Bacon, Bellotto, Braque, Boudin and Bassano: an eclectic group of artists with little in common other than an initial letter. All, however, are included in a show of paintings and sculpture on view next week at the Kildare Hotel and Country Club in Straffan. The exhibition is being presented by a group of London art dealers who have decided the Irish market now offers them better opportunities than ever before. They would have been encouraged in this belief by the results from recent auctions such as the disposal of the Murnaghan Collection in Dublin just over two weeks ago, when 99 per cent of the lots were sold for a total close to £2 million. The interest that occasion generated suggests there are now plenty of people in Ireland willing to spend large sums of money on art.
Next week's exhibition ought to prove whether or not this is really the case. The event has been co-ordinated by London's Grosvenor Gallery, which already enjoys the advantage of connections with Ireland thanks to an outlet called the Grosvenor Room in the Ormond Hotel, Dublin. This opened a year ago with an exhibition of Picasso ceramics and drawings and is currently showing work by the late English sculptor Henry Moore.
In London, the gallery's Conor Macklin explained that there were two reasons why next week's large show at the Kildare Hotel had been organised. "The main one, obviously, is that we want to find new Irish buyers, and secondly, we wanted to create a prestigious event in Ireland." According to Macklin, "we've been testing the Irish ground for some time. We believe the Irish tend to be very supportive of their own artists, but think the time will come when some of you start to create collections. When you do, we would like to be helping you."
For a dealer to join forces for a group show with other competitors in the same field is highly unusual, but the Grosvenor Gallery has persuaded five other London businesses to include work in next week's event. There will be a total of 80 pictures and sculptures on view and it is surely ironic that a large number of them are typical examples of what might once have been found in many Irish country houses earlier this century.
Bellotto, for example, is represented by two views of Rome such as would have been bought by 18th-century Grand Tourists to bring back to their homes; there is also a Canaletto which would fall into the same category. One of the great misfortunes of the past 100 years is that so many Irish collections of furniture and fine art built up over a long period were dispersed at a time when few people in this country could afford to buy what was being offered, or even had an interest in so doing.
The best lots tended to go overseas, which is why so little material of the finest quality now comes up for sale within Ireland itself; much of what is offered at both the Christie's and Sotheby's annual Irish art sales has been discovered abroad and is now being offered back to the domestic market. Indeed, there is one piece in the Kildare Hotel exhibition with explicit Irish origins: the Cork sculptor John Hogan's marble bust of James Murphy.
Macklin and his fellow English dealers obviously hope that in our freshly-buoyant economy, a new generation of collectors will emerge, eager to build up their holdings of fine pictures. The prices of what is being shown suggest only the wealthiest art patrons should show an interest in acquiring any of the items. The total value of the exhibition is in the region of £50 million, and the cost of individual pieces ranges between £50,000 and £2.5 million.
One picture which will no doubt attract particular interest is The Wild Ones, a Jack B. Yeats oil which was sold in the Sotheby's Irish Art auction last May for £1.23 million. A record price for this artist, the sum was paid by Simon Dickinson, one of the London dealers participating in the Kildare Hotel show. Although the Yeats painting is not for sale, according to Macklin, it is "open for inquiries".
The presence of the Yeats, as well as other familiar names from European art history, including Cezanne, Monet, Van Dyck and Picasso show that the event's impressarios understand the relatively underdeveloped nature of the market here. It is a truism that the Irish are a conservative people, and this is particularly evident in matters of taste and in the buying habits of the newly-rich. The comfortably familiar will be preferred to the novel, and the desire to follow established patterns of collecting rather than risk making a mistake will also be the norm.
This was made clear at the Murnaghan sale, where some fine lots sold for less than might have been expected, due in part to the timidity of Irish bidders. A pair of very fine George III giltwood open armchairs described as being "in the manner of John Linnell", for example, made only £7,475 at the auction.
Linnell, one of the finest cabinet and furniture makers of 18th century England, is not widely known in Ireland, where it often seems Sheraton and Chippendale have become the only generic names in this area of antiques. Nonetheless, there are some surprises to be found in the Kildare Hotel show, such as the contemporary English painter Frank Auerbach.
And while there is room for a drawing by Van Gogh, also on view will be an oil by Van Dongen. Looking through the list of works for inclusion, a sense emerges that all imaginable interests are being catered for, as a Romney portrait takes its place alongside a Leger charcoal drawing and one of Boudin's charming little views of the beach at Deauville must struggle as best it can against the threat of being overpowered by a Francis Bacon portrait.
There are, in fact, three Bacon works in the exhibition. Next year the late, Irish-born artist's studio is due to go on show at Dublin's Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, where it is being reconstructed, and perhaps in recognition of this, the gallery will benefit from all money taken at the door during the Kildare Hotel viewing.
This may be perceived as an acknowledgment by the English dealers of the local art world, but essentially they have been drawn here by the possibilities of tempting new business. In this respect, they are little different to other non-national companies such as Debenhams or Marks & Spencer which have crossed the Irish Sea to take advantage of the trading opportunities we offer right now. No doubt local art dealers will start to complain they are now being subjected to unfair competition from more powerful English rivals, just as local retailers once did. In neither case are the complaints of much value. Next week's exhibition in the Kildare Hotel shows that in yet another area of Irish life, the economic boom means indigenous supply can no longer match demand.