The country's artistic giants will be front and centre at Sotheby's 17th annual Irish Sale in March, writes MICHAEL PARSONS
LAST YEAR’S Irish sale at Sotheby’s, London, featured 108 works of art. However, in a sign of the troubled times, fewer than half – 44 lots – sold. Buyers played safe and the highest prices were achieved by the old reliables.
The 2010 top sellers were paintings by Sir John Lavery, Louis le Brocquy, Roderic O'Conor and Jack B Yeats. The highest price achieved was The Gold Turban, a portrait by Lavery of his wife Hazel, which sold for £481,250 (€562,824 at the time).
“These superstars sustain the market due to their international appeal,” commented Grant Ford, head of the Irish pictures department at Sotheby’s, following the sale. Not surprisingly, the 2011 sale features these same blue-chip names in a sale which, he said, “draws attention to the richness of Ireland’s longstanding artistic output”.
During a visit to Dublin earlier this month, Ford, who also values paintings on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow,said paintings had been consigned to the sale from Ireland and "all corners of the globe". Despite the financial crisis, he was confident that Sotheby's would attract new buyers. He believes that the drop in prices meant that important Irish art was "no longer the preserve of a select few".
The highest valuation for the March auction has been assigned to Paysage,a south-of-France landscape by Roderic O'Conor (estimate: £120,000 to £180,000, or €139,000 to €208,000) consigned by a private American collector.
“The painting’s contrasting warm and cool tones create a shimmering effect across the surface,” according to Sotheby’s, which described it as one of the most accomplished of the artist’s landscapes to appear at auction. O’Conor, born in Co Roscommon in 1860, was influenced by painters including Matisse and Gauguin during his many years living and working in France, where he died in 1940.
Lavery is back with another portrait of a lady – Lady Gwendoline Churchill – which comes from a private collection in the UK, where it has been for several generations. It has an estimate of £100,000 to £150,000 (€116,000 to €174,000) as has The Child of the Sea,a 1948 painting by Jack B Yeats.
Le Brocquy is represented by Image of Samuel Beckett(estimate: £60,000 to £80,000/€69,000 to €93,000), from his well-known "Portrait Head" series.
A total of 71 works will be auctioned. Other artists to feature include Basil Blackshaw, Paul Henry, Colin Middleton, William Scott and Sean Scully. The catalogue will be published early next month.
Sotheby’s will show the works in a travelling exhibition touring Ireland during March: Lismore Castle Arts, Co Waterford on Saturday and Sunday, March 5th and 6th; Sotheby’s Ireland, 16 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 8th and 9th; Waterfront Hall, Belfast on Friday and Saturday, March 11th and 12th. The auction takes place at 11am on Wednesday, March 29th in Sotheby’s, New Bond Street, London. Online bidding is possible but clients must register in advance with sothebys.com.
