The high end of the art and antiques market continues to perform strongly and this augurs well for Morgan O’Driscoll’s scorching Irish and International online art sale which runs until the evening of April 18. There is a wealth of desirable art in this, his most expensively estimated sale yet, on view at the RDS this weekend and on Monday. With 180 lots on the online catalogue headed by internationally acclaimed painters like Sean Scully, Bridget Riley, William Scott, Paul Henry, Andy Warhol and Sir William Orpen this is an exciting sale. Plenty of internationally known names feature alongside Irish artists on the catalogue.
A 1986 screenprint of Teddy Roosevelt by Andy Warhol is estimated at €50,000-€70,000, Homage to Degas, an etching by Alex Katz, is estimated at €7,000-€10,000 and a woodcut in colours by Damien Hirst has an estimate of €8,000-€12,000.The most expensively estimated lot is a dramatic oil on linen by Sean Scully. Raval Rojo (€400,000-€600,000) is signed and dated 2004 and was purchased by the present owner at the Kerlin Gallery in 2005. An oil on canvas by William Scott from 1978, Still Life on White with Beans is estimated at €100,000-€150,000 and Paul Henry’s brooding Western Landscape has an estimate of €80,000-€120,000. These three widely differing works demonstrate the broad range and creativity of Irish art at the highest levels.
An untitled 1972 gouache and pencil on paper by the acclaimed British artist Bridget Riley is estimated at €60,000-€90,000. A signed and numbered artist print by Andy Warhol of Teddy Roosevelt, number 31 from a run of 50 artist proofs, is estimated at €50,000-€70,000. There is a similar estimate on an oil on canvas by George Barret of A Landscape with Figures and Ruins of Melrose Abbey, Roxburghshire. There are classical works by Dan O’Neill, Donald Teskey, Evie Hone, Gerard Dillon and Sir William Orpen and some highly collectible work by artists from John Shinnors and Hughie O’Donoghue to Norah McGuinness, Evie Hone and Tony O’Malley. The sculpture section is headed by Seated Dog (1967) by the late British artist Lynn Chadwick (€20,000-€25,000) and there is work by Elisabeth Frink, Imogen Stuart, John Behan, F.E. McWilliam and others. Many of the works on offer, like a 1945 view of Glengarriff from Garnish Island by Letitia Marion Hamilton (€3,000-€5,000), Evening Field by William Crozier and Washing Line by Basil Blackshaw, each estimated at €4,000-€6,000 are more afffordable and would enhance any collection.
