Fale and Passion Fruit by Poppy Melia comes up art Whyte’s autumn timed online only art auction which runs until the evening of October 17. Many well known Irish artists are represented with affordable works in a sale designed for seasoned collectors and those who would like to dip their toes into the art auction world. The choice is wide ranging and there are 288 lots on the catalogue. Viewing for this sale gets underway in Molesworth St. in Dublin today and the catalogue is online.
The Changing Dawn and Rivermouth by Jack B Yeats were the top lots at Whyte’s evening auction in in Dublin on September 26. They made hammer prices of €220,000 and €180,000 respectively. William Scott’s Chinese Orange III made €110,000. Other top hammer prices were: The Lady Parmoor by Sir John Lavery (€58,000); Portrait of Daniel O’Connell by Sir Martin Archer Shee (€34,000); The Bridge by Sir John Lavery (€30,000); Composition with Steps, Dun Laoghaire and Monkstown by Donald Teskey (€29,000) The Good Stuff by Sean Keating (€28,000) and Black and White She Scarecrow by John Shinnors (€25,000).
The auction grossed €1.65 million with 83% of lots sold on the night.
The autumn selling season is underway with a vengeance. Art auctions, fairs and large sales of antiques and collectibles will keep many people busy next week. The choice confronting auction goers and collectors in Ireland right now is nothing short of dizzying. Collectors of art can sharpen their focus as viewings are underway in Dublin for sales of Important Irish Art by Whyte’s on September 26 and at James Adam on September 28. A trip to Dublin this weekend also creates an opportunity to drop in to Timeless, the Irish Antique Dealers Fair which continues at the RDS today and tomorrow.
The capital is exerting a strong pull but an online sale of affordable Irish art by Morgan O’Driscoll until Tuesday (September 27) offers opportunities to view in Skibbereen and a number of important sales around the country are on view too.Against a background where the Irish art market is growing year on year Whyte’s will offer two 1946 works by Yeats, The Changing Dawn (€250,0000-€350,000) and River Mouth (€200,000-€300,000). Among the artworks of a completely contrasting styles on the catalogue of 150 lots are William Scott’s Chinese Orange III (€40,000-€60,000), Black and White She Scarecrow by John Shinnors (€25,000-€35,000) and Stephen McKenna’s Interior Scene (€8,000-€10,000).
The choice at James Adam ranges from the late 19th century to the present day. A c1891 portrait by Roderic O’Conor, Le Marin Barbu (€60,000-€80,000) and a self portrait by Gerard Dillon titled Man on a chair (€50,000-€80,000) are the most expensively estimated lots. Fisherman with Lobster c1937 (€15,000-€20,000) by Charles Lamb which depicts Padraic Ghrealis of Rinn, Connemara was once a key work on the wall of Lambs Restaurant at the Seagoe Hotel in Portadown, hometown of the artist.Two paintings in the unmistakable Modern style of Norah McGuinness, Waterweeds and Day’s End, Dublin Bay – each estimated at €30,000-€40,000 – once adorned the walls of Ballymascanlon House Hotel near Carlingford in Co. Louth. A panoramic view of Clifden on a grand scale by Maurice MacGonigal comes with an estimate of €15,000-€20,000, as does Portrait of a Young Woman by Dan O’Neill.
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.
The autumn Irish art selling season gets underway in a spirit of optimism this month. It kicks off with Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale on September 12 and there will be auctions of Important Irish Art at Whyte’s, and Adams on September 26 and 28 respectively. At James Adam the belief is that there has never been a better time to sell Irish art. Price records continue to be broken at auctions. Sales of Important Irish Art at Adams in 2021 and 2022 have grossed over €8.5 million to date. The sale at Adams on September 28 will include art by Norah McGuinness, Roderic O’Conor, Daniel O’Neill, Louis le Brocquy and Hughie O’Donoghue.
The selection at Whyte’s is appetising. Here you will find work by 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, Bob Dylan and many others. At the time of writing the catalogue for de Veres sale is not to hand. This is an auction house that rarely disappoints and you are likely to find a particularly good selection of fine contemporary Irish art.
With monthly online sales interspersed with auctions of Important Irish and International Art shown in normal times for viewing both in London and New York Skibbereen based Morgan O’Driscoll keeps the ball rolling more than any other auctioneer of art in Ireland. The online catalogue for the auction next Monday offers much to choose from. The selection ranges from Yeats, Harry Kernoff, Nano Reid, May Guinness and Colin Middleton to Pauline Bewick, Felim Egan, Tony O’Malley and the French born Los Angeles based Mr. Brainwash whose work he has been successfully selling in latter years.
