SIR JOHN LAVERY RA RSA RHA (1856-1941) – SWITZERLAND [HAZEL AND ALICE], 1913 SOLD FOR €230,000 AT HAMMER
Switzerland, Hazel and Alice by Sir John Lavery made a hammer price of €230,000 over a top estimate of €220,000 at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin this evening. Dooega, Achill Island, Co. Mayo by Paul Henry made €155,000 on the hammer. London Hospital, 1914 by Lavery made €64,000, The Goose Girl by Sean Keating made €62,000 over a top estimate of €35,000, On the Beach by Gerard Dillon made €34,000 over a top estimate of €30,000, Abstract Composition c1929 by Mainie Jellett made €27,000 over a top estimate of €15,000, The Desert Charge by Aloyosius O’Kelly made €16,000 at hammer over a top estimate of €15,000, Wicklow Mountains by Peter Collis made €7,000 over a top estimate of €5,000, Aquainted with Grief by Leo Whelan made €4,600 over a top estimate of €2,000 and Tonight we Dance by William Conor made €5,200 over a top estimate of €2,000.
SEÁN KEATING PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977) – THE GOOSE GIRL, 1917 made €62,000 at hammer.
Switzerland (Hazel and Alice) by Sir John Lavery at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 230,000 AT HAMMER
Art by Lavery, Yeats, Paul Henry and Sean Keating will lead upcoming sales of Irish art at Whytes on December 4 and James Adam on December 6. Lavery’s Switzerland (Hazel and Alice) at Whyte’s is estimated at €180,000-€220,000. The top lot at Adams is The Captain by Yeats with an estimate of €100,000-€150,000 .Given the Lavery exhibition now on at the National Gallery in Dublin the auction of a major Lavery is timely. The catalogue cover lot was painted in Wengen, Switzerland early in 1913 at a time of intense painterly activity for the artist. The tranquility of the work belies the fact that In 1913 the world was on the brink of war. In sharp contrast is Lavery’s London Hospital, 1914 (€60,000-€80,000) at Whyte’s, which depicts early casualties of the First World War. After that one people fantasised about it being the war to end all wars.
Aran Harbour by Sean Keating at Adams
A deceptively idyllic 1940’s painting of Aran Harbour by Sean Keating (€80,000-€100,000) at Adams is in fact an antidote to the horrors of the Second World War then raging. It shows two women, one looking out to sea, the other peering at the viewer, with a focus on peace and quiet in a world yet again gone mad. Plus ca change.Sea captains feature in many Yeats paintings. The Captain at Adams dates to 1948 and harks back to his youth on the quays in Sligo where his grandfather had a shipping business. There are rich pickings for collectors available at each sale. A painting of Dooega, Achill Island by Paul Henry at Whyte’s is estimated at €150,000-€200,000. Among 133 works on the catalogue at Whyte’s is a wide ranging selection from Mary Swanzy to Rita Duffy, Gerard Dillon to Felim Egan and sculptors John Behan to Michael Warren. Notable works by Aloysius O’Kelly, William Leech, Tony O’Malley, Patrick Scott and Pauline Bewick sit alongside small collections by Nathaniel Hone, Letitia Hamilton and Patrick Hennessy. The selection includes auction favourites like Arthur Maderson, Kenneth Webb, Mark O’Neill, Graham Knuttel and Markey Robinson.
Black and Green Scarecrow, Maidstone Bridge by John Shinnors at Adams.
Top lots at Adams include three classical Paul Henry paintings Near Leenane (1935-38) (€80,000-€120,000), Keem Bay (c1911) (€60,000-€80,000) and Paysage Sinistre (1914-15) (€50,000-€70,000). The sale features many of Ireland’s finest 19th and 20th century artists including three works on paper by Harry Clarke at a time when there is talk of a Dublin museum dedicated to the artist.The Modernist School is represented with works by Edward McGuire, Patrick Hennessy, Colin Middleton, John Doherty, John Shinnors, Basil Blackshaw and Dan O’Neill. A 19th century painting by James Arthur O’Connor, Clearing in the forest with figures (€30,000-€40,000), was recently discovered in a French private collection.
