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Cecil King (1921-1986) – UNTITLED (THRESHOLD SERIES) UPDATE: THIS MADE 750 AT HAMMER
This oil on paper from Cecil King’s Threshold series is lot 103 at Whyte’s Spring online art sale which runs until the evening of March 30. Signed in pencil on the lower right it is estimated at €800-€1,200. Bidding is open for this auction which is on view at Molesworth St. from March 23. There are 235 lots on the catalogue with estimates from €80 to €4,500 and it is online now.
What Sean O Faolain described as the special drama of mobile light had returned to Paul Henry’s painting when he made Landscape Connemara. Clouds in the upper third of the composition evoke a sense of enthusiasm and joy. The oil on canvas comes up as lot 17 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and international art on March 9 with an estimate of €120,000-€150,000.
By the early 1930’s Paul Henry had settled into life in Carrigoona Cottage in Enniskerry County Wicklow with his partner, and later his second wife, the artist Mabel Young RHA whom he had first met in 1924. The mid-1920s had been fraught with both marital and financial troubles for Henry but life with Young in Enniskerry reinvigorated the artist. ‘Henry’s palette, like his mood, lightened as his financial and domestic problems faded.’ By September 1934 he was legally separated and it would appear his thirst for inspiration had returned following a holiday in County Kerry.
Included in the sale are works by Henry, Roderic O’Conor, William Conor, Walter Osborne, Aloysius O’Kelly, William Orpen, Mildred Anne Butler, Jack Butler Yeats, Seán Keating, Norah McGuinness, Evie Hone, Daniel O’Neill, Tony O’Malley, Rowan Gillespie and many others. International artists represented in the collection include L. S. Lowry, David Hockney, Frank Bowling, Josef Herman and Maurice Poirson.
A doll’s house at Woodwards sale in Cork today (March 7). UPDATE: THIS MADE 280 AT HAMMER
From art and jewellery to antique furniture, paintings and collectibles at all price points all sorts of everything will be available at auctions up and down Ireland in the coming days. In Dublin art by Roderic O’Conor and Paul Henry head up an Irish and International art sale with a combined estimate of more than €1 million at Whyte’s on the evening of March 9. The Jewellery Box sale at Adams on March 10 offers 234 lots headed by an emerald and diamond dress ring (€10,000-€15,000). Both these auctions are now on view.
Auctions in Cork by Aidan Foley, Woodwards and Hegarty’s in Bandon offer a wide variety of lots at lower price points. Top lots at Woodwards on March 7 are an Edwardian economy dining table (€1,000-€2,000) and a five piece cast iron patio suite (1,200-€1,800). The three day sale by Aidan Foley in Doneraile next on March 9, 10 and 11 at 6 pm on each day offers a library collection, art, antique furniture and rugs, silver and a collection of whiskey. The online sale at Hegarty’s in Bandon on March 11 features an oil on canvas by Graham Knuttel, a five stone diamond ring and an antique pair of Cork elbow chairs.
An emerald and diamond dress ring at Adam’s in Dublin. UPDATE: THIS MADE 10,000 AT HAMMER
Le Loing at Sundown by Roderic O’Conor. UPDATE: THIS MADE €245,000 AT HAMMER
From Roderic O’Conor to David Hockney and Paul Henry to Ciaran Clear the Irish and International art sale at Whyte’s on March 9 offers many exciting opportunities for collectors.
The museum quality Le Loing at Sundown by O’Conor leads an auction of 129 lots with a combined estimate of in excess of one million euro. Painted around 1902 it is the catalogue cover lot and carries an estimate of €150,000-€200,000.
O’Conor revisited Montigny, a small town on the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau in the autumn of 1902 where he captured the mysterious half light with the sun setting low on the horizon. The art historian Jonathan Benington recounts how the works executed at this time were; “characterised by a highly painterly handling of the oil medium, from translucent stains to textured scumblings and thick calligraphic strokes”. This approach, radical at that time, can be traced back to O’Conor’s friendship with Gauguin and allegiances with Van Gogh in the early 1890’s.
