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).
Paul Henry (1876-1958) – Cottages on Achill Sound. UPDATE: THIS MADE 120,000 AT HAMMER
Cottages on Achill Sound by Paul Henry is the leading lot at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art sale which runs until October 21. From a private Dublin collection it is estimated at €120,000-€160,000. Viewing for this auction with 155 lots gets underway today at the Minerva Suite at the RDS in Dublin and continues until October 20. The catalogue is online.
Abstract Composition by Mainie Jellett (1897-1944). UPDATE: THIS MADE 32,000 AT HAMMER
Art by Louis le Brocquy, Paul Henry and Roderic O’Conor will lead Whyte’s sale of Irish and international art in Dublin on the evening of September 29. A total of 152 lots valued at over €1.2 million will come under the hammer. The catalogue cover lot is le Brocquy’s Image of Samuel Beckett from 1980 (€100,000-€150,000). In Connemara by Paul Henry has an estimate of €90,000-€120,000 and a self portrait by Roderic O’Conor has an estimate of €60,000-€80,000.
Abstract Composition by Mainie Jellett is estimated at €18,000-€22,000 and a watercolour with ink from le Brocquy’s Tinker series, Tinker Children at a Fair (1946) is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. Artists featured include Percy French, Rose Barton, Gerard Dillon, Dan O’Neill, Pauline Bewick, Rowan Gillespie, John Behan and Liam O’Neill.
Mother and Baby Achill by Lillian Lucy Davidson and Dublin Bay by Norah McGuinness are the top lots at the de Veres sale which runs until next Tuesday (September 30). Each is estimated at €7,000-€10,000. A total of 230 lots will come under the hammer by artists including Martin Gale, Frank McKelvey, Barbara Warren, Kenneth Webb, Kitty Wilmer O’Brien, Mark O’Neill and many more. Brown and White Cob by Basil Blackshaw (€12,000-€18,000) and Fire, from The Elements by Damien Hirst H6 (€8,000-€12,000) are the top lots at Gormley’s auction at Francis St. in Dublin at 7.30 pm next Tuesday. Catalogues for all these sales are online.
Dunquin Pier, Kerry by Sean O’Sullivan (1906-1964). UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
Paul Henry – In Connemara. UPDATE: THIS MADE 90,000 AT HAMMER
This oil on panel by Paul Henry with an estimate of €90,000-€120,000 is among the leading lots at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International art in Dublin on September 29. Painted in the open air three cottages viewed from above are located in the bottom third of the image. In a catalogue note Dr. Mary Cosgrove observes that: The freedom and spontaneity that this little sketch demonstrates was learnt by Henry in Paris. The technique derives from the ébauche stage of the academic system of painting that affected the practice of landscape painting in particular and led to the development of Impressionism. Henry’s genius lay in amalgamating his artist’s eye with this training whilst still leaving space for the emotion to dwell in. At the same time he was painting what he saw and what people recognised, a new realism in Irish art.
The Milk Cart by Paul Henry is among the highlights at Bonhams sale of British and Irish art in London next Wednesday (June 18). Painted in 1928-29 it is a rare composition by an artist whose focus was normally on a pure landscape arrangement. This work, exhibited in New York and Boston in 1930 and at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2003, offers a human element as the central focus. In a catalogue note to the 2003 exhibition the late art historian Dr. S.B. Kennedy commented: “Paul Henry defined a view of the Irish landscape, in particular that of the west, that remains as convincing to modern eyes as it was in his own time. Like Constable’s Suffolk and Cezanne’s Provence, once experienced it is difficult to see the landscape of the west other than through Henry’s eyes”. It is estimated at €140,000-€210,000. The auction of 74 lots will include works by Jack B. Yeats, Roderic O’Conor, Sir John Lavery, Norah McGuinness and Rowan Gillespie.
West of Ireland Bog by Paul Henry at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 125,000 AT HAMMER
An array of exciting choices will come up at major sales of Irish art in Dublin by Whyte’s, de Veres and James Adam on May 26, 27 and 28 respectively.
Art worth a couple million euro is set to change hands at sales headed by Paul Henry (Whyte’s), Gerard Dillon (de Veres) and Roderic O’Conor (Adams). All are on view this weekend.
Achill Horses by Mainie Jellett at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 210,000 AT HAMMER
A spectacular 1933 oil of Achill Horses (€70,000-€100,000) by Mainie Jellett will create interest among serious collectors. This modern abstract style was in marked contrast to the prevailing realist mode of her contemporaries like Paul Henry and Charles Lamb. Jellett was chosen to create murals of the life and people of Ireland for the Free State Pavilion at the Glasgow Empire Exhibition of 1938. Another version of Achill Horses is included in the Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone exhibition at the National Gallery until August 10.
The most expensively estimated work at all three sales is West of Ireland Bog by Paul Henry (€120,000-180,000). It is one of three works by the artist at Whyte’s where Cottages, West of Ireland (€60,000-€80,000) and Keel Bay, Achill (€50,000-€70,000) also feature. In Hill Fair at Achill Island by Letitia Hamilton (€15,000-€20,000) the viewer joins the busy scene through an uneven path between two large limestone rocks.
