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Irish
Art Auctioneers and Valuers |
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| Please
read carefully our Conditions
of Sale and Important
Notes before bidding.
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| Venue: |
Royal Dublin Society, Ballsbridge, Dublin, |
| Date: |
Monday 26 November at 6pm |
| Viewing: |
Viewing at the RDS 24-26 November 2008 10am-6pm daily. Previews at our Molesworth Street galleries 16-20 November, 11am-6pm daily. |
| This auction is an exceptional opportunity for the discerning collector. We have gathered together from private collectors and estates superb works by Roderic O’Conor, Jack B. Yeats, Percy French, William Conor, Frank McKelvey, Paul Henry, Harry Kernoff, Evie Hone, Mary Swanzy, Colin Middleton, Gerard Dillon, Louis le Brocquy, Camille Souter and many other great Irish artists |
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Louis le Brocquy HRHA (b.1916)
CHILDREN IN A WOOD III, 1991
Signature: signed and numbered lower left
Medium: lithograph (no. 20 from an edition of 75)
Dimensions: 50 by 65cm., 19.5 by 25.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Taylor Galleries, Dublin, 14-30 May 1992
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 1
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€4000 |
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Louis le Brocquy HRHA (b.1916)
PICASSO, 1989
Signature: signed, dated and numbered lower right
Medium: lithograph (no. 23 from an edition of 29)
Dimensions: 67 by 51cm., 26.5 by 20in.
Provenance: Dyehouse Gallery, Waterford; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 2
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€8000 |
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Louis le Brocquy HRHA (b.1916)
THE MORRíGAN, 1969
Signature: signed, numbered and dated lower right; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: lithograph on Swiftbrook paper (no. 38 from an edition ...
Dimensions: 53 by 38cm., 21 by 15in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 3
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-5000
Price Realised:
€5000 |
| Printed by Frank O'Reilly, Dublin, as part of the Táin portfolio. No. 25 in the series. |
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Louis le Brocquy HRHA (b.1916)
THE BOY CÚCHULAINN ARMED, 1969
Signature: signed, numbered and dated lower right
Medium: lithograph on Swiftbook paper (no. 32 from an edition of 70)
Dimensions: 54 by 38cm., 21.2 5 by 15in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 4
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-5000
Price Realised:
€3200 |
| Printed by Frank O'Reilly, Dublin, as part of the Táin portfolio. No. 16 in the series. |
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Louis le Brocquy HRHA (b.1916)
PILLOW TALK, 1969
Signature: signed, numbered and dated lower right
Medium: lithograph on Swiftbrook paper (no. 15 from an edition of 70
Dimensions: 38 by 53cm., 15 by 21in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 5
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€3000 |
| Printed by Frank O'Reilly, Dublin, as part of the Táin portfolio. No. 8 in the series. |
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William Scott CBE RA (1913-1989)
FIGURES IN A STREET, circa 1938
Signature:
Medium: brush and ink
Dimensions: 25 by 34cm., 9.75 by 13.5in.
Provenance: Artist's sketchbook, sold through Phillips, London, 20 March 2001, lot 126; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 6
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| From the sketchbook recorded as no. 1777 in the William Scott Foundation archive. |
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Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
OCTOBER PAINTING, 1983
Signature: signed with initials lower left; dated lower right
Medium: oil on paper (two sheets)
Dimensions: 25 by 35cm., 10 by 13.7 5in.
Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist by the present owner.
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 7
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€5000 |
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Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
BAHAMAS, 1978
Signature: signed and dated lower left; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on paper
Dimensions: 27 by 35cm., 10.7 5 by 13.7 5i
Provenance: Stour Gallery, Warwickshire; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 8
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€0 |
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Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
ST MARTIN'S SERIES, JULY 1972
Signature: signed with initials lower left; dated lower right
Medium: gouache on paper
Dimensions: 25 by 18cm., 10 by 7in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 9
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€3600 |
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William Scott CBE RA (1913-1989)
STANDING FIGURE, circa 1960
Signature:
Medium: watercolour on paper
Dimensions: 18 by 13cm., 7 by 5.25in.
Provenance: Artist's sketchbook, sold through Phillips, London, 20 March 2001, lot 126; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 10
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€4000 |
| From the sketchbook recorded as no. 1777 in the William Scott Foundation archive. |
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Oisín Kelly RHA RUA (1915-1981)
HORSE AND RIDER
Signature:
Medium: bronze with a green patina
Dimensions: 46 cm., 18 in. high
Provenance:
Exhibited: ’The Work of Oisín Kelly Sculptor’, retrospective organised by the Arts Council of Ireland, Ulster Museum, Belfast, Trinity College Dublin, and Crawford Gallery, Cork, loaned by present owner;
RHA, Dublin, 1982, memorial exhibit, catalogue no. 271 (illustrated in exhibition catalogue)
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 11
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€19000 |
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Seán McSweeney HRHA (b.1935)
BOGLAND MOVEMENT (BARNEY, COUNTY SLIGO), 1986
Signature: signed and dated lower right; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on board in three panels
Dimensions: 46 by 107cm., 18 by 42in.
