary Forms by John Shinnors and Portrait of Mrs. Jessie Wertheimer by Sir William Orpen each made €32,000 at hammer, The Final Furlong by Liam O’Neill made €30,000 and Portrait of a Lady by Genieve Figgis and Union Hall, West Cork by Donald Teskey each made €29,000.
See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for April 5, March 30 and March 29, 2024
LAURENCE STEPHEN LOWRY (1887-1976) – DOCK STREET, BELFAST (1964). UPDATE: THIS MADE 46,000 AT HAMMER
The painter L.S. Lowry was proud of his Irish heritage and visited regularly from the mid 1950’s. He painted scenes in Dublin, Skerries, Drogheda and Belfast. This drawing of Dock St., Belfast from 1964 comes up as lot 16 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International art sale which runs until April 9. The estimate is €15,000-€20,000. Viewing for the sale gets underway at the Minerva Suite at the RDS today and continues until Monday. The catalogue is online.
Primrose Hill by Frank Auerbach UPDATE: THIS MADE 21,000 AT HAMMER
With signed Andy Warhol and Joan Miro screenprints, contrasting approaches to landscape in views of Primrose Hill by Frank Auerbach and Union Hall by Donald Teskey, an oil on canvas by Conor Harrington, still lifes, interiors and a bravura portrait by Genieve Figgis the April 9 Irish and International sale by Morgan O’Driscoll is characterised by great variety.
The first two artworks of the 164 lots on offer, a pen drawing by Jack B Yeats redolent of an Ireland long vanished and a fairly abstract lithograph entitled Coloured Wall by Sean Scully, illustrate this diversity very well. The most expensively estimated lot is Villas near the Sea, Cassis (1913) by Roderic O’Conor (€70,000-€100,000). At the other end of the cost scale is a 1980 photograph of Samuel Beckett by John Minihan (€300-€500) and an oil on board of The Rosses, Co. Donegal by Estella Solomons (€500-€750).
Artists are often fascinated by the unformed drawings of the very young. At first glance Primrose Hill by Frank Auerbach – a series of crayon squiggles on a page – looks like something your average two or three year old might have produced. The clue is in the title. Look more closely and an image of Hampstead Heath on a summer day emerges, complete with winding path, trees, blue sky and approaching dark clouds. The colour range is precise. In his catalogue entry Peter Murray notes: “Much of the drawing’s zest and energy is created by this understanding of colour theory translated into action that underpins the seemingly random and chaotic marks and results in an impressive work of art created from the simplest materials”. Auerbach’s Primrose Hill (€15,000-€25,000) is indeed fascinating and no, you could not do it yourself.
Union Hall, West Cork by Donald Teskey. UPDATE: THIS MADE 29,000 AT HAMMER
Union Hall by Donald Teskey presents a beguiling picture of the charming west Cork fishing village and is estimated at €20,000-€30,000.
The catalogue cover lot is a screenprint by Andy Warhol titled Ladies and Gentlemen II.135 (1975). The estimate is €7,000-€9,000. A William Scott screenprint, Still Life with Frying Pan and Eggs, is estimated at €5,000-€7,000 and there are etchings and prints by Georges Braque, Damien Hirst, Mr. Brainwash and Joan Miro whose La Megere et La Lune (1973) was published by Maeght Paris and numbered 36 from an edition of 50. A pencil drawing of Dock St., Belfast by L.S. Lowry dates to 1964 and is estimated at €15,000-€20,000.
Master of Money and Mirrors by Conor Harrington. UPDATE: THIS MADE 40,000 AT HAMMER
Master of Money and Mirrors is an oil on canvas by the Cork artist Conor Harrington whose street art propelled him to fame. He is now represented in a growing number of collections and this piece is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. Portrait of a Lady by Dublin born Genieve Figgis, whose use of Twitter propelled her to the international stage, is estimated at €30,000-€50,000.
A portrait of a lady in a white dress by Cork born Adam Buck (1759-1833) is estimated at €2,000-€3,000 and a unique 3D wood relief by Maser has an estimate of €4,000-€6,000. There is sculpture by, among others, John Behan, Rowan Gillespie, Helen Walsh, Patrick O’Reilly, Siobhan Bulfin and Mark Rode.
Viewing takes place in Skibbereen on today, tomorrow and Monday and in Dublin at the RDS from April 5 to April 8. The auction will begin to close at 6.30 pm on April 9.
No to War by Patrick O’Reilly. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,400 AT HAMMER
EVIE HONE (1894-1955) – SKETCH FOR THE PENAL DAYS (c1936-37). UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER
Evie Hone’s design for a small stained glass window made in the 1930’s for An Túr Gloine (The Tower of Glass) comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current Irish and International Art online auction which runs until April 9. The gouache on paper is based on her studies of medieval stone carvings in Ireland. The lunette, which featured at Hone’s retrospective in Dublin in 1958, is now housed the Chapel of Rest at Tallaght University Hospital. The estimate on the sketch is 3,000-5,000.
The sale is on view in Skibbereen on March 29. 30, 31 and on April 1 and at the RDS in Dublin from April 5-8. The catalogue is online.
The first exhibition dedicated to the pioneering stained glass studio An Túr Gloine (The Tower of Glass), founded in 1903 by Sarah Purser is now open at The National Gallery and continues until January 12, 2025. Featured artists include Wilhelmina Geddes, Michael Healy, Catherine O’Brien, Alfred E. Child, Hubert McGoldrick, Ethel Rhind and Evie Hone.
KENNETH WEBB (B.1927) – CONNEMARA BOUQUET. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,800 AT HAMMER
Connemara Bouquet by Kenneth Webb is among the top lots at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current Off the Wall online auction which runs until March 4. It is estimated at €3,000-€5,000. This auction offers a wide selection of affordable art from artists including Norman McCaig, Margaret Egan, Cecil Maguire, Mr. Brainwash, Majella O’Neill Collins, Arthur Maderson, Maurice Wilks, Pauline Bewick, Alicia Boyle and sculptors including Oisin Kelly, Michael Foley and Ray Delaney. The catalogue is online.