There is international art by John Atkinson Grimshaw, Ferdinand Roybet, Paula Rego, Bridget Riley and Maurice Poirson as well as a sketch of James Joyce by his close friend Frank Budgen. The auction offers major works by William Leech, Dan O’Neill, Colin Middleton and George Russell, Dublin scenes by Flora Mitchell, prints by Patrick Scott, William Scott and Louis le Brocquy, sculpture by Rowan Gillespie and John Behan and work by popular artists like Kenneth Webb, Graham Knuttel, Cecil Maguire and Arthur Maderson.
Little Girl’s Wonder by Gerard Dillon is the top lot at the art and sculpture sale by de Veres next Tuesday. In tune with the naive style and strong use of colour for which Dillon is known it was shown at The Irish Exhibition of Living Art in Dublin – set in 1943 up to promote modernism in Ireland – in 1955. This work is estimated at €50,000-€80,000.
Little Girl’s Wonder by Gerard Dillon at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 55,000 AT HAMMER
The sale at de Veres offers art by Louis le Brocquy, Colin Middleton, Daniel O’Neill, Patrick Collins, John Shinnors, Peter Curling, Lillian Davidson, George Russell (AE), May Guinness and Mainie Jellett. The sculpture in the auction, on view in the garden of the Merrion Hotel, includes work by Rowan Gillespie, F. E. McWilliam, Patrick O’Reilly, Jason Ellis and Michael Warren.
A reclining nude and a night scene of a boat in a storm, both by Roderic O’Conor and estimated respectively at €40,000-€60,000 and €15,000-€25,000, lead the sale of Important Irish Art at James Adam next Wednesday evening. A dreamlike image by Hughie O’Donoghue, The Sea, The Sea from 2003 is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. Among 100 lots on offer is The Path of the Lamb (1966), an oil on canvas commissioned by The Dominican Order for St. Saviour’s Church on Dominick St. in Dublin (€10,000-€15,000). Figures Asleep by Mary Swanzy from the 1940’s (€10,000-€15,000) shows a makeshift arrangement that possibly depicts neighbours sheltering during air raids. Two arresting and contrasting works by renowned artists are the dense and restrained Black and White Scarecrows by John Shinnors (€5,000-€8,000) and Silent Gardens, a colourful piece from 1985 by Tony O’Malley (€12,000-€15,000).
Convict Woman, a bronze by Rowan Gillespie (€8,000-€12,000) is based on one of the life size figures by the artist unveiled in Hobart, Tasmania in 2017 known as the footsteps toward freedom statues. It represents the 13,000 convict women and 2,000 of their children who were transported to Van Diemen’s Land. A selection of sculpture by John Behan and Oisin Kelly is also on offer. Viewing is underway and all catalogues are online.
Black and White Scarecrows by John Shinnors at Adams. UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,000 AT HAMMER
PAUL HENRY – ROAD TO CLIFDEN. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
One Yeats and two Paul Henry’s make for what Dolan’s describe as their best auction for years. The online art sale, which is now live, runs until May 26. The top lots are Man Running by Yeats (€120,000-150,000), Incoming Tide by Paul Henry (€90,000-130,000) and Road to Clifden (illustrated here) (€45,000-75,000). There is a selection of 20th century Irish and international artists along with some rare Irish whiskeys. The catalogue is online.
Connemara Hills, the catalogue cover lot for Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International art auction on April 8, is described by Peter Murray in the catalogue note as one of Paul Henry’s best paintings. The former Crawford Gallery curator highlights how in this work – unusually for an artist who often depicted a low horizon and towering clouds – the mountains tower over the cottages almost shutting out the sky. Small in scale and depicting a little village in North Connemara it conveys accurately the awe inspiring landscapes of the region. Henry studied in Paris with Whistler and Mucha and influences from both can be found in the painting. A similar scene was used by Henry in 1925 to illustrate a poster for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The oil on canvas is estimated at €120,000-€160,000. The auction will be on view in Skibbereen from next March 28-31 and at the RDS in Dublin from April 4-7. The catalogue is online.
Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958)- LAKE AND MOUNTAINS IN CONNEMARA, 1933-6. UPDATE: THIS MADE 270,000 AT HAMMER
Viewing for Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art on March 3 gets underway in Dublin today. The top lot, of 129, is Paul Henry’s Lake and Mountains, Connemara which is estimated at €250,000-350,000. A trio of works by Paul Henry lead the sale. West of Ireland Landscape (€150,000-200,000) and Cottages Connemara (€80,000-120,000) also feature. There is art by Rose Barton, Nano Reid, Mary Swanzy, William Leech, Colin Middleton, a collection of drawings by William Orpen from the collection of Alan and Mary Hobart, work by Sean Scully, Donald Teskey, John Shinnors, Edward Delaney, Rowan Gillespie and many more.
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) – THE DUST ON THY CHARIOT WHEEL, 1945 sold for €160,000
The Irish and International art sale at Whyte’s in Dublin on December 2 grossed over €1.2 million. The top lot was Paul Henry’s Killary Bay, Connemara which made a hammer price of €210,000 over a top estimate of €150,000. A 1945 Yeats, The Dust on They Chariot Wheel made €160,000 at hammer, The Turquoise Sea by Sir John Lavery made €58,000, The Long Memory by Colin Middleton made €30,000, Girl Feeding a tortoiseshell cat by Walter Osborne made €60,000, Hooker off Cork Harbour by Richard Brydges Beechey made €19,000 and Still Life with Plant and Bouquet by William Crozier made €14,000.
