There was a new auction record for Piet Mondrian at Sotheby’s Modern evening auction in New York last night when an iconic abstract painting – Composition No. II – made $51 million. Made by the Dutch artist in 1930 it was last auctioned in 1982 when it sold for a then record of $2.15 million. This time around it was sold to a collector in Asia.
Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s chairman, Europe said: “There are few artists who have staked such an audacious claim in the history of Modern art as Piet Mondrian, whose grid-style of abstract painting is a truly singular achievement in painting history.”
Going to the Races by Jack B. Yeats. UPDATE: THIS MADE £226,800
A feast of Irish art will be celebrated at Sotheby’s this month. Jack B Yeats and Gerard Dillon will headline the Irish side of the Modern British and Irish art sale in London on November 23. An online sale of Irish art at Sotheby’s from next Wednesday will run until Tuesday, November 22 and a selection from these sales is on view at the RHA in Dublin this weekend. The introduction of relatively unknown artists to the world and important rediscoveries like The Fisherman’s Cottage by Gerard Dillon combine to offer Irish art an important shot in the arm. The global reach of Sotheby’s, the Irish diaspora, the fact that art lovers everywhere will find these sales relatively affordable compared to the stratospheric prices now achieved at the top, the presence in the catalogue of feted British artists like Barbara Hepworth, L.S. Lowry and William Nicholson and the support of an international marketing campaign make this November a very good month indeed for Irish art and artists.
There is much more than a sense of onwards and upwards at play. The two atmospheric early Yeats oils Going to the Races, 1917 and Sunday Morning, 1921 and the fantastic rediscovery of The Fisherman’s Cottage, a c1950 Dillon from a private collection, have a combined value of £430,000-£670,000 (€495,000-€772,000). Dillon’s first encounter with Connemara in 1939 was a revelatory moment and this painting, set on Inishlacken looking across to Roundstone, ranks among the finest examples of his portrayals of the west of Ireland.
The Settlers by Rowan Gillespie at Sotheby’s online sale. UPDATE: THIS MADE £47,880
It is impossible not to be enthusiastic about the 74 diverse lots in an online sale with a range of paintings, drawings and sculpture from the 19th century to the present day. The combined estimate is €816,500-€1,231,600. There is a Gerard Dillon – Village on the Hill, a lively Paul Henry – The Entrance to Killary Bay – John Lavery’s last painting – Gypsies in Ireland and Last Bastion of the Old Theatre Royal by Harry Kernoff. This second Theatre Royal closed its doors in 1934 and was demolished soon after. There are 18 works from the collection of the late Irish American Brian P Burns, who amassed one of the greatest collections of Irish art in private hands. Contemporary artists and sculptors represented include Rowan Gillespie, Linda Brunker, John Behan, Patrick O’Reilly, Maser, Joy Gerrard, Diana Copperwhite, Richard Hearn, Blaise Smith and Melissa O’Flaherty and there are early works by Erskine Nicol and James Arthur O’Connor. There will be artists talks at the RHA at noon today by John Behan, Melissa O’Flaherty and Maser and at noon tomorrow by Diana Copperwhite, Richard Hearn and Blaise Smith.
Glengariff from the Kenmare Road, Evening, 1862 by William McEvoy from the Brian P Burns Collection at Sotheby’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE £6,300
“You can’t Change the Music of your Soul”, Jack Coulter’s debut solo exhibition, opens at Sothebys in London today and runs until December 15. Along with artists like van Gogh and Hockney, Coulter has synaesthesia and experiences sound as colour. Born in Belfast in 1994 the artist has been making waves with his multi-layered music inspired paintings. The Financial Times has described him as one of the most popular abstract artists emerging today and he has been featured in Forbes 30 under 30 list. This exhibition includes 25 paintings that are a direct response to a broad musical catalogue. Shown here is Vincent (Don McLean).
Gerard Dillon – The Fisherman’s Cottage. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The Fisherman’s Cottage by Gerard Dillon comes up at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish art sale in London on November 23. The estimate is £80,000-£120,000. This November, Sotheby’s celebrates Modern Art across Britain and Ireland with a dynamic series of auctions and events. Our Modern British, Irish and Scottish sales will present works by Britain and Ireland’s greatest artists including Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, L. S. Lowry, Samuel Peploe and Jack B. Yeats, along with a selling exhibition of new works by contemporary Northern Irish artist, Jack Coulter.
