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)
SEAN SCULLY (B.1945) – Coloured Wall (2003). UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER
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.
Sean Scully – WALL FEZ. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 85,000
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.
SEAN SCULLY (B.1945) – Dark Fold (2003). UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,800 AT HAMMER
This etching and aquatint by Sean Scully comes up as lot 4 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current online Irish art auction. Signed and numbered 13/40 Dark Fold dates to 2003 and is estimated at €4,000-6,000. There is art from Frank McKelvey and Kenneth Webb to Louis le Brocquy and John Shinnors in this sale of 242 lots which runs until the evening of November 29. The catalogue is online and the auction will be on view in Skibbereen on November 25, 28 and 29.
Sean Scully – Wall of Light Red. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS WITHDRAWN FROM THE AUCTION
One of the most outstanding paintings in Sean Scully’s Wall of Light series comes up at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening auction in London on October 14. Executed in 1998 it is one of the largest and earliest work within the series. It is estimated at £800,000-£1.2 million.
An exhibition of new works by Sean Scully opens today at Thaddeus Ropac in Salzburg, Austria. It brings together large scale paintings from his most formative series including Wall of Light and Landline. A monumental 2020 sculpture entitled Indoor Sleeper in the gallery’s outdoor space offers and insight into his sculptural practice. This show follows the acclaimed 50 year retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art until July 31. Major institutional exhibitions of Scully’s are currently underway in Neuss Germany, Bologna Italy and Torun in Poland.
After four days of consecutive auctions, the Contemporary evening auction tipped Sotheby’s weeklong series over one billion US dollars. The $210.5 million Contemporary evening auction in New York last night was powered by towering figures of contemporary art, with Francis Bacon’s triumphant finale to his Pope paintings realising $46.3 million. Also leading the sale were: Cy Twombly’s Untitled ($38 million), Andy Warhol’s Elvis ($21.6 million), Ed Ruscha’s Cold Beer Beautiful Girls ($18.8 million) and Georg Baselitz’s Women of Dresden – Visit from Prague ($11.2 million, a new artist record). The evening’s final lot, Sean Scully’s Song ($2 million), earned the artist a new auction record.
The Now evening auction realised $72.9 million. Work by women artists achieved $28 million (nearly double the $10.3–14.4 million estimate) and work by artists of colour realised $35.1 million (above the $15.9–22.9 estimate) or nearly half of the auction’s total sale value. In one energetic hour, nine out of 23 lots set records: Adrian Ghenie’s Degenerate Art ($9.3 million), Matthew Wong’s The Night Watcher($5.9 million), Avery Singer’s Happening ($5.3 million), Christina Quarles’s Night Fell Upon Us Up On Us ($4.5 million), Jennifer Packer’s Fire Next Time ($2.3 million), Simone Leigh’s Birmingham($2.2 million), Anna Weyant’s Falling Woman($1.6 million), Lucy Ball’s Special Guest ($907K, in her auction debut), and Virgil Abhloh’s Unique” Efforescence” Desk ($151K for a dedicated work of art).
Wall Plena (2021) by Sean Scully at Kerlin Gallery in Dublin
The squares of Sean Scully are legendary. They grace major museums and have enhanced exhibitions right around the world. The artist regarded as among the most important proponents of abstraction has paid enormous attention to this particular structure. Square at Kerlin Gallery in Dublin from May 14 to June 25 will bring together over 50 years of oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, sculpture, writings and prints from 1968 by Sean Scully.
There are measured grid paintings from the 1970’s, his Wall of Light series and the recent Dark Window series made during lockdown. Square will include a new series of prints and drawings made with the artist’s finger on an iPhone screen. These playful drawings teem with life and energy. The creative potential of the screen is driving major artists more and more, among them David Hockney, who has produced a fascinating series of screen artworks.
Sean Scully – Untitled (1993). UPDATE: THIS MADE £37,800
Untitled (1993) by Sean Scully comes up at Sotheby’s online auction of Irish art which opens today and runs until November 23. The watercolour and pencil on paper is estimated at £25,000-£35,000. The sale features a selection of works by contemporary artists in Ireland across paintings, sculpture, ceramics and pottery.
Yellow Red (1994), an etching 18/30 by Sean Scully at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,000 AT HAMMER
Encompassing everything from genre paintings, still life, abstract art, landscapes and Saint Gobnait to an original copy of the Irish Proclamation and a large bronze plaque made for An Tostal in 1953 the art sales at Whyte’s on Monday and Adams next Wednesday are brimful of interest. Given that collectors have adjusted remarkably well to the online model it seems safe to predict that there will be no shortage of competitive bidding for the 160 works on offer at Whyte’s and the 149 at Adams. In a welcome move towards normality the easing of Covid restrictions allows viewing for these sales by appointment. Online or in person there is much to see and appreciate. Whyte’s kicks off online on May 31 at 6 pm. Sean Keating painted his friend Harry Clarke thinking about St. Gobnait on the Aran Islands while working on a commission for his series of eleven windows at the Honan Chapel in Cork. The acclaimed windows were installed in 1916. Gobnait is traditionally associated with Ballyvourney in Co. Cork and with the Aran Islands. The resultant oil painting by Keating – exhibited at the RHA in 1918 – is lot 45 at Whyte’s, with an estimate of €50,000-€70,000.Along with Yeats and Keating, Whyte’s has work by artists including Cedil Maguire, Nathaniel Hone, Walter Osborne, Charlotte MacCausland, Harry Kernoff, Patrick Leonard, William Leech, Mary Swanzy, Maurice MacGonigal, Dan O’Neill, Tony O’Malley, Louis le Brocquy, Sean Scully, Donald Teskey and many others. A bronze An Tostal commemorative plaque celebrating Irish life by the sculptor Gabriel Hayes (1909-1978) is estimated at €3,000-€4,000 and there are prints by Bob Dylan and David Bowie with estimates from €1,200 to €3,000.
Over the Estuary by John Shinnors at James Adam. UPDATE: THIS MADE 30,000 AT HAMMER
Original copies of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic are always much sought after. The one at Adams next Wednesday evening, signed by the printer Christopher Brady and obtained in Sackville St. on Easter Monday, 1916, has an estimate of €150,000. The sky and sea are made of blues, blacks and purples in William Croziers’ structural landscape The Inlet which Adams estimate at €20,000-€30,000. There is a more traditional approach in Cottages in Achill by Paul Henry (€140,000-€160,000) while the acclaimed Limerick artist John Shinnors took inspiration from the River Shannon for his magnificent and dynamic oil on canvas diptych Over the Estuary (€30,000-€50,000). Camille Souters’ Cycling to Chioggia, a little town south of Venice, is a memory painting from 1961 that was once in the collection of Sir Basil Goulding. It is estimated at €15,000-€25,000. Another memory jogger is an Elkington and Co. bronze of Oliver Goldsmith after John Henry Foley RA RHA (1818-1874). The estimate here is €3,000-€4,000. In a Dublin Waxworks by Jack B Yeats (€60,000-€100,000) once in the collection of the late Garech Browne at Luggala, recalls a popular attraction in the capital until it was burnt down during the 1916 Rising.