Provenance: Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin; Oriel Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 12
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€12000 |
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Seán McSweeney HRHA (b.1935)
WHERE WATER FLOWS IN WINTER, 1961
Signature: signed and dated lower left; inscribed with title and price (38gns) and with original label on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 61 by 76cm., 24 by 30in.
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 13
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€5800 |
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Seán McSweeney HRHA (b.1935)
THE ROAD, 1984
Signature: signed and dated lower left; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 76 by 61cm., 30 by 24in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'Seán McSweeney', Taylor Galleries, Dublin, 13-28 July 1984, catalogue no. 40
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 14
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€6000 |
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Pauline Bewick RHA (b.1935)
PEACHES AND GREEN PEARS, TUSCANY, 1988
Signature: signed and dated lower right; inscribed lower left; original exhibition label on reverse
Medium: watercolour, pen and ink on paper
Dimensions: 57 by 77cm., 22.5 by 30.5in.
Provenance: Catto Gallery, London; Adam's, Dublin, 8 December 2004, lot 38; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 15
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€5200 |
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Donald Teskey RHA (b.1956)
UNTITLED (COUNTRY ROAD WITH OUTHOUSE)
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 23 by 30cm., 9 by 11.7 5in.
Provenance: Rubicon Gallery, Dublin; Whence purchased by the present owner in August 1993
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 16
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€5400 |
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Colin Watson (b.1966)
SLEEPING GIRL, 1999
Signature: signed and dated lower right
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 46 by 71cm., 18 by 28in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 17
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€9500 |
| Colin Watson was born in Belfast and graduated with a BA Hons in fine art from the University of Ulster in 1988. To date he has had four solo exhibitions with Pyms Gallery, London, and has participated in numerous two-person and group shows at the Caldwell Gallery and Cavehill Gallery, Belfast, the Elaine Somers Gallery, Holywood, and the Ava Gallery, Clandeboyne, among others. He has also shown annually at the RUA and more recently the RHA, where he won the Don Niccolo d’Ardia Caracciolo medal in 2003. His work is represented in the collections of the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, the Royal Geographical Society, London, and the National Self-Portrait Collection, Limerick. |
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John Doherty (b.1949)
CURVED STREET, YOUGHAL, 1988
Signature: signed and dated lower right; inscribed lower left
Medium: acrylic on board
Dimensions: 27 by 41cm., 10.5 by 16.2 5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'John Doherty: Australian and Irish Paintings', Taylor Galleries, Dublin, 13-29 October 1988, catalogue no. 16
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 18
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€12000 |
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John Shinnors (b.1950)
SHOWER, MONDAY
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil pastel
Dimensions: 36 by 39cm., 14.2 5 by 15.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 19
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€15000 |
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Helen Cody
AFTER JOHN SHINNORS
Signature:
Medium: boiled vanilla cashmere and wool, Swarovski jet crystal beading, with boned underskirt, layered grey and black ostrich feathers and vintage covered buttons
Dimensions:
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 20
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2500-3000
Price Realised:
€2100 |
| Helen Cody’s experience in the world of fashion spans almost two decades. A graduate in fashion and textiles from NCAD, Cody moved to Paris to work for French Vogue magazine and later designer Azzedine Alaia. She developed her skills as a leading stylist for magazines, music videos, and commercials, working in London, Paris and New York. She returned to Ireland in 2000 to set up her own fashion label, winning the Late Late Show Fashion Designer of the Future Award after her first year in business.
Specialising in bespoke couture pieces, Cody individually crafts and finishes each one of her designs with hand dyed silk linings, Victorian embellishments, vintage ribbons, lace and crystals. Each new piece is treated with the approach of an artist so that the finished result is unique to the wearer.
Whyte’s are delighted to showcase this unique and specially designed collection by Helen Cody inspired by artworks in the auction. Four of these exclusive pieces of wearable art are being sold by auction: lots 20, 52, 80 and 81.
Helen Cody works from her studio in Dublin and is available by appointment.
www.helencody.com |
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John Shinnors (b.1950)
EVENING STUDY AT WINDOW II, 1990
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed label on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 30 by 30cm., 12 by 12in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Joint exhibition with John Behan, Riverrun Gallery, Limerick, November 1990
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 21
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€16000 |
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Donald Teskey RHA (b.1956)
AN EVENING WALK IN MARYLAND, AFTER A POEM BY GERARD SMYTH, 2005
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed and dated on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 46 by 53cm., 18 by 21in.
Provenance: 'Rhyme and Resin', auction held in aid of Poetry Ireland at the Royal Hibernian Academy, 1 December 2005; Whence purchased by the present owner.
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 22
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€25000 |
| An Evening Walk in Maryland
When my father was a tired old man,
his pride in the Republic gone,
every evening he went for a walk in Maryland,
stood by the canal or stopped
at the dry fountain in James’s Street.
