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  • Posts Tagged ‘Yeats’

    ARRAY OF CHOICES AT IMPORTANT IRISH ART SALES IN DUBLIN

    Saturday, May 25th, 2024

    The Fourth Estate (1945) by Yeats at Whytes features the interior of a newsagents shop and a cat sitting on a row of books.  The cat can be taken to represent a reporter on the press gallery. UPDATE: THIS MADE 85,000 AT HAMMER

    IT may not be strictly accurate to compare art sales to buses.  But three of them are arriving one after the other in Dublin next week – at Whyte’s on Monday, de Veres on Tuesday and Adams on Wednesday.  Millions of euro worth of Irish art will come under the hammer in a market that has expanded steadily rather than spectacularly over the years.

    The old stalwarts still tend to hold sway – even more so in times of global uncertainty – and this mirrors the situation of the art market internationally.  The most expensively estimated work in Dublin next week is a 1952 Yeats at Whyte’s entitled Discovery. The estimate is €300,000-€500,000.

    A c1891 still life by Roderic O’Conor – Flowers, Bottle and Two Jugs would, at €120,000-€180,000, have been the highest estimated lot at de Veres, but it has been sold prior to auction and the sale will now be led by an Orpen estimated at €100,000-€150,000.

    Another Yeats, The Water Steps from 1947, will lead the sale at Adams with an estimate of €120,000-€180,000.  Yeats, Osborne, Paul Henry and Sir John Lavery – among the blue chip artists whose work continues to dominate Irish sales – are all represented in Dublin next week. It might create an impression that nothing ever changes but in fact many changes are afoot in an Irish market which is dynamic.  Tastes are evolving and new artists are emerging with access to international cutting edge work in a way that their older counterparts did not.

    Game of Chance by Colin Middleton at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 40,000 AT HAMMER

    The market evolves more quickly on the international front but there are resemblances.  For instance the six marquee week sales at Christie’s in New York last week brought in more than $640 million (587.46 million).  The highest individual sale total, at $413.3 million (€379.21 million), was the 20th century evening sale led by Andy Warhol’s Flowers which made $35.5 million (€32.59 million) followed by blue chip artists like Van Gogh, David Hockney and Alberto Giacometti in a sale where 15 works made more than $10 million (€9.18 million).

    Next Monday evening Whyte’s will offer a carefully curated sale of 131 lots.  Along with Yeats there are two significant paintings by Paul Henry with works by Louis le Brocquy, F E McWiliam, Mary Swanzy, William Scott, Donald Teskey and Genieve Figgis featuring strongly.

    At de Veres, where Dan O’Neill, William Crozier, Louis le Brocquy, Orla de Bri, Colin Middleton, Stephen McKenna and Harry Kernoff are among the leading artists on offer, there will be over 100 lots in a timed sale closing from 6 pm on Tuesday.

    On Wednesday evening Adams will offer fresh to market work like Early Market, Quimperle by Walter Osborne.  Painted in 1883 it has been in the same family since being acquired directly from the artist and is estimated at €120,000-€160,000. Another painting by Osborne not on the market before is Sheep in a Field, acquired directly by fellow artist Sarah Purser from Osborne (€60,000-€80,000). There is value to be had in quality Irish landscapes from earlier periods. The catalogue includes more contemporary art by Patrick Scott, Sean Keating, John Shinnors, Tony O’Malley, F E McWilliam, Felim Egan, James Dixon, Basil Blackshaw, Martin Mooney and many others.

    Gold Painting by Patrick Scott at Adams. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    YEATS ONCE OWNED BY PETER O’TOOLE AT BONHAMS

    Thursday, May 19th, 2022
    The Train through the Woods by Jack Butler Yeats. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    A painting by Jack B Yeats once in the collection of actor Peter O’Toole comes up at Bonhams sale of Modern British and Irish Art in London on June 22. Painted in 1925 The Train through the Woods is estimated at £40,000-60,000. There is art in the sale by Hughie O’Donoghue and Sir John Lavery.