David Hockney’s Pool Made with Paper and Blue Ink for Book was similarly radical when it was made in 1980. It reflects his long-standing fascination with pools, light and the California lifestyle, transforming an everyday subject into a vivid study of colour, surface and perception. The artist uses simplified lines and fluid forms to evoke the movement and shimmer of water. This signed lithograph from an edition of 1,000 is a highly sought after example from his inspirational swimming pools paintings and is estimated at €25,000-€35,000.
A holiday in Kerry brought inspiration back to Paul Henry. By the early 1930’s, after a fraught and financially troubled time in his life during which he had separated from his wife, the celebrated artist had settled into a new life in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow with his partner Mabel Young RHA, later his second wife. By September 1934 he was legally separated and his thirst for inspiration had returned following a holiday in Co. Kerry. This renewed passion for his surroundings is evident in the lightened palette of his Landscape, Connemara (1932-35) which comes up as lot 17 with an estimate of €120,000-€150,000.
A completely different take on a similar subject is evident in Ciaran Clear’s Moonrise, Connemara Shore (€4,000-€6,000) with its silvery sea, figures on a beach looking out to sea, dark sails and shadowy rocks.
A coade stone bust of the Cork born artist James Barry (1741-1806) by Joseph Panzetta dates to 1818 and is probably based on an engraving by Picart in Fryer’s two volume catalogue of Barry’s work in 1809. It is one of four busts, others being held by the Crawford in Cork and by St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. The estimate is €5,000-€7,000. Three Roses by Patrick Hennessy, complete with a Guildhall Galleries, Chicago label, is similarly estimated.
The artist L S Lowry was proud of his Irish roots and The Cart from 1959 is a possible memory of a jaunting car during one of his visits to Ireland. Other international artists in the sale are Mr. Brainwash, Sir Frank Bowling, Maurice Poirson and Josef Herman.
A rare 1921 artist’s proof set of two lithographs by Sir John Lavery of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith, each signed by both artist and sitter, is estimated at €8,000-€10,000. They were gifted to the previous owner by Arthur Griffith.
The Shuggleshoo by William Conor (€18,000-€22,000) was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1951. Child Playing with Dice by Dan O’Neill (€12,000-€18,000) was acquired from the George Waddington Galleries in Montreal. This gallery held solo exhibitions of O’Neill in 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1965. The sale features a selection of watercolours by Percy French and art by Walter Osborne, Evie Hone, Maurice MacGonigal, Tony O’Malley, Mainie Jellett, Jack Yeats, Rowan Gillespie, Siobhan Bulfin, Kenneth Webb, Arthur Maderson and Elizabeth Cope. Viewing gets underway at Whyte’s next Monday and the catalogue is online.
Moonrise, Connemara Shore by Ciaran Clear. UPDATE: THIS WAS WITHDRAWN
Roderic O’Conor – Le Loing at Sundown c1902. UPDATE: THIS MADE €245,000 AT HAMMER
Le Loing at Sundown by Roderic O’Conor will lead Whyte’s sale of Irish and International art in Dublin on March 9. The museum worthy work is the catalogue cover lot for the sale. Valued at €150,000-€200,000 it is also the most expensively estimated lot of 129 in the auction. In the autumn of 1902 O’Conor revisited Montigny, a small town on the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau where that he captured the mysterious half light with the sun sitting low on the horizon. O’Conor author Jonathan Benington describes how the works executed at this time were “…characterised by a highly painterly handling of the oil medium, from translucent stains to textured scumblings and thicker calligraphic strokes.”
The catalogue for the sale is online.