By way of crumbling lane and convent wall,
gothic spire and brewery chimney,
he ambled as far as his last glimpse of the Liffey
before it disappeared to appear again
at Islandbridge and Chapelizod.
When my father became a tired old man,
coping with the scarcity of divine help,
each night he emptied his pocket of its hoard
of coins and his betting docket for the horse
and jockey that tumbled in the final furlong.
Gerard Smyth
From The Mirror Tent, Dedalus Press, 2007
A manuscript copy of Smyth’s poem accompanies this lot. With thanks to Gerard Smyth, Dedalus Press, and Poetry Ireland. This painting depicts Stevens Lane, Dublin, which runs between the Guinness Brewery and St. Patrick’s and Dr. Steevens’ Hospitals on the west. The nearby Maryland is a Dublin Corporation housing development built off Cork Street in 1932, a Marian year, hence the name. |
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Helen Comerford (b.1945)
SATURN (PLANETARY SERIES), 2002
Signature: signed and dated lower right; inscribed on reverse
Medium: encaustic (bees wax and pigment) on board with lead, bone an
Dimensions: 122 by 122cm., 48 by 48in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 23
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Artist's archive number 088 |
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John Kingerlee (b.1936)
POOL, KILCATHERINE
Signature: signed in monogram lower right
Medium: oil on canvas mounted on board
Dimensions: 30 by 33cm., 12 by 13in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 24
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€10000 |
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John Philip Murray (b.1952)
DEFINED STATES, 2006
Signature: signed with initials lower right; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on cotton
Dimensions: 60 by 79cm., 23.5 by 31in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'Ambit: Paintings and Drawings by John Philip Murray', Old Market House Arts Centre, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, May 2006
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 25
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2000-3000
Price Realised:
€2000 |
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Helen Comerford (b.1945)
THREE ASPECTS WITH YELLOW MOON, 2007
Signature: signed and dated lower right; inscribed and signed again on reverse
Medium: encaustic (bees wax and pigment) on canvas
Dimensions: 102 by 102cm., 40 by 40in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 26
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-5000
Price Realised:
€0 |
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John Kingerlee (b.1936)
HAPPENINGS IN KILCATHERINE, 2004
Signature: signed and dated lower right; titled on reverse
Medium: oil on paper
Dimensions: 19 by 28cm., 7.5 by 11in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: Jonathan Benington, Kingerlee, 2006, illustrated p. 139 (where titled ' A Group of Admirers') |
Lot
No.: 27
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€4000 |
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Colin Davison (b.1968)
LOOKING DOWN ON ABBEY STREET, DUBLIN, 2004
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed and dated on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 41 by 51cm., 16 by 20in.
Provenance: Solomon Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 28
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€4200 |
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Liam Belton RHA (b.1947)
ARTEMIS, 2006
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51 by 102cm., 20 by 40in.
Provenance: RHA Gala Exhibition, 2006; Whence purchased by present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 29
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€28000 |
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Alice Maher (b.1956)
COMA BERENICES, 1999
Signature: exhibition label on reverse
Medium: charcoal on paper
Dimensions: 183 by 151cm., 72 by 59.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'Knot: Alice Maher Draws from the Collection', Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 21 April - 10 June 1999
Literature: Exhibition review by Dorothy Walker, Sunday Times, 2 May 1999, illustrated |
Lot
No.: 30
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€8000 |
| Alice Maher has long been interested in myths, fairy tales and childhood games, and frequently explores these themes in her work. This drawing belongs to a series of four monumental pieces entitled Coma Berenices (Berenice’s hair), which the artist produced in response to a residence at the Hugh Lane Gallery. In 1998 Maher was invited to curate an exhibition of works on paper from the permanent collection at the Hugh Lane. After several months of sifting through the collection, she selected a diverse group of thirty-nine drawings and watercolours ranging from George Chinnery to Jack Yeats. She was particularly inspired by two works: Paul Klee’s Anima errante and Keith Henderson’s Sleep, works which are, in Maher’s words ‘from the opposing poles of art history’ (Alice Maher, quoted in the Hugh Lane exhibition catalogue, 1999, p. 58).
Dorothy Walker, reviewing the exhibition, wrote of Maher’s four drawings:
Alice Maher is the superb draughtswoman of the age in this medium. Her huge charcoal drawings of women’s hair are feats of dense, obsessive drawing unequalled in contemporary practice… The drawings repeat Klee’s labyrinthine theme in taking the errant line into rich, dense coils of hair.
Her obsession with women’s hair is a feminist stance, illustrating how the “crowning glory” represents women’s identity… The drawings are superb: the fine lines represent as closely as possible the reality of the subject in scale and appearance, while retaining the intrinsic character of a drawing… Coma Berenices relates to the myth of Beatrice, who sacrificed her hair to the gods for the return of her husband from the wars. She was rewarded for what was seen as this supreme sacrifice by being placed in the skies as a constellation of stars, where she shines to this day. |
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Sean Scully (b.1945)
SEVEN MIRRORS, 1997 (COMPLETE SET OF SEVEN)
Signature: first six signed with initials and dated lower right; final work signed in full and dated lower right; each numberes lower left
Medium: etchings with aquatint (each numbered 12 from an edition of
Dimensions: 23 by 20cm., 9 by 8in.
