Artist couple’s personal collection to be sold

An auction at Adam's in St Stephen's Green on Wednesday – the last before the summer break – features the art collection of the late sculptor Conor Fallon and his wife, the painter Nancy Wynne-Jones.

The catalogue details works by both the artists themselves which includes works from the London and St Ives schools of the 1950s and works they had collected over the years by artist friends, including paintings by Tony O’Malley and sculpture by Melanie le Brocquy.

Conor Fallon was born in Dublin in 1939 and grew up in Co Wexford, where his father, the poet Pádraic Fallon, worked as a civil servant. In the 1960s he moved to St Ives – an artists' colony in Cornwall – where he met and married the Welsh painter Nancy Wynne-Jones. The couple later returned to Ireland and settled at Ballard House, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow. Wynne-Jones died in 2006, Fallon in 2007.

Fallon, a member of Aosdána, was best known for his commissioned sculptures which are among the most visible in Ireland – including the Pegasus horses outside the Independent Newspapers' group print works on the N7 (Naas Road), the Singing Bird at the Irish Life building in Dublin and Bird at the new bridge in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.

The auction features a number of smaller pieces by Fallon including Bird of Capricorn (bronze, 49cm high, number two from an edition of five), and Trout (bronze and stainless steel) – each estimated at €3,000-€5,000.

Paintings by Wynne-Jones include Kinsale Harbour and The Red Path – each estimated at €1,000-€1,500.

The auction has 102 lots. David Britton of Adam's said the other works were collected by the couple in London and St Ives in the 1950s and 1960s – including paintings by Tony O'Malley and John Craxton – and the remainder in Ireland, including paintings by Seán McSweeney, Liam Belton and Nano Reid.

Interior with Figure, St Ives, a 1961 painting by O'Malley, is estimated at €8,000-€12,000; Seated Figure by Craxton is at €7,000-€10,000, and a painting that epitomises the sale, Tony O'Malley With Badger by Wynne Jones, is estimated at (€4,000-€6,000). Adam's, 26 St Stephen's Green: the Collection of Nancy Wynne-Jones and Conor Fallon, Ballard House, Co Wicklow. Viewing begins tomorrow at 2pm and continues until Wednesday, June 24th, when the auction takes place at 6pm.