Sarah Walker (b. 1965) – BEARA MEADOW, 2018. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This mixed media on canvas by Sarah Walker is at Whyte’s Christmas art sale on the evening of December 15. The estimate is €1,000-€1,500. Artists in this seasonal sale of affordable art include Patrick Scott, Jack Yeats, Louis le Brocquy, Norah McGuinness, Markey Robinson, Pauline Bewick, Louise Mansfield, James Brohan, Desmond Carrick, Patrick Leonard, Elizabeth Rivers, John Shinnors, Banksy, Damien Hirst and Imogen Stuart. The catalogue is online and the auction is now on view in Dublin.
Tony O’Malley (1913-2003) – Summer Breeze, Callan, Co. Kilkenny 1981 UPDATE: THIS MADE 11,500 AT HAMMER
From a unique modernist take by John Luke of a dead tree in 1933 and Paul Henry’s 1929 view of The Great Sugarloaf to a 2003 oil on panel diptych of Birds in our Saltee Islands by Elizabeth Cope, a seascape by Donald Teskey and Children playing at the seaside by Dorothea Sharpe (1874-1955) Ireland in all its multiple glories is celebrated in the art at Whyte’s sale in Dublin on the evening of December 1.
Whyte’s has valued the 143 lots on offer at €1.2 million, a measure of how far the market has progressed in the first quarter of the 21st century. Summer Breeze, Callan, Co. Kilkenny by Tony O’Malley marries the influence of his native place with the light of the Bahamas. The partially abstracted oil on board, full of flowing movement, has an estimate of €12,000-€18,000. The photo realism of another Kilkenny born artist stands in sharp contrast to this work. Now based in west Cork the artist John Doherty’s c2000 edgy, dramatic and architectural painting of the Poolbeg Lighthouse has an estimate of €18,000-€22,000.
The heavily worked White House, Shooting Star by John Shinnors – approached in another entirely different way – offers a contrasting and pleasing landscape scene by night.
JOHN LUKE – THE DEAD TREE UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Diversity in Irish art is nothing new. The two leading lots of the auction, The Dead Tree by John Luke and The Great Sugarloaf by Paul Henry could not be more different. Painted just a couple of years apart and representing classical and modern style each one is estimated at €100,000-€150,000.
There is art by Leo Whelan, Roderic O’Conor, Eva Hamilton, Frank McKelvey, Dan O’Neill, Patrick Collins, Rowan Gillespie, John Behan, Michael Warren and many other artists in a catalogue available to see online. Viewing at Whyte’s today, tomorrow and Monday will be followed by a live auction at Freemason’s Hall on Molesworth St. in Dublin is from 6 pm on Monday.
Elizabeth Cope – Birds in our Saltee Islands 2003. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
Cubist Landscape by Mary Swanzy at Adams. UPDATE: THIS MADE €38,000 AT HAMMER
Yeats, Henry, O’Conor, Clarke, O’Malley, Teskey, Jellett, Swanzy, Luke and other acclaimed Irish artists offer Ireland’s growing band of collectors an array of tempting choices at auction in the run up to Christmas.
The major winter sales of Irish art get underway in earnest next week with evening auctions by Morgan O’Driscoll on November 24, de Veres and Gormley’s on November 25 and Adam’s on the following evening. The sale of Important Irish Art at Whyte’s is on December 1.
There is something for all levels of the market at auctions where estimates range from €200 to €300,000. It is all art – teasing, lovely, intriguing, home and life enhancing. Even if the important c1890 Paysage aux Arbes (Landscape with Trees) by Roderic O’Conor at de Veres (€200,000-€300,000) is beyond the budget these sales offer plenty of options at price points within the range of many of us. O’Conor made this work at a key turning point in his career. The suggestion of striping in the foliage is a precursor to this feature in many of his later paintings..
A Coastal landscape with Galway Hookers by Paul Henry at Adams (€150,000-€200,000) was in the collection of late Taoiseach John A Costello. Believed to have been purchased directly from the artist in the 1930’s it is making its first every appearance at auction.