Provenance: Alexander and Bonin, New York; Sims Reed, London; Private collection, Dublin
Exhibited:
Literature: Sean Scully Prints: Catalogue Raisonné 1968-1999, Musée de Dessin et de l'Estampe Originale, Gravelines, 1999, pp. |
Lot
No.: 31
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Sheet size: 23 by 19 inches. Printed by Gregory Burnet, New York, and published by Sean Scully in collaboration with Alexander and Bonin Publishing, New York. Number 97004 in the artist's archive. |
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Felim Egan (b.1952)
NIGHT BOUNDARY, 2000
Signature: signed and dated on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 112 by 112cm., 44 by 44in.
Provenance: Kerlin Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 32
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€7000-9000
Price Realised:
€0 |
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Guggi (Derek Rowan, b.1959)
SERIES OF OBJECTS, 2007
Signature: signed and dated lower right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 100 by 100cm., 39.5 by 39.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 33
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€23000 |
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Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (b.1932)
MR PATTERSON'S SATURDAY, 2001
Signature: signed and inscribed on reverse; dated upper left
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 91 by 76cm., 36 by 30in.
Provenance: Special Olympics World Summer Games fund-raising auction, National Concert Hall, Dublin, 5 June 2003, lot 8; Whence purchased by present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 34
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€18000 |
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Charles Brady HRHA (1926-1997)
PENCIL
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 34 by 29cm., 13.5 by 11.5in.
Provenance: Gift from the artist to the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 35
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€6200 |
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Charles Brady HRHA (1926-1997)
MRS DEACON'S BOTTLE, 1972
Signature: signed and dated lower left
Medium: oil on paper
Dimensions: 28 by 17cm., 11 by 6.75in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 36
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€4000 |
| Painted on a page from a telephone directory and in the original frame of the Dawson Gallery, Dublin. |
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Charles Brady HRHA (1926-1997)
SLIGO MORNING, 1963
Signature: signed and dated lower left; inscribed 'Sligo, Sept. 1963' on reverse; also with original label on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51 by 46cm., 20 by 18in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Independent Artists, Dublin, 1963, catalogue no. 26
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 37
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€5000 |
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Charles Brady HRHA (1926-1997)
SANDYMOUNT
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on paper
Dimensions: 22 by 28cm., 8.75 by 11in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Sandford Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 38
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€5500 |
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Louis le Brocquy HRHA (b.1916)
IMAGE OF JAMES JOYCE, 1992
Signature: signed and dated lower right; gallery label on reverse
Medium: watercolour
Dimensions: 50 by 34cm., 19.5 by 13.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 39
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€40000-60000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Artist's opus number W1216 |
|
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (b.1916)
IMAGE OF THOMAS MOORE, 1995
Signature: signed and dated lower right
Medium: watercolour
Dimensions: 62 by 46cm., 24.5 by 18in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 40
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€40000-60000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Artist's opus number W1321 |
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Colin Harrison (b.1939)
ODALISQUE, AFTER MATISSE, 1998
Signature: signed, inscribed and dated on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 50 by 61cm., 19.5 by 24in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: RHA, Dublin, 1999, catalogue no. 217 (illustrated on front cover of catalogue)
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 41
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€4000 |
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Micheal Farrell (1940-2000)
STUDY, MISS O'MURPHY, 1977
Signature: signed and dated 13.7.77 lower right; inscribed upper left and upper right; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: watercolour and pencil on paper
Dimensions: 56 by 76cm., 22 by 30in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Solo exhibition, Dawson Gallery, Dublin, 1977
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 42
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€8200 |
| From the First Real Irish Political Picture series, featuring the Irish courtesan, Bridget O'Murphy, who modelled for Francois Boucher. In the original frame of the Dawson Gallery, Dublin. |
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Robert Ballagh (b.1943)
MAP SERIES, 1965
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 107 by 168cm., 42 by 66in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: Ciarán Carty, Robert Ballagh, Magill, Dublin, 1986, pp. 74-5;
Damien Matthews, Robert Ballagh: Works from the Studio, Damien Matthews Fine Art in association with the Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 2006, p. 33 (for a discussion of another work in the series) |
Lot
No.: 43
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€13000 |
| In 1968 Ballagh was commissioned by Sir Basil Goulding to paint a series of large murals for Goulding’s Fitzwilton offices in Wilton Terrace, Dublin. The murals, which are now in the collection of TCD, were composed of abstract fields of colour resembling countries on a map. The random dispersal of the areas of colour, originally conceived of as ink blot drawings, suggested the arbitrary nature of so many national and political boundaries. Ballagh went on to create a series of these ‘maps’, which won an honourable mention in the under-25 section at the 1968 Living Art exhibition. In 1973 Ballagh incorporated similar maps into his designs for two Irish postage stamps commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation. |
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Patrick Scott HRHA (b.1921)
MEXICAN TAPESTRY, 1983
Signature: signed on label sewn at rear
Medium: wool tapestry on cotton warp; unique
Dimensions: 216 by 130cm., 85 by 51in.
