Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) – THE DUST ON THY CHARIOT WHEEL, 1945 sold for €160,000
The Irish and International art sale at Whyte’s in Dublin on December 2 grossed over €1.2 million. The top lot was Paul Henry’s Killary Bay, Connemara which made a hammer price of €210,000 over a top estimate of €150,000. A 1945 Yeats, The Dust on They Chariot Wheel made €160,000 at hammer, The Turquoise Sea by Sir John Lavery made €58,000, The Long Memory by Colin Middleton made €30,000, Girl Feeding a tortoiseshell cat by Walter Osborne made €60,000, Hooker off Cork Harbour by Richard Brydges Beechey made €19,000 and Still Life with Plant and Bouquet by William Crozier made €14,000.
The Window with a view of the town by Jack B Yeats at Adams. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD AT THE AUCTION AND SOLD LATER FOR €250,000
The record for an Irish artwork sold in 2024 was broken three times in quick succession at Sotheby’s and Christie’s this month. It was a similar story on the global market. Expectations around sales of Irish art at Whyte’s, Adams and Bonhams next week are high.
First Orpen’s portrait of Evelyn St. George made £720,000 (€864,010) at Sotheby’s, then The Thinker on the Butte de Warlencourt by Orpen made £756,000 (€907,210) at Christie’s followed later in the sale of the Hobart collection by O’Connell Bridge by Jack B Yeats which made £886,000 (€1,063,210).
The art market is proving to be robust in the face of two years of downturn and continuing global uncertainty. The global market breached the $100 million barrier only once this year when Magritte’s Surrealist masterpiece L’empire des lumieres made $105,000,000 ($121,160,000 with fees) at Christie’s last week. The more conservative and resilient Irish market got a million euro plus artwork in 2024.
On the home front the combined top estimate of €2.5 million for the top four lots at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on December 4 speaks volumes about the current state of the Irish art market. The four, three by Yeats and one by Orpen, are from the collection of Jacqueline and Vincent O’Brien. Horsemen (1947) (€500,000-€800,000) and He Reads a Book (1952) (€500,000-€700,000) both feature horses, a subject by Yeats that is particularly prized by collectors.
Old John’s Cottage, Connemara by Sir William Orpen at Adams depicts an American wake in 1908. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD AT THE AUCTION AND LATER SOLD FOR €250,000
There is much excitement around these works, and no wonder. They are from the collection of Ireland’s greatest trainer, voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll in 2003. Orpen’s Old John’s Cottage, Connemara is estimated at €300,000-€500,000 as is another Yeats from their collection, The Window with a view of the Town from 1951.
John Joseph Tracey (1813-1873) – THE IRISH PEASANT’S GRAVE, 1843 AT WHYTE’S. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,000 AT HAMMER
Paul Henry and Jack B Yeats share the top billing at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International art in Dublin next Monday evening (Dec 2). Killary Bay by Paul Henry and The Dust on thy Chariot Wheel by Yeats are each estimated at €100,000-€150,000. A self portrait by Roderic O’Conor has an estimate of €70,000-€90,000.
The sale at Whytes includes nine lots from the Bank of Ireland collection including Colin Middleton’s Evening Star, Clonelly, Co. Fermanagh from 1970 (€18,000-€22,000). There is art by Maurice MacGonigal, William Crozier, Michael Farrell and Peter Collis. Amongst other lots Walter Osborne’s Girl Feeding a tortoiseshell cat is estimated at €60,000-€80,000 and the sale offers art by Nano Reid, Flora Mitchell, Letitia Hamilton and many more artists. The large sculpture section includes work by Rowan Gillespie, John Coll, Eamonn O’Doherty and Linda Brunker.
The Irish Sale: Vision and Voice online at Bonhams until December 5 features work by Sir John Lavery, Mainie Jellett, Mary Swanzy, John Doherty, Dan O’Neill and a collection of 20 works by Norah McGuinness consigned by her family.
The Long Memory (Westerness Series) by Colin Middleton at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 30,000 AT HAMMER
In New York last week Standard Station – Ten cent Western being torn in half by Ed Ruscha sold for $68.5 million at Christie’s. A monumental Water Lilies by Claude Monet made $65.5 million at Sotheby’s.
The question now is will more records be broken in Ireland in December?
Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) – KILLARY BAY, CONNEMARA, c.1910-15. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 210,000 AT HAMMER
Killary Bay, Connemara by Paul Henry comes up as lot 27 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art on December 2. Weekend viewing is now underway at Whyte’s on Molesworth St. in Dublin. The auction, at 6 pm on December 2, will be both live in room and online at Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth St. Major works by Jack Butler Yeats, Paul Henry, Roderic O’Conor, Sir John Lavery, Walter Osborne, Aloysius O’Kelly, Richard Brydges Beechey, George Russell, Letitia Hamilton, Flora Mitchell, Louis le Brocquy, Daniel O’Neill, Nano Reid, George Campbell, Colin Middleton, William Crozier, Tony O’Malley and many others are included. International artists include Arthur Rackham, Harold C. Harvey, Massimo Campigli, Sir Frank Bowling and Albert Irvin. The catalogue is online.