    YEATS MAKES €1.4 MILLION AT HAMMER AT WHYTE’S

    Monday, November 29th, 2021

    Shouting, an epic large scale work by Jack B. Yeats, made a hammer price of €1.4 million at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin tonight. With fees and VAT this amounted to €1.74 million. It had been estimated at €1.5 million – €2 million, making it the most expensively estimated Irish artwork to come to sale in Ireland. Painted in 1950 this visionary work, painted late in his career, is considered to be one of his finest achievements. It ranks as one of the most expensive Yeats paintings ever sold. At the sale of the Ernie O’Malley Collection at Whyte’s in Dublin in 2019 Reverie  and Evening in Spring, both by Yeats, made €1.4 and €1.3 million respectively. In 2001 The Whistle of a Jacket made £1.4 million (€1.65 million) at Christie’s in London and The Wild Ones by Yeats made £1.2  million (€1.42   million) at Sotheby’s in 1999. The winter selling season of Irish art has proved to be spectacular so far.  Sales at Sotheby’s, de Veres and Bonhams last week achieved an aggregate of around €7 million.  With 50 in room bidders, 500 on-line bidders and about 60 telephone bidders Whyte’s added another €2.5 million to that total with 85% of lots sold. There were new world records for Grace Henry and Graham Knuttel.  With big sales at Morgan O’Driscoll on November 30 and at James Adam in Dublin on December 8 in the offing the winter selling season for Irish art is set to surpass €10 million easily. Irish women artists fared particularly well at Whyte’s. The Fortune Teller by Grace Henry made €37,000 at hammer over a top estimate of €7,000; A Cove in Lake Garda by Letitia Hamilton made €17,000 over a top estimate of €12,000 and The Stringagh (Co. Meath) by Nano Reid made €12,000 over a top estimate of €8,000.

    JACK B YEATS SHOUTING

    AN ENIGMATIC YEATS LEADS WHYTE’S SALE

    Sunday, March 14th, 2021
    Waiting for the Ferry, low tide by Jack B. Yeats  UPDATE: THIS MADE 135,000 AT HAMMER

    A lone figure stands at the waters edge in Waiting for the Ferry, Low Tide, 1946.  This enigmatic Yeats work is the catalogue cover lot at Whyte’s evening sale of Important Irish and International Art in Dublin on March 22. It was acquired by American sculptor Helen Hooker O’Malley in the same year that she sought a divorce from the Irish revolutionary Ernie O’Malley.  The O’Malleys were important collectors of Yeats in the 1930’s and ’40’s.  His collection, sold by Whyte’s and Christie’s in Dublin in 1919, grossed €5.5 million. She bought it from Leo Smith, who had been co-director of the Waddington Gallery in Dublin before setting up the Dawson Gallery in 1944. Helen gifted it to Liam Redmond, with whom she founded the Dublin Players Theatre in 1944, and it is now estimated at €100,000-€150,000.  Redmond was married to Barbara MacDonagh, daughter of poet Thomas MacDonagh who was executed after the 1916 Rising.

    Share the Feeling by John Behan. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,500 AT HAMMER

    The virtual auction of 153 lots features work by sculptors John Behan and Rowan Gillespie, paintings by Louis le Brocquy, Paul Henry, Patrick Scott, Camille Souter,  William Crozier, James Humbert Craig, Gladys Maccabe, Dan O’Neill and international artists Tracey Emin, Bob Dylan and Damien Hirst.Francis Bacon and Louis le Brocquy met in the 1940’s in London and remained friends until Bacon’s death in 1992.  Bacon penned the introduction to a le Brocquy retrospective in 1966. It was not until 1979 that le Brocquy created an image of Bacon and it was one of the few portraits of people he knew personally.  His oil of canvas Image of Francis Bacon is estimated at €120,000-€150,000.  A watercolour image of Beckett, estimated at €15,000-€20,000, is one of a number of works by le Brocquy in this sale. Spring in Wicklow, a 1920’s landscape by Paul Henry is estimated at €150,000-€200,000. There is much Irish work to choose from with art by Tony O’Malley, Donald Teskey, John Shinnors, William Crozier, John Kingerlee and others. Among these is a still life by Christy Brown with an estimate of €2,000-3,000.A small oil on canvas of ships in moonlight by the noted Dutch artist Johnan Barthold Jongkind (1819-1891) is estimated at €8,000-€12,000. A 2019 lithograph by Tracey Emin (75/200) entitled I Loved my Innocence has an estimate of €3,000-€4,000 and two unnumbered etchings by Damien Hirst from an edition of 68 are each estimated at €1,000-€1,500. Bob Dylan’s are has proved popular in Ireland at past sales and this auction offers three prints by the American singer songwriter at estimates ranging from €1,200 to €5,000.