The Irish art online sale from 16–22 November 16-22,will present artworks from the 19th century to the present day. It will be followed by Sotheby’s live auction of Modern British and Irish art on November 23. Ahead of the London sales, the Irish artworks will be exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin from November 10-13.
Willem de Kooning’s Untitled III at Christie’s (estimate in the region of $35 million)
The major November art sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York this November will feature art from the 20th and 21st centuries. A series of sales at Sotheby’s from November 14-17 will showcase the artistic movements from Impressionism to the groundbreaking artists working today. At Christie’s auctions on November 17, 18 and 19 will be led by Jean Michel Basquiat’s Sugar Ray Robinson.
Alberto Giacometti – Caroline at Sotheby’s ($15-$20 million)
Sir Peter Paul Rubens – Salome presented with the severed head of Saint John the Baptist, c.1609 ($25,000,000 – 35,000,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE $26,926,600
A key early Rubens masterpiece from the greatest private collection of Baroque paintings assembled in recent times will come up at Sotheby’s in New York next January. Collected with passion and rigor over three decades, the Fisch Davidson collection distills the essence and power of Baroque art between 1600 and 1650, comprising some of the very finest paintings in private hands by Guercino, Bernardo Cavallino, Valentin de Boulogne, Orazio Gentileschi and above all Sir Peter Paul Rubens.
No less than ten works from the collection will headline Sotheby’s Master’s Week auctions, led by Sir Peter Paul Rubens’ Salome presented with the severed head of Saint John the Baptist. It is estimated at $25-35 million. In advance of the sale Sotheby’s will tour highlights to Los Angeles, Hong Kong and London.
Keith Christiansen, Curator Emeritus, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York said: “What distinguishes the Fisch Davidson collection is the sustained level of quality of the paintings, combined with a willingness to embrace powerful subjects that lesser collectors might find “difficult”. There is nothing shy about these pictures…. These are baroque paintings that speak with a contemporary voice. Their modernity lies in their probing, psychological dimension combined with dramatic flair, realised with brilliantly descriptive brushwork.”
UPDATE: THE SALE OF THIS COLLECTION MADE $49,587,600
Francis Bacon – Three Studies for Portrait of Henrietta Moraes sold for £24,300,000
Three Studies for a Portrait of Henrietta Moraes sold for £24,300,000 in London last night. The Now and Contemporary auctions achieved a total of £96.1 million in the highest grossing Frieze Week evening sale at Sotheby’s since 2015. Gerhard Richter’s 192 Farben (192 Colours) sold for £18,287,800. There was a new record for Frank Auerbach whose Head of J.Y.M. made £5,648,800 and new records were set for Caroline Walker, Julien Nguyen and Kiki Kogelnik. Nobody Put Baby in the Corner by Flora Yukhnovich made £1,608,000, Cecily Brown’s Beautiful Not Realistic made £1.8 million over a high estimate of £800,000 and Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Nets (QOTP:) made £3.4 million.
A new design series by Joseph Walsh – Riverstick, Co. Cork based global design superstar – opens at Sotheby’s in London today. On show is a selling exhibition of key pieces from his newly developed Gestures series on display for the first time. The 12 sinuous works include a large dining table, a sculptural bench, free form lounge chairs, dining chairs and various wall mounted sculptural shelves.
Now in mid career Joseph Walsh is the Eileen Gray of this generation – and not every generation throws up designer innovators of this calibre. A century ago Gray was making lacquered pieces in Paris. This new series by Joseph Walsh, whose work is celebrated by design cognoscenti from Tokyo to Chicago to Paris, is finished in ebonised black. Beginning with charcoal sketches which Walsh translates into scale model studies in wood Gestures has emerged over the past three years. Wood is cut into layers, rebuilt and carved to create an uninterrupted sculptural form and finished in black. Each piece is functional and boldly sculptural. The show at Sotheby’s, which coincides with the London Design Festival, runs until September 29.
Banksy – Love is in the Air. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £189,000
Sotheby’s biannual Banksy sale opens for bidding online today. This much-anticipated auction surveys the activist’s groundbreaking work with a selection of prints from his initial foray into screen printing to one of his more recent editions, Banksquiat. The auction of 34 lots runs until August 17.
A Gorgosaurus skeleton sold for $6,095,600 at Sotheby’s Natural History sale in New York on July 28. It had been excavated on private land at Judith River, Choteau River, Montana in 2018. The exhibition mounted skeleton measures nine feet, two and a half inches tall and just under 22 feet long. It is from the late Cretaceous Period and approximately 77 million years old. The Gorgosaurus was a relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
