An advertising print for the Dingle Peninsula by Paul Henry. UPDATE: THIS MADE 180 AT HAMMER
Over 500 lots will come under the hammer at O’Donovan’s in Newcastle West on August 29. The online only sale includes an advertising poster for the Dingle Peninsula with artwork by Paul Henry, a signed Pelé Brazil CBD jersey, a signed poster of The Pogues and a Versace exhibition poster for the V & A Museum featuring Linda Evangelista along with a selection of antiques, collectibles, vintage tools, fishing gear and collectibles. The catalogue is online.
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012) – STATES OF BEING 2, 1964 (TRIPTYCH) made €26,000 at hammer
A total of €1.3 million was realised at Whyte’s Irish art sale in Dublin on May 25. The top lot was Dapping on Lough Mask by Paul Henry which made a hammer price of €230,000. Travelling People by Louis le Brocquy made €145,000. Mass in a Connemara Cabin by Aloysius O’Kelly made €40,000 at hammer over a top estimate of €30,000 and a portrait of Daniel O’Connell by Nicholas Joseph Crowley made €29,000 over a top estimate of €8,000. Art by Markey Robinson, Ciaran Clear and Derek Clarke all sold for above the top estimate. Whyte’s say their sale demonstrated a continuing strong demand for art of quality.
Lot 46, Portrait of Poet John Jordan 1958 by Pauline Bewick sold before the auction to a public gallery for €6,000. A number of lots sold after the auction including John Luke’s the Mournes 1939 at €50,000 and Basil Blackshaw’s The Morning Exercise which made €60,000.
The auction room, although sparse, as they all are these days, took over €500,000 worth of the art on offer. Telephone bidders took another €200,000, with on-line bidders taking the balance. There was a 70% selling rate.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for May 8, 14, 19 and 23, 2026)
Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) Cuchulainn IX (1991). UPDATE: THIS MADE €65,000 at hammer
This Aubusson tapestry by Louis le Brocquy, from an edition of nine, is at Adam’s evening sale of Important Irish Art on May 27. The estimate is €30,000-50,000. The live and online sale of 91 works spans the 19th century to the present day. The leading lots are by Gerard Dillon, two Yeats paintings from the 1920’s and two late works by the artist and a village landscape by Paul Henry. Viewing for the auction gets underway today in Dublin and the catalogue is online.
Mainie Harriet Jellett (1897-1944) – Abstract Gouache. UPDATE: THIS MADE €7,000 AT HAMMER
Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) – DAPPING ON LOUGH MASK, COUNTY MAYO, 1928-36. UPDATE: THIS MADE 230,000 AT HAMMER
T’is the season which makes this artwork by Paul Henry at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art on May 25 seasonal at the height of the fly fishing particularly of the moment in Ireland. Dapping is a traditional fly fishing technique where the fly touches the water while the line remains in the air, favoured on Lough Mask late in the season. The estimate for this work is €150,000-200,000. Early viewing at Whyte’s on Molesworth Street in Dublin gets underway today and the catalogue is online.
Reflections by Paul Henry. UPDATE: THIS MADE 150,000 AT HAMMER
Reflections by Paul Henry at Adams evening sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on March 25 is enough to give us all pause for thought. The catalogue cover lot is not typical of Henry’s work. The focus of the painting is the lake.
Paul Henry is celebrated for his treatment of clouds, rapidly changing skies and the quality of light in the west of Ireland. Painted in the 1930’s Reflections is redolent of that Ireland then, but this work is different. The lake takes centre stage, the water dominates and the sky is a mere narrow band. In this particular artwork, estimated at €100,000-€150,000, you get a reflected sky. It shimmers on the lake surface.
From the photo realism of John Doherty to a volumetric composition by Mary Swanzy the 124 lots with estimates from €300 to €150,000 in this live and online auction hold a mirror to the many pathways that Irish artists have chosen to reflect their surroundings.
Cathedral, Semur by Mary Swanzy UPDATE: THIS MADE 40,000 AT HAMMER
Swanzy’s Cathedral Semur (€20,000-€30,000) displays the influence of Cezanne both in the colour scheme and the perspective. Everything moves upwards towards the 14th century gothic cathedral elevated above the town centre. The Maxol Family by John Doherty (€7,000-€10,000) is an acrylic on canvas with a set of blue petrol pumps on the side of the road, a once familiar scene now vanishing from our townscapes. As if to underscore this a second work by Doherty – titled Abandoned in Bantry – depicts a no longer in use red petrol pump abandoned at a derelict site. The acrylic on paper has an estimate of €1,500-€2,000.