    SALE AT SOTHEBY’S OFFERS ROLL CALL OF LEADING IRISH ART

    Saturday, September 5th, 2020

    INTERNATIONAL interest in the Irish art market will be tested at Sotheby’s Irish art sale in London on September 9. This auction of 60 lots features a roll call of the most beloved and esteemed names in the field. The  pre-sale estimate of £3.2 million makes it the highest value auction since Sotheby’s re-introduced dedicated sales of Irish art in 2015. More than 1,000 people attended three and a half days of viewing at the RHA Gallery in Dublin.  The sale is distinguished by 18 works from the collection of Sir Michael Smurfit and some of these have been displayed at the K Club in Co. Kildare.
    Arabella Bishop, head of Sotheby’s Ireland, remarked: “It is a market that was catapulted onto the global platform in the 1990’s by advocates such as Sir Michael, who has played a key role in bestowing Irish artists with the reputation they deserved and still deserve today.”  Sotheby’s hope that this sale will appeal to and excite collectors worldwide.   Sir Michael Smurfit’s passion for Irish artists like Yeats, Lavery and Orpen is reflected in a number of significant works by these figures.   The collection is distinguished further by one of le Brocquy’s most significant works, Travelling Woman with Newspaper (£700,000-£1,000,000) and William Conor’s depiction of The Dublin Horse Show (£80,000-£120,000).The sale opens with twelve works from the Yeats family including sketches by John Butler Yeats and Jack B. Yeats.  Lot 10, Three Girls listening to music by the former, created significant interest at the Dublin view. It is estimated at £4,000-£6,000.  Many other works have emerged from long held private collections including Houses by the Sea (£50,000-£70,000) and Kerry Fisherman (£70,000-£100,000), both by Jack B. Yeats and Tory Island (£18,000-£25,000) and The Dreamer (£100,000-£150,000) both by Gerard Dillon.  Artists like Sir John Lavery and William Scott have a significant international following.  Lavery’s Tennis under the orange trees, Cannes (£300,000-£500,000) and Poem for a Jug, No. 23 (£70,000-£100,000) are both certain to perform well at this sale.The selection on offer is completed by artists and sculptors like Tony O’Malley, Peter Curling, John Kingerlee, Patrick O’Reilly, John Behan, Elizabeth Magill and Mainie Jellett.  Sotheby’s will offer over 50 items from the collection of Sir Michael Smurfit at various auctions over the coming year.

    UPDATE: Travelling Woman with Newspaper and The Dublin Horse show failed to sell. Works from the Yeats family collection all sold. The Dreamer by Gerard Dillon made £378,000 and Kerry Fisherman made £81,500.

     A portrait of WB Yeats by Augustus John from the Smurfit Collection (£70,000-£100,000). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £88,200

    KERRY FISHERMAN BY YEATS AT SOTHEBY’S

    Saturday, August 29th, 2020

    This painting of a Kerry Fisherman by Jack B. Yeats has been in a private family collection in Canada for over fifty years. It comes up at Sotheby’s annual Irish Art sale in London on September 9 with an estimate of £70,000-£100,000.  Dating to the late 1920’s Sotheby’s say it has not been at auction before.  The strong features and confident stance offer a heroic figure,  Yeats’s wonder and admiration for such figures was instilled in him during a childhood near the quays of Sligo.  The work anticipates the looser brushwork and dissolving forms of his later work. The sale, which includes 18 works from the collection of Sir Michael Smurfit, is on view by appointment only at the RHA in Dublin from 10 am to 5 pm today and from 10 am to 3 pm tomorrow. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £81,900

    TAGORE AND YEATS AT FONSIE MEALY SALET

    Wednesday, July 8th, 2020

    A first edition of The Crescent Moon, a 1913 book by the world renowned Bengali Poet Tagore Rabindranath Tagore with an introduction by the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s summer collectors sale online until July 15. They met in 1912 and Yeats was instrumental in promoting Tagore to western audiences. Song Offerings was published by MacMillan and Co. and the book is estimated at 100-150.