Two artworks by Sir John Lavery and one by Jack B Yeats each made £381,000 (€437,520) at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish art sale in London today. The Donkey Show by Yeats and A Moorish Harem and Ariadne, both by Lavery, all sold above their low estimate of £300,000. The Trotter by Yeats made £88,900 over an estimate of £80,000-£120,000 but Woodhenge by F. E. McWilliam failed to find a buyer. The Modern British and Irish day auction at Sotheby’s takes place tomorrow.
Jack B. Yeats’ – The Trotter. UPDATE: THIS MADE £88,900
Sotheby’s annual Irish Art sale in London on November 21 and 22 will be part of a newly created flagship sales series of Modern British & Irish Art. Evening and Day sales will comprise 54 lots of Irish art and feature the most beloved and esteemed names of the genre with works from the descendants of Sir John Lavery along with art by Jack Butler Yeats, F.E. McWilliam and Gerard Dillon. Together, they are estimated to bring in the region of £2 million. The sales will headline Sotheby’s British & Irish Art week – a dedicated week celebrating the artistic landscape of Britain and Ireland from the 19th to the 21st century.
Two works by Lavery, a Moorish Hareem and Ariadne, are each estimated at £300,000-500,000 / €343,830-573,050. They are from direct descendants of the artist. The Donkey Show and The Trotter by Yeats are estimated respectively at £400,000-600,000 / €458,440-687,660 and £80,000- 120,000 / €91,688 – 137,532.
The Day sale will comprise a dedicated 49 lot portion of Irish art, featuring classical Irish artists like Yeats and Dillon as well as a strong selection of works by contemporary artists including Hughie O’Donoghue, Linda Brunker, Orla de Bri, Richard Hearns, Melissa O’Donnell, Jack Coulter, Rowan Gillespie and Nick Miller. Works will be on view at Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin between November 9-12 and in Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries in London from November 17- 21.
Sir John Lavery – A Moorish Hareem. UPDATE: THIS MADE £381,000
Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) – The Greyhound (Sir Reginald Lister and Eileen Lavery, The last British Minister, the Drawing Room, British Legation, Tangier 1910. Courtesy NI Ulster Museum Collection.
Lavery on Location opens in Dublin today as the highlight of the autumn programme at the National Gallery. Organised in collaboration with National Museums, Northern Ireland and National Galleries, Scotland, the focus of the show is on key destinations in Lavery’s art. These range from Scotland to Palm Springs, France and Tangier. There are studies from Switzerland, Spain, Ireland and Italy and depictions of cities from Glasgow to London, Venice, Cannes and New York. The not to be missed exhibition at the National Gallery runs until January 14 next.
Dublin Horse Show 1928 by Sir John Lavery. UPDATE: THIS MADE 105,000 AT HAMMER
This 1928 painting of the Dublin Horse Show by Sir John Lavery was once gifted by Hazel Lavery to the Irish playwright Lennox Robinson. It is among the highlights at de Veres timed online auction of Outstanding Irish Art which begins to close from 6 pm today. The auction features a collection of Irish 18th Century Landscape paintings including works by Sir William Ashford, George Barrett, James Arthur O’Connor and Natahaniel Grogan as well as five Irish side tables from a private collection in Cork.
UPDATE: It was a successful evening at de Veres. Among the top hammer prices were: Paul Henry – Cottages by the Lake (€75,000); Roderic O’Conor – Landscape with a view to the sea (€70,0000; Jack B Yeats – The train through the woods (€60,000); William Ashford – Rocky River Landscape (€55,000); William Scott – Deep Blues (€50,000); Sean Keating – Unloading the turf (€50,000) and landscapes by George Barrett, James Arthur O’Connor and James Coy each made €40,000.
The 2023 exhibitions programme announced today at the National Gallery of Ireland includes major new shows by Lavinia Fontana and Sir John Lavery. Lavinia Fontana Trailblazer Rule Breaker will run from May 6 to August 27. Fontana is widely considered to be the first female artist to achieve professional success beyond the confines of a court or a convent and was the first woman to manager her own workshop.