Provenance: Gift of the artist to the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: Dorothy Walker, 'Contemporary Irish Tapestry', Irish Arts Review, vol. no. 1 no. 2, 1984, pp. 14-19; Peter Lamb, 'Patrick Scott Tapestries', Irish Arts Review, vol. 19 no. 1,2002, pp. 48-53 |
Lot
No.: 44
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Hand woven by Benito Hernandez y Hermanos, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Patrick Scott’s tapestry designs are a highly significant part of his oeuvre. The designs vary according to the tapestry technique employed, taking into account attributes such as the depth of pile and method of tufting. Thus, as Dorothy Walker once noted, ‘his tapestry is no mere transference of his paintings to a woollen surface’ (Irish Arts Review, 1984, pp. 18-9). Scott has also embraced a rainbow-coloured palette of colours for his tapestry designs. He has worked with the famed Aubusson firm of Tabard Frères et Soeurs, in addition to the Irish firm V’Soske Joyce in Galway and individual weaver designers such as Alice Roden and Leonora Fowler. In 1980 he was introduced to a family of weavers in Mexico, resulting in a series of rugs, wall hangings and tapestries being produced over the following four years. Peter Lamb has described this series as follows:
The Oaxacan weavers of Mexico operate a cottage industry version of Aubusson. They also produce a fine product, but one which is much looser and more rustic in character. Unlike both V’Soske Joyce and Tabard Frères et Soeurs, which both use chemical dyes, the Oaxacans use mostly animal and vegetable dyes, particularly indigo and cochineal, which are locally produced. Scott worked with Benito Hernandez, a Zapotec Mexican, and his extended family in the weaving village of Teotitlan del Valle from 1981 to 1984 and some of the work was subsequently exhibited in the Museo del Arte Contemporaneo in the city of Oaxaca. (Irish Arts Review, 2002, p. 52) |
|
Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901-1980)
COTTAGES IN A MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE
Signature:
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 41 by 51cm., 16 by 20in.
Provenance: de Vere's, Dublin, 25 November 2003, lot 93; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 45
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€5800 |
|
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Séamus O Cólmáin (1925-1990)
IN THE LIBERTIES
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 76 by 60cm., 30 by 23.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 46
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€19000 |
|
|
George Campbell RHA (1917-1979)
XAUEN, MOROCCO
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: mixed media
Dimensions: 42 by 55cm., 16.5 by 21.5in.
Provenance: Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin; Leinster Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited: 'George Campbell RHA: New Work 1964-1966', Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, April - May 1966, catalogue no. 36 or 42
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 47
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
George Campbell RHA (1917-1979)
SPANISH DANCER
Signature: inscribed on reverse by artist's wife
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 44 by 35cm., 17.5 by 13.7 5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 48
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€8000 |
| Included with lot is a letter of authentication from the artist's wife and a photograph of the artist. |
|
George Campbell RHA (1917-1979)
TRIBESMAN NO. 4, 1967
Signature: signed lower centre; inscribed, dated and signed again on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 76 by 51cm., 30 by 20in.
Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist by the present owner, circa 1969
Exhibited: 'George Campbell', Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, August-September 1967, ex-catalogue, 95 guineas
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 49
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€15500 |
|
|
Colin Middleton MBE RHA (1910-1983)
ANVIL ROCK, DECEMBER 1969
Signature: signed in monogram lower centre; inscribed, dated and signed again on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 61 by 61cm., 24 by 24in.
Provenance: David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 50
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
Camille Souter HRHA (b.1929)
ACHILL ROCKS AND REFLECTIONS I 1959
Signature: signed, inscribed 'Achill' and dated lower centre; exhibition labels on reverse
Medium: oil, black enamel, spirit aluminium on kraft paper
Dimensions: 49 by 72cm., 19.2 5 by 28.5in.