    CELEBRATED IRISH ARTISTS AT WHYTE’S AUCTION

    Sunday, March 8th, 2020

    Some of the most celebrated Irish artists including Yeats, le Brocquy, Paul Henry, Tony O’Malley, Barrie Cooke, Nathanial Hone, Donald Teskey and many more feature at the evening sale of Irish and International art by Whyte’s in Dublin on March 9. There is a selection of American artists from the defunct Anglo Irish Bank collection, a print from a box set by Banksy and Mastiff from the renowned Polish artist Tadeusz Brzozowski (1918-1987).  The catalogue is online.

    UPDATE: Mastiff by Polish artist Tadeusz Brzozwski was the top lot of the sale. It made 190,000 at hammer. This price equals the world record set in 2017 by Desa Unicom in Warsaw. Rusty Gates by Jack B. Yeats made 120,000 and The Bog Road by Paul Henry made 54,000. The auction grossed €1.1 million with 82% of lots sold.

    Wedding at Joy St., Belfast c1923 by William Conor. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    IRISH AND INTERNATIONAL ART AT WHYTE’S

    Sunday, March 1st, 2020

    Art auctioneers Whyte’s, who enjoyed a record breaking year in 2019, will kick off their 2020 art selling season on March 9.  The evening sale of Irish and International Art at the RDS in Dublin includes works by Yeats, Paul Henry, William Conor, Beatrice Glenavy, William Sadler, Nathaniel Hone the elder, Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Donald Teskey, Barrie Cooke and many more. Whyte’s results in 2019 were aided in no small part by the record breaking November sale of the Ernie O’Malley Collection at which two works by Yeats soared past the million euro barrier.  A 1948 Yeats, Rusty Gates, is the most expensively estimated lot in this upcoming sale with an estimate of €100,000-150,000.  It depicts two elderly gentleman standing before a gateway in a high stone wall in a setting reminiscent of Co. Wicklow with a Sugar Loaf like mountain in the background.The first ROSC exhibition in Dublin at the RDS in 1967 was built around 50 of the “best” living artists at that time and included Francis Bacon, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso.  Among those exhibiting was Polish artist Tadeusz Brzozowski (1918-1987).  His work Mastiff from that show returns to the RDS to go under the hammer as Lot 53 with an estimate of €80,000-100,000.  The Bog Road by Paul Henry dates to 1917-1923 and is estimated at €50,000-70,000, Stage Girls by Daniel O’Neill is estimated at €30,000-50,000 and works by Sir John Lavery include two portraits and a painting of two cigarette girls in Seville in colourful costume.  There is art by Gerard Dillon, Colin Middleton and George Campbell and Reclining Woman by Roderic O’Conor is estimated at €15,000-20,000. Large oils by John Shinnors and Donald Teskey, Sculptor’s Scarecrow and Coastal Report II are each estimated at €10,000-15,000, Mayo Summer by Tony O’Malley is estimated at €15,000-20,000, Rakaia Gorge I by Barrie Cooke is estimated at €6,000-8,000 as is  an Aubusson tapestry from the 1970’s by Patrick Scott.The Embarkation of King George IV at Kingstown 1821 by William Sadler II is full of minute detail recording the historic visit to Ireland by the British monarch. The King arrived drunk and suspicions persisted that the main purpose of the trip was to visit his mistress, Lady Conyngham at Slane Castle.  The visit was presented as a success and Lot 98 is estimated at €12,000-18,000.There are 200 lots on the catalogue, which is online.

    Rakaia Gorge I by Barrie Cooke  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    THE SKY LOVERS BY YEATS AT CHRISTIE’S

    Thursday, January 16th, 2020

    It is, according to the auctioneers Christie’s, in paintings like The Sky Lovers that we see the roots of Yeats’ most emotional and highly evocative works.  The 1947 work provides a striking example of his late painting style. Early in 1947 Yeats lost Cottie, his wife of 53 years, and when he returned to his easel it was with a new found emotional intensity.  In this work two figures are depicted looking to the sky as one raises his hands imploringly to the heavens. Through light and vigorous brushstrokes the artist brings energy to the work, a sense of desolation and a yearning for something lost.  The Sky Lovers comes up at the Modern British Art evening sale  at Christie’s in London on January 21 with an estimate of £200,000-300,000.

    Jack Butler Yeats, R.H.A. (1871-1957) The Sky Lovers . UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £225,000