Contemporary art is driven by the experiences of contemporary life. The artist Brian Maguire never shirks difficult subjects. He is driven by the struggle against inequality and violence and is represented in this sale by a challenging work entitled Direct Provision. It features faces, bright eyes and white teeth against a darkand brooding ground. The acrylic on paper is estimated at €2,000-€3,000. Now firmly established as a first world country where refugees seek a haven it is no harm to be reminded that we Irish among the dispossessed not too long ago. John Behan’s unique bronze Famine Ship, lot 89 at Morgan O’Driscoll with an estimate of €8,000-€12,000, is a reminder of a dark and risky past that still exists for others today. In the 21st century the focus has shifted from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and the English Channel.
Sunlight on the River Bann by John Skelton comes up as lot 28 at Whyte’s summer online art auction, which runs until July 25. It is estimated at €600-€800. This is a sale designed to encourage both first time buyers and seasoned bidders. The catalogue is online and viewing continues at Whyte’s galleries on Molesworth St. in Dublin. The sale is on view until 5 pm today, from 2 pm to 5 pm tomorrow and from 10 am to 5 pm on Monday.
Viewers can lose themselves in the work of the Cork based artist Maurice Desmond, who sadly left us on June 30. Just look and keep on looking and it is surprising what you can find. When Maurice was on song a five minute visit to his studio could last an entire afternoon without ever knowing or even noticing where the time had gone. The first painting by the artist to come up at auction since his unexpected death is an abstract landscape once in the collection of the late Jim O’Driscoll SC. Lot 114 at Whyte’s summer online art auction, which runs until the evening of July 25, is an oil on board estimated at just €500-€700.
This is an auction of affordable art by well known Irish artists designed to attract new collectors without breaking the bank. According to Whyte’s there has never been a better time to dive in and immerse yourself. Among the artists represented are Kenneth Webb, Henry Healy, Gwen O’Dowd, John Morris, Rose Ganly, Stephen Cullen, Cecily Brennan, Colin Gibson, Desmond Carrick, Patricia Jorgensen, John Skelton, Maurice MacGonigal, Muriel Brandt, Liam Treacy, Pauline Bewick, Hughie O’Donoghue, Dorothy Cross, Felim Egan, Stella Steyn and William Orpen. Viewing gets underway next Wednesday on Molesworth St. and the catalogue is online.
Paul Henry’s painting of a bog near Dingle made a hammer price of 75,000 against a top estimate of 70,000 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art in Dublin this evening. The Little Sister of the Gang by Jack B. Yeats made 200,000 at hammer, the figure at the top of the estimate. The Reading Room by Yeats made 95,000 over a top estimate of 90,000 and Patrick Heron’s Emerald with Reds and Cerulean made 140,000. Peter Curling’s Horse Fair at Goresbridge, Co. Kilkenny made 42,000 over a top estimate of 40,000 and works by Grace Henry, William John Leech, Lilian Lucy Davidson, Basil Blackshaw and Hughie O’Donoghue all exceeded the top estimate. The sale grossed 1.5 million and was 85% sold.
This 1788 portrait miniature by Horace Hone comes up as lot 104 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art in Dublin this evening. The live online auction is on view at the RDS until 6 pm today, when bidding begins. The watercolour on ivory, one of a number of miniatures on sale, is signed with the initials and dated. It was shown at the Gorry Gallery exhibition of 18th-21st Century Irish Paintings in Dublin in 2020 and is in excellent condition. It is estimated at 1,200-1,800.
A particularly tender oil by Jack B. Yeats – The Little Sister of the Gang (Fitzwilliam Square) 1944 (€150,000-€200,000) – comes up at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art at the RDS on June 6. It shows one of a gang of boys holding the hand and carefully looking after a much younger yellow haired girl. In complete contrast is Patrick Heron’s Emerald with Reds and Cerulean (1977) (€150,000-€200,000). These two works demonstrate the widely differing styles of art on offer at Whyte’s sale of 156 lots. They range from an Untitled 1977 Tuft Wall Hanging by Patrick Scott (€15,000-€20,000) to A Horsefair at Goresbridge, Co. Kilkenny by Peter Curling (€30,000-€40,000). The Patrick Scott work was commissioned by McGarry Ni Eanaigh for the s3 Building at Leopardstown in 1997 and made by V’Soske Joyce of Oughterard. The entire proceeds of the sale of this lot will be donated to the Irish Red Cross Ukraine Appeal courtesy of s3 Connected Health and Whyte’s.
An unusual four part portrait of Penelope Collins, daughter of the artist Patrick Collins, by Basil Blackshaw is estimated at €10,000-€15,000.The catalogue cover lot is Fair Day, Westport, Co. Mayo c1943 by Lillian Lucy Davidson (€20,000-€30,000). Viewing gets underway on June 4.