Provenance: Collection of Sir Basil Goulding, Bt; Sold by the Goulding Estate through the Taylor Galleries, 1982; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited: ‘One Man’s Meat’, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, December 1961, catalogue no. 61 (illustrated on front cover of catalogue);
’Two Painters from the Collection of Sir Basil Goulding’, joint exhibition with Barrie Cooke, Ulster Museum, Belfast, 28 January – 27 February 1965, catalogue no. 18;
’Modern Irish Paintings’, Athenaeum, Helsinki, September – October 1969, exhibition toured Scandinavia and to the RCA Gallery, London, November – December 1970, and the City Art Gallery, Leeds, 1971, catalogue no. 44;
’2 Deeply: One Hundred Paintings by Barrie Cooke and Camille Souter’, The Carroll Building, Grand Parade, Dublin, August 1971, in aid of the Central Remedial Clinic, catalogue no. 13;
’Camille Souter: An exhibition of paintings from the collection of Sir Basil Goulding, Bt., and a selection of Still Life paintings from other collections’, YMCA Hall, North Main Street, Wexford, organised by the Friends of the Wexford Festival in conjunction with the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, 28 October – 5 November 1972, catalogue no. 11;
’Camille Souter’, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, 8 June – 9 July 1980, catalogue no. 8 (reproduced page 14 of the catalogue);
’From the Collection of Sir Basil Goulding Bart.’, Taylor Galleries, Dublin, 2-18 December 1982, catalogue no. 54
Literature: Garrett Cormican, Camille Souter: The Mirror in The Sea, Whyte's, Dublin, 2006, catalogue no. 100, pages 46, 238, illustrated page 55; Aidan Dunne, Making a Space all her own, Irish Times, 12 February 2007, illustrated |
Lot
No.: 51
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€20000 |
| Camille Souter returned from Italy and settled in Achill in early 1959. Historically, the island has been popular with artists and writers. Major figures such as Paul and Grace Henry, Robert Henri, Letitia Hamilton, Derek Hill, Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett, Doreen Vanston, Dorothy Blackham, Barbara Warren, J. M. Synge, Graham Greene and Nobel prize-winner Heinrich Boll have all been attracted to the island. Unintentionally, Souter might be said to have followed in the footsteps of an earlier generation of painters, who learnt a considerable amount about modern painting on the continent and applied that knowledge to the Achill landscape. Her approach was, however, far more radical than any of her predecessors.
Throughout the 1950s Souter had used a myriad of unconventional materials and techniques, but in Achill this trend became much more pronounced. It was there that she first began to use fluid aluminium and enamel paints to supplement her limited, less easily obtainable supplies of oil paint. Fortuitously the colours that were available in the local hardware corresponded closely to some of those prevalent in the landscape.
The early work from Achill has such a high degree of painterly expressiveness that it may often appear to verge on abstraction and, without reference to a title, one might be at a loss to discover its content or subject. This is undoubtedly true of Achill Rocks and Reflections I. As the artist herself once remarked of her early work ‘None of those pictures were abstract. All the Achill paintings dealt with bog, rocks and pools more or less’. The materials used in the painting (black enamel and aluminium paint on brown kraft wrapping paper) and the manner in which they are used, is strikingly experimental for the period both in an Irish and an international context. While influenced by movements such as abstract expressionism and tachisme, Souter’s work is distinguished by being firmly rooted in its subject.
The top half of the Achill Rocks and Reflections I roughly mirrors the lower half. The left half of the painting roughly reflects the right half. It seems that Souter probably began by painting one side of the work. Then in an almost childlike fashion, she folded the work in two, to print both sides of the painting with a similar motif. Alternatively, this may have been done on a separate sheet which was then pressed onto the surface. It is as though her subject matter –rocks and reflections – literally dictated the manner in which the paint was applied. It is also true that the reflective nature of aluminium paint provides a peculiarly appropriate substitute for the reflective qualities of water. This work seems to unite all the unconscious automatist energy of an action painting, with the cool precision and minimalism of a Japanese print.
When the late Sir Basil Goulding exhibited his collection of modern art at the Dublin City Gallery, the Hugh Lane, in 1960 under the title ‘One Man’s Meat’, Achill Rocks and Reflections I was chosen to grace the cover of the exhibition catalogue. It was an interesting choice, considering his enormous collection included works by Oskar Kokoshka, Jean Lurcat, Pablo Picasso, Louis le Brocquy and Barrie Cooke to name but a few. Reputations and style appear to have been of less significance to him. Goulding trusted the judgment of his own eyes, placing the greatest emphasis on quality. He wrote: ‘It is not the idiom that counts; it is the performance within one,’ and ‘Quality is by far the senior ingredient over idiom.’ When comparing the works of artists such as le Brocquy, Cooke and Souter in terms of their ‘quality’ ‘authority’ and ‘penetration’ he noted, ‘Perhaps by the way we should keep all these alternative words available because we must have the noun “Quality” for Camille Souter – the others aren’t quite right for the art which is gentle but complex and unique.’ Achill Rocks and Reflections was sold in 1982 following Sir Basil Goulding’s death and has not to my knowledge been seen in public since. While I have lusted after countless paintings by Camille Souter, in my opinion this is one of the very best, one of the very highest ‘Quality’ to have come up for auction since I began following sales of her work 10 years ago. Collectors are understandably reluctant to let them go.