Lavery On Location from October 7, 2023 to January 14, 2024 will focus on some of the key destinations depicted in Lavery’s art from Scotland to Palm Springs. Special features will be the works produced at Grez-sur-Loing – his ‘happiest days’ – and in Tangier. There are also studies from Switzerland, Spain, Ireland and Italy, and depictions of cities from Glasgow to London, Venice, Cannes and New York.
In 2016, the Phoebus Foundation in Belgium undertook a large-scale restoration project focusing on an altarpiece triptych in their collection by Goossen van der Weyden (1455-1543). St Dymphna, The Tragedy of an Irish Princess from January 28 to May 28 at the National Gallery features the altarpiece, the only work of its kind to focus on the life of an Irish saint. Dymphna – a legendary 6th or 7th century Irish saint – was the daughter of a Celtic king. When Dymphna grew to resemble her mother, her widowed father decided to marry her. To escape his incestuous intentions, Dymphna fled Ireland for Geel in Belgium, with her confessor Gerebernus. Dymphna’s father pursued and killed them, and their bodies were buried on the spot by angels. The Church of St Dymphna in Geel, consecrated in 1247, still holds relics associated with the saint.
SIR JOHN LAVERY RA RSA RHA (1856-1941) – THE LADY PARMOOR, 1919. UPDATE: THIS MADE 58,000 AT HAMMER
Lavery’s portrait of The Lady Parmoor is lot 18 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art in Dublin on September 26. According to the catalogue note by Professor Kenneth McConkey the sitter, Marion Emily Ellis became the second Baroness Parmoor in July of that year. The portrait may have been painted as a wedding gift from Charles Cripps, 1st Baron Parmoor. They were both staunch anti-war Liberals. Her mother, Maria Rowntree, was of a Quaker philanthropic York family and Marion had been an implacable campaigner against conscription, narrowly escaping imprisonment for her convictions. During the twenties she and her husband veered increasingly towards the Labour Party, he becoming Leader of the House of Lords and a supporter of Ramsay MacDonald. The portrait is estimated at 40,000-60,000.
Artists in the sale include Jack Butler Yeats, Roderic O’Conor, John Lavery, Seán Keating, Norah McGuinness, Harry Kernoff, Mainie Jellett, Colin Middleton, Grace Henry, William Scott, Pauline Bewick, Louis le Brocquy, John Shinnors, Donald Teskey, Joseph Edward Southall and Bob Dylan. Viewing gets underway today at Whyte’s on Molesworth St., Dublin and the sale is at 6 pm next Monday at Freemason’s Hall. In person, online, telephone and absentee bidding is available.
Sir John Lavery – Sketch for ‘Pro-Cathedral, Dublin 1922’ (The Requiem Mass for Michael Collins)
Sir John Lavery’s oil on canvas sketch for the funeral of Michael Collins is a highlight of the Mary and Ben Dunne Collection to be sold later this year. Singing My Dark Rosaleen by Yeat’s is another highlight. The former supermarket tycoon and his wife are downsizing and selling part of their personal collection which includes works by some of Ireland’s most celebrated painters. Works by Frank McKelvey, Dan O’Neill, Gerard Dillon, James Arthur O’Connor, Jack B. Yeats, Mary Swanzy, Roderic O’Conor, Walter Osborne, William John Leech and Sir Wiliam Orpen are among the 39 paintings to be sold. A selling exhibition of these paintings will be held at Gormley’s Dublin galleries from September 8-24 before moving to Belfast for two weeks.
There was a new world record for Sir John Lavery at Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art evening sale in London last night. The Croquet Party, which was making its auction debut, sold for £2,922,000. The auction achieved £25.5 million and attracted registered bidders from 14 countries across three continents. According to Christie’s this demonstrates continued growth in the international collector base for the category.
Bridget Riley’s Gala from the curving colour series was the top lot. It made £4,362,000, a new world auction record for the artist. No less than 60% of lots sold above the top estimate.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 8, 2022)