SIR JOHN LAVERY – THE TURQUOISE SEA, MIMIZAN, 1917. UPDATE: THIS MADE 58,000 AT HAMMER
Early viewing gets underway at Whyte’s on Molesworth St., Dublin today for a sale of Irish and International art on December 2. There is art by Yeats, Paul Henry, Louis le Brocquy, Roderic O’Conor, Tony O’Malley, William Crozier and many more artists. Pictured here is The Turquoise Sea, Mimizan, a 1917 work by Sir John Lavery which is estimated at €60,000-80,000. He painted it while staying at the Duke of Westminster’s shooting lodge at the Landes. At that time he had been unable to paint seascapes since 1914 due to World War I.
INTERIOR SCENE WITH WICKER ROCKER – ELIZABETH COPE. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,700 AT HAMMER
This oil on board by Elizabeth Cope is lot 21 at Whyte’s autumn online art auction on October 21. The estimate is €1,200-€1,800. Art by Graham Knuttel, Louise Mansfield, John Skelton, Ciaran Clear, Harry Kernoff, Imogen Stuart, Maurice MacGonigal, Sidney Nolan, Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Patrick Caulfield, Neill Shawcross and Barry Castle is included in the sale.
BREON O’CASEY (1928-2011) – SEATED FIGURE (1990). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,800 AT HAMMER
This unique brass figure by Breon O’Casey comes up as lot number 83 at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin this evening. The estimate is €2,000-€3,000. A prominent member of the St. Ives School he was a versatile jewellery, weaver, painter and sculptor. O’Casey was a son of the Irish playwright Sean O’Casey. Included in the sale are major works by Jack Butler Yeats, Paul Henry, Grace Henry, William Orpen, Seán Keating, Mildred Anne Butler, William Percy French, William Conor, Mary Swanzy, Colin Middleton, Daniel O’Neill, Nano Reid, Patrick Collins, Camille Souter, Norah McGuinness, Patrick Hennessy, Donald Teskey, Rowan Gillespie, Anthony Scott, Liam O’Neill, Rita Duffy and many more.
Drogheda Quay by Nano Reid (1900-1981) UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,700 AT HAMMER
Nano Reid, Colin Middleton, Banksy, Edward Delaney, Pauline Bewick, Neil Shawcross, Edward Delany, Louise Mansfield, Rita Duffy and Graham Knuttel are among the artists at Whyte’s summer online art auction which ends from 6 pm onJuly 1. The sale offers a good selection of affordable and accessible art from Ireland and is on view in Dublin this afternoon and from 10 am to 5 pm next Monday. The most expensively estimated lot is a bronze An Tostal commemorative plaque by Gabriel Hayes (€2,500-€3,500). There is a wooden postcard (€400-€600) and a lithograph (€700-€1,000) by Banksy, a charcoal self portrait by Sean Keating (€1,500-€2,000), a Canal Scene by Walter Verling (€400-€600) and an etching by Dame Elisabeth Frink (€250-€350) among more than 300 lots.
SÉAMUS O’COLMÁIN (1915-1990) – OÍCHE COIS LIFE (RIVER LIFFEY AT NIGHT). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,150 AT HAMMER
OÍCHE COIS LIFE (RIVER LIFFEY AT NIGHT) by Seamus O’Colmain is at Whyte’s timed online summer art auction which runs until July 1 and is now on view at Molesworth St. in Dublin. The oil on board is estimated at 1,000-1,500. The auction offers an accessible art from Ireland and around the world. Bidding ends from 6 pm on July 1 and the catalogue is online.
Louise Mansfield (1950-2018) – Ocean Breeze. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,000 AT HAMMER
Ocean Breeze by Louise Mansfield is at Whyte’s summer online art auction which runs until July 1. The estimate is €2,000-€3,000 which makes it one of the more expensive lots in this auction of 324 lots of affordable Irish and international art. Viewing for this timed online auction gets underway today at Whyte’s on Molesworth St. in Dublin and the catalogue is online.
Dublin Metropolitan Police reward poster for the Irish Crown Jewels. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER
This rare poster issued by the Dublin Metropolitan Police in the wake of the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels in 1907 comes up at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector timed online auction which runs until June 7. Issued by John Lowe, Superintendent with three illustrations of the jewels – all of them for the Order of Saint Patrick – the lot is estimated at 600-800.
The Jewels of the Order of St Patrick were the heavily jewelled badge and star created in 1831 for the Grand Master of the Order of St. Patrick established in 1783 by George III to be an Irish equivalent of the Order of the Garter in England. They were stolen along with the collars of five knights of the order. The theft was never solved and the items were never recovered. Viewing for the auction gets underway at Whyte’s today and the catalogue is online.
