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Barcelona, a 1998 watercolour on paper by Sean Scully, is lot 16 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art sale which runs until October 24. The estimate is 50,000-70,000. Viewing for the sale gets underway today in Skibbereen and continues over the weekend until Monday. The sale will be on view at the Minerva Suite of the RDS from October 20-23.
Landline Weave is the title of an exhibition by Sean Scully now on view at Thaddeus Ropac in Paris. There is new work from his Landline and Wall of Light series and work from his new Weave and Net series. In this new series Scully draws on his early work with interlocking lines and contrasting colours to from a textural tartan with inset densely arranged rectangular shapes. The exhibition at Paris Pantin can be viewed online at Thaddeus Ropac. Included is a short video of the artist introducing the exhibition in which he explains that it took him decades to get the informality of seepage on the back of the works on to the front.
Barcelona Red Mirror by Sean Scully made £482,600 at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary day auction in London today. Executed on two vertical canvases it epitomises Scully’s hallmark configuration of stripes. Spanning bold alternating blocks of crimson and deep mahogany on the left panel and coal black and lilac on the left the present work creates a ruptured duality, a certain asymmetrical union. Signed and dated 04 on the reverse it brings to mind the artist’s early double canvases, at the same time paying homage to Barcelona, where Scully has had a studio since 1994.
Sean Scully’s Raval Rojo made a hammer price of €580,000 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art sale this evening. It had been estimated at 400,000-600,000. Among other top hammer prices were Still Life on White with Beans by William Scott (€160,000) and A Western Landscape by Paul Henry (€75,000), George Barret Landscape with Figures and the Ruins of Melrose Abbey, Roxburghshire (€52,000) and Sir William Orpen’s Portrait of Mary, Lady Gerard in a Green Dress made €23,000. The highly successful sale saw top prices achieved for a number of contemporary Irish artists.
Raval Rojo by Sean Scully comes up as lot 31 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art sale on April 18 with an estimate of €400,000-€600,000. Just one day after the catalogue went online it has already received 25 bids and is currently standing at €105,000. It is signed by Scully and dated 9.04. It was purchased by the current owner at the Kerlin Gallery in Dublin in 2005. If memory serves me correctly it was displayed in that show to gobsmacking effect on the rear wall of the rectangular white space at Kerlin. In a catalogue note Aidan Dunne explains: “The Red Ravine referred to in the Catalan title, and the simmering palette of warm earth hues, relate the painting to his Barcelona studio”.
The sale offers many other fine examples of the work of prominent Irish and international artists.
Sean Scully’s Wall of Light, Red sold for £1,137,000 at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary evening auction in London on March 1. The monumental work from his most celebrated and instantly recognised Wall of Light series was made in 1998 and is among the largest and earliest works in the series. The oil on linen is on two joined canvases. The inspiration came from a visit to Mexico in the early 1980’s where he was fascinated by the stones of ancient walls on the Yucatan peninsula. When animated by light they seemed to reflect the passage of time.
“I can’t exactly explain it, but seeing the Mexican ruins, the stacking of the stones, and the way light hit those facades, had something to do with it, maybe everything to do with it” the artist is quoted as saying in an exhibition catalogue at the Metropolitian Museum, New York in 2005.
Floating Diptych Black White by Sean Scully comes up at a timed online sale running at Sotheby’s in New York on February 23. The oil on aluminium in two parts was acquired by the present owner at Galerie Lelong, New York in 1997, the year in which it was executed. Lot 114 at Part II of the Mallin Collection is now estimated at $30,000-40,000.
The sale embodies Joel and Sherry Mallins’ unique and innovative curatorial eye. Incorporating a variety of media and artists, from sculptures by Robert Irwin, Michael Heizer, Tau Lewis, and Tara Donovan to video artworks by Marina Abramovic and Ann Hamilton. The sale provides a glimpse into the remarkable works of art that emerge from the Mallin’s legendary Buckhorn Sculpture Park and Artbarn in Pound Ridge, New York.
Glow, a magical carpet hand tufted with pure wool and luminescent filament designed by Dorothy Cross made €19,000 at a charity sale by Whyte’s entitled Island. On offer was a series of 13 unique one off rugs or wall hangings by some of Ireland’s best known artists and designers. Each piece was hand tufted by Ceadogán Rugmakers at their studio in South East Wexford. Whyte’s conducted the timed on-line sale free of charge in order to maximise the proceeds for The McVerry Trust and For The Birds. The total hammer price for the 13 works was €156,000. Every one sold. Seán Scully’s Wall Fez which made €85,000.
Glow appears plain white in daylight but an image of a tangle of trees emanates as darkness falls. Dorothy Cross lives and works in Connemara, Ireland. Her work ranges from object to opera: working with sculpture, photography and video.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 25, 2023)
Bidding is brisk on Morgan O’Driscoll’s current Irish art auction, which draws to a close this evening. The auction features works by William Scott and Jack B Yeats which have attracted spirited bidding. Pictured here is a 2003 lithograph by Sean Scully, Coloured Wall, number 30 out of an edition of 150, where bidding is already past the top estimate of €3,000.
Wall Fez designed by Sean Scully is a unique piece by Ceadogan mugmakers. The company invited 12 Irish artist to collaborate in creating a unique rug or wall hanging. All are now on view at Hang Tough Contemporary at Exchequer St. in Dublin. The resulting pieces, handtufted in pure wool, are to be auctioned by Whyte’s in a timed online sale which runs to February 5, with 50% of profits going to the Peter McVerry Trust. The remainder will be divided between the artists and For the Birds, a regeneration project at the site of Ceadogan’s workshops in Co. Wexford. Wall Fez is estimated at 15,000-20,000.