Child Scarecrow/Falling Kite by John Shinnors (€10,000-€15,000) shows themes the Limerick artist has revisited and drawn inspiration from. The Sermon on the Mount by Evie Hone (€1,000-€1,500) is a watercolour from the estate of Leo Smith of the Dawson Gallery in Dublin. There are abstract works by William Scott and Felim Egan, landscapes by Frank McKelvey and Charles Lamb and the auction offers works in bronze by Melanie le Brocquy, John Behan and Imogen Stuart. The catalogue is online and bidding starts at 6 pm on Wednesday.
The Maxol Family by John Doherty UPDATE: THIS MADE 22,000 AT HAMMER
Jack Butler Yeats – A Storm / Gaillshíon (1936) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. UPDATE: THIS MADE £165,100
At auction for the first time this painting by Yeats will lead Christie’s day sale of Modern British and Irish art in London on March 19. A Storm/Gaillshíon depicts a young man seated on a bench at the side of a sandy pathway overlooking the sea. According to the artist, this scene refers to no particular, identifiable place, but rather is intended to be indicative of a typical Irish coastal scene, a familiar landscape visible throughout the island. The secondary title of the work, the Irish word Gaillshíon, conjures a rich impression of the atmospheric conditions of the day, suggesting the coastline is being buffeted by rough, blustery weather. The estimate is £100,000-£150,000.
Irish art in the sale includes work by Yeats, Henry and Roderic O’Conor. Also at auction for the first time is Lavery’s After Breakfast, Tangier, which features in the evening sale on March 18. The estimate is £180,000-£250,000.
Paul Henry – Digging Potatoes, Achill Island, Co. Mayo, 1916-19(£85,000-£120,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE £107,950
Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) – LANDSCAPE, CONNEMARA, 1932-5. UPDATE: THIS MADE €115,000 AT HAMMER
What Sean O Faolain described as the special drama of mobile light had returned to Paul Henry’s painting when he made Landscape Connemara. Clouds in the upper third of the composition evoke a sense of enthusiasm and joy. The oil on canvas comes up as lot 17 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and international art on March 9 with an estimate of €120,000-€150,000.
By the early 1930’s Paul Henry had settled into life in Carrigoona Cottage in Enniskerry County Wicklow with his partner, and later his second wife, the artist Mabel Young RHA whom he had first met in 1924. The mid-1920s had been fraught with both marital and financial troubles for Henry but life with Young in Enniskerry reinvigorated the artist. ‘Henry’s palette, like his mood, lightened as his financial and domestic problems faded.’ By September 1934 he was legally separated and it would appear his thirst for inspiration had returned following a holiday in County Kerry.
Included in the sale are works by Henry, Roderic O’Conor, William Conor, Walter Osborne, Aloysius O’Kelly, William Orpen, Mildred Anne Butler, Jack Butler Yeats, Seán Keating, Norah McGuinness, Evie Hone, Daniel O’Neill, Tony O’Malley, Rowan Gillespie and many others. International artists represented in the collection include L. S. Lowry, David Hockney, Frank Bowling, Josef Herman and Maurice Poirson.
Paul Henry (1876-1958) – A Grey Day on the Bog (1928). UPDATE: THIS MADE 44,000 AT HAMMER
This oil on board by Paul Henry leads Morgan O’Driscoll’s current Irish art auction which runs online until January 12. It was acquired by the original owner from the 1928 exhibition in London. The estimate is €50,000-€70,000. A total of 288 lots of art are on the catalogue including work by Yeats, Stephen McKenna, Mr. Brainwash, Markey Robinson, James Humbert Craig, Patrick Collins and Frank McKelvey.
PAUL HENRY – AN ACHILL BOG AT BLACKSOD BAY UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £45,000
This oil on canvas by Paul Henry – An Achill Bog at Blacksod Bay – was painted in 1918 and comes up at Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury on December 11. It has been in the same family for three generations. Lot 535 is estimated at £20,000-£30,000.
Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958) – Coastal Landscape with Galway Hookers
This 1930’s painting by Paul Henry made a hammer price of €170,000 at Adam’s sale of Important Irish Art. It is from the collection of former Taoiseach John A Costello and is believed to have been purchased directly from the artist as it was never on the market before. Another Henry painting from the Costello collection of a Connemara Village was sold by Adam’s in 2016 for €119,000 at hammer.
Other top hammer prices from Adam’s sale on November 26 were: Mary Swanzy, A Cubist Landscape (€38,000); Gerard Dillon, Inishmore Lads, (€32,000); Harry Clarke, Faust in the Witches Kitchen (€30,000); Louis le Brocquy, Cuchulainn in Warp Spasm (1999) (€26,000; Hughie O’Donoghue, Night Cargo (€20,000) and Nathaniel Hone, Hay Wynds (€15,000).