Still Life with Frying Pan and Eggs (1973) by William Scott at Morgan O’Driscoll. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,200 AT HAMMER
An oil on canvas board by Yeats, Low Water, Spring Tide, Clifden (1906) leads Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale. The estimate is €40,000-€60,000. Morning Painting, Bahamas from 1983 by Tony O’Malley (€30,000-€50,000), Untitled by Sean Scully (€35,000-€45,000), Cardboard Leaves by Basil Blackshaw and St. Jean d’Acre entering Cork Harbour in 1853 by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson are among the top lots in an online sale with 271 lots.
The collection of former government minister Gemma Hussey and her husband Derry will form part of the offering of 132 lots at de Veres. Bad News by the Dublin artist Patrick Tuohy (1894-1930) from their collection is estimated at €14,000-€18,000. The artist was educated at St. Enda’s School, established by Padraig Pearse, and did illustrations for the school magazine. Distant Bird Song (€15,000-€25,000) and Self Portrait, Physicianstown (€1,500-€2,000) both by Tony O’Malley, Fair Day, Slovakia by Mary Swanzy (€10,000-€15,000) and Portrait of a Woman by Mainie Jellett (€2,000-€4,000) are all from the Hussey collection.
White Wings and White Water by Norah McGuinness at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 34,000 AT HAMMER
Provence by William Crozier (€15,000-€25,000), Morons by Banksy (€15,000-€20,000) and Le Marche Flottant and Evening Drag by Arthur Maderson (€12,000-€18,000) are the leading lots at Gormley’s.
The 150 lots at James Adam on Wednesday range from the late 19th century to the present day. In a Dublin Waxworks by Yeats (€70,000-€100,000) dated 1912 was previously in the collection of Garech Browne at Luggala. The Dublin Waxworks on Henry St. opened in 1893 and was a popular venue until it was burnt down during the 1916 Rising. An illustration by Harry Clarke from the 1925 publication of Goethe’s Faust (€30,000-€50,000) is one of 90 illustrations the artist made for the publishers George Harrap and Co. There is a similar estimate on Lighthouse by Donald Teskey which dates to 2017.
An Aubusson tapestry of Cuchulainn in Warp Spasm by Louis le Brocquy at Adams is estimated at €25,000-€35,000, as is Training Five Souls on Board, an oil on paper by Camille Souter (1929-2023). The artist had learned to fly aeroplanes and produced some of her best work on this theme. A Cublst Landscape by Mary Swanzy, Night Cargo by Hughie O’Donoghue and a bronze by Rowan Gillespie are all estimated at €20,000-€30,000. Night Cargo is the catalogue cover lot.
The sale of important Irish art at Whyte’s on December 1 will be led by The Great Sugarloaf, Co. Wicklow by Paul Henry and The Dead Tree by John Luke. Each is estimated at €100,000-€150,000.
Provence by William Crozier at Gormleys. UPDATE: THIS MADE 23,000 AT HAMMER
Rowan Gillespie (b.1953) – MAQUETTE FOR W.B. YEATS, SLIGO, 1989. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This maquette for the sculpture of W.B. Yeats erected outside Ulster Bank on Stephen Street, Sligo is at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art on December 1 with an estimate of €15,000-€20,000. It was jointly commissioned by the Adhoc Yeats Sculpture Committee, Ulster Bank and the local community. The bronze was placed in position in May 1990 to mark the 50th anniversary of the poet’s death. Viewing for the auction at Whyte’s is now underway at Molesworth St. in Dublin and the catalogue is online.
JANE O’MALLEY (1944-2023) – GULL EVENING, 1996. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 750
Gull Evening, an oil on board by Jane O’Malley, is lot 152 at Whyte’s autumn online art sale which runs until October 20. The oil and gesso on board is estimated at €800-€1,200. The sale of 277 affordable lots is on view at Molesworth St. over the coming weekend.