Garrett Cormican |
|
Helen Cody
AFTER CAMILLE SOUTER
Signature:
Medium: double weight, knee-length, silk-draped, sleeveless, ivory dress with ‘tangled’ ribbon appliqué and Swarovski jet beading
Dimensions:
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 52
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1500-1800
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
Anita Shelbourne RHA (b.1938)
LANDSCAPE
Signature: signed on reverse; also original labels on reverse giving title and artist's address
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 64 by 76cm., 25 by 30in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited as part of 'Figurative Image', Bank of Ireland Exhibition Hall, September 1982, catalogue no. 42 (£250)
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 53
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2500-3500
Price Realised:
€2600 |
| Painted circa 1972-75. |
|
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (b.1916)
STUDY FOR RESURRECTION, 1953
Signature: signed and dated lower right; inscribed and signed again on reverse; also with original exhibition labels on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 41 by 30cm., 16 by 12in.
Provenance: Sir Robert and Lady Mayer; Private collection
Exhibited: Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, February 1955, catalogue no. 5 (lent by Sir Robert and Lady Mayer)
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 54
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€100000-150000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Hand-written label on reverse reads: ‘1 Resurrection / by Louis le Brocquy RHA’.
During the early 1950s le Brocquy produced a series of works concerning human isolation. The best-known of these works, A Family, 1951 (National Gallery of Ireland collection), depicts a family under emotional duress, their fractured relations exposed under a bare light bulb. Another significant work of this so-called ‘grey period’ is Lazarus, 1954 (formerly property of the Jefferson Smurfit Group, now in a private collection), which was exhibited at the Gimpel Fils Gallery in 1955, alongside the present work. Both works are depictions of the resurrected Lazarus, draped in his burial shroud and stepping forward from the confines of a severely modernist-styled tomb or bunker. The outspread arms presage those of the crucified Christ who, according to the parable, has worked this miracle.
Whilst the subject matter is ostensibly religious, critics at the time understood these works to be primarily investigations into nature of human physicality. Reviewing the Gimpel Fils exhibition in 1955, John Berger wrote:
Even if some are called Lazarus or Resurrection … the theme … is the same. It is ¬– and there is no way of putting it briefly except in a platitude –¬ the mystery of the flesh: the nearness within the nervous system of pain and pleasure: the ambiguity between the body as a cage containing an animal and the body as an expendable servant of the heart: the fact that the same muscles move in the shoulder whether the arm is raised to caress or do violence.1
In Berger’s view the paintings are studies of one man’s contemplation of his own physical being. The artist’s own comments support this thesis:
Originally I remember being moved by the story of Lazarus as a return ¬– miraculous or otherwise –¬ to a heightened awareness of his own being. I saw his head as a black hole of absence, stooped to regard his renewed physical presence. 2
This interpretation allows us to see how the Lazarus paintings prefigure le Brocquy’s later series of ‘presences’ and ‘heads’. The centrality of the vertical human form would be a leitmotif of later works, from the white ‘Beings’ paintings of the late 1950s, to the well-known ancestral heads and portrait heads, floating against a white expanse or void. Thus both Lazarus and Study for Resurrection can be seen as transitional works, leading from the ‘grey period’ (c.1951-54) to the ‘white period’ (c.1956-66), and on to the head paintings of the mid-1960s and beyond.
In Study for Resurrection , the head is a white ovoid shape, set upon a grey risen body. It is perhaps no coincidence that the head should take the form of an egg – the symbol of birth and regeneration. By the following year the head had transmogrified into ‘a black hole of absence’. According to John Russell, the artist had used ‘sketches made from Egyptian mummies’ as a model for the shrouded figure of Lazarus. 3 However, le Brocquy clearly also worked from living models, as seen in Study - man holding a towel, 1951 (sold through Sotheby’s, 16 May 2003, lot 122), a chalk and gouache study of a naked man with arms stretched apart, holding a white towel behind him. Study for Resurrection, 1953, is less overtly a study of the naked human form, and more pointedly a study of one man’s wonder at his own existence.
The original owners of this painting, Sir Robert and Dorothy Mayer, were well-known patrons of the arts, particularly music. Robert Mayer, businessman and philanthropist, was born in 1879 in Mannheim, Germany. He moved to Britain in 1896 and was naturalized in 1902. In 1919 he married Dorothy Moulton, a soprano, with whose encouragement he co-founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In later years his philanthropic interests expanded to include the improvement of foreign relations. In 1979 he published his autobiography, My First Hundred Years. He died on 9 January 1985 in London.
1 John Berger, ‘Louis le Brocquy’, The New Statesman, London, 12 February 1955.
2 Louis le Brocquy, quoted on the artist’s website, www.anne-madden.com
3 John Russell, ‘Introduction’, in Dorothy Walker, Louis le Brocquy, Ward River Press, Dublin, 1981, p. 10. |
|
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974)
A SUDDEN GUST
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 35 by 53cm., 13.7 5 by 20.7 5i
Provenance: Taylor de Vere's, Dublin, 13 March 1990, lot 35; de Vere's, Dublin, 23 November 2004, lot 29; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 55
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€40000-60000
Price Realised:
€46000 |
|
Click for larger image |
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974)
LANDSCAPE, TYRELLA
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51 by 61cm., 20 by 24in.
Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 18 May 2000, lot 172; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 56
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€60000-80000
Price Realised:
€60000 |
| This painting dates to the relatively peaceful and productive stage of O’Neill’s life in the early 1950s, when he and his small family left Belfast in favour of the small village of Conlig, Co. Down. Conlig had a small-scale artists’ colony at the time, with George Campbell and Gerard Dillon also living there. Residents of Conlig still recall the sight of O’Neill taking long walks outside the village with his wife and small daughter. It is most probable that the models in the mid-foreground of the present painting were O’Neill’s own wife and child, on an outing to Tyrella Beach, which lay further south on Dundrum Bay. It is a highly successful work. O’Neill defies the convention of the golden mean, opting instead for an abstracted, flattened series of diagonal strips in the lower half of the composition, over which the low grey clouds lie suspended. A note of poetic drama is introduced with the almost biblical ray of light penetrating the cloud, softly illuminating the woman and girl in the field of flowers. |
|
Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978)
THE HARVESTERS, 1943
Signature: signed and dated lower left
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 56 by 76cm., 22 by 30in.
Provenance: Gift of the artist to the present owner
Exhibited: Solo exhibition, Dublin Painter's Gallery, March 1943
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 58
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€30000-40000
Price Realised:
€42000 |
| To have an overriding hobby, that’s the secret. Mine was an overriding hobby; I couldn’t get rid of it.1
Mary Swanzy was born in Merrion Square, Dublin. Her artistic talent was nurtured from an early age and upon the death of her parents, when the family home broke up, she began a series of travels which added immense colour to her palette. She travelled widely and enjoyed each new location with zeal. All the while she retained an interest in the classical proportions that she was surrounded by in her native Georgian Dublin. ‘I am quite sure that being brought up here laid the foundations of my feeling of structure in everything, of discipline.’2 Swanzy learned that all art was based in some way on classical proportions and she retained a lifelong style that paid homage to these proportions.
Whilst she moved to London in 1926, Swanzy retained an interest in Irish art and was a great admirer of Evie Hone, whom she felt had never painted a bad picture. Swanzy continued to send paintings to the RHA until 1951 when she suddenly stopped. The RHA, believing she was dead, fell out of contact with her until 1974, when she began sending paintings again. Classified as too modern, Swanzy did not find a willing audience for her work in Ireland. She continued, however, to paint in London, unable to stop her overriding hobby.
The Second World War greatly affected her, and the paintings of that time are dark, mysterious and full of sorrow. The effect of war on humanity, as perceived by Swanzy, produced deeply personal paintings and it was this symbolic style that she returned to in her later years. It is this style which we see in The Harvesters, a painting that seems to eulogise a lost bucolic way of life. Swanzy remained elusive about the meaning of her paintings and never used her time in interviews to discuss this. She preferred to think instead of the meanings attributed by the paintings’ new owners. ‘I’d like very much to be able to see what people have done with my paintings … I’d very much like to know how the people who have them christened them, what they meant to them.’3
Mary Swanzy took solace at the end of her life that in some way her memory would not be forgotten in the story of Irish art. ‘When I die … the legend will begin, I suppose.’4 Swanzy’s wish comes true each time a piece appears at auction, when a new owner will treasure a piece of her work, change its title, and make it their own.
1 Mary Swanzy speaking to Andy O’Mahony, The Arts, RTÉ Radio, 5 May 1977.
2 Una Lehane, The Irish Times, 29 March 1974.
3 Una Lehane, The Irish Times, 29 March 1974.
4 Patrick Murphy, The Irish Times, 28 October 1982.
Lorraine Keane |
|
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974)
AN APPARITION
Signature: inscribed and with remains of original label on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51 by 61cm., 20 by 24in.
Provenance: Waddington Galleries, Dublin; Goodwin Galleries, Limerick; Whence purchased by the previous owner's family; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 59
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€13500 |
|
|
Grace Henry HRHA (1868-1953)
LIMERICK
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 41 by 48cm., 16.25 by 18.75in
Provenance: Lord Killanin; Oriel Gallery, Dublin; Whence purchased by the present owners circa late 1970s
Exhibited: Probably exhibited as 'Old Limerick' solo exhibition, Dawson Gallery, Dublin, 1946 as 'Old Limerick'
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 60
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€11500 |
|
|
Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978)
MARKET SCENE
Signature: exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 30 by 50cm., 12 by 19.5in.
Provenance: Pyms Gallery, London; de Vere's Dublin, 27 June 2000, lot 47; Private collection
Exhibited: 'An Exhibition of Paintings by Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978)', Pyms Gallery, London, 6-29 May 1998, catalogue no. 5 (illustrated in catalogue)
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 61
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€9500 |
|
|
Georgette Rondel (c.1915-1942)
THE HARBOUR
Signature: signed upper left; inscribed in another hand on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 34 by 42cm., 13.5 by 16.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited as Sailing Boat, catalogue no. 20 at the artist's solo show, Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin, 3-11 October 1941
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 62
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€5000 |
| Georgette Rondel was a member of the White Stag Group, an avant-garde coterie of painters who exhibited in Dublin during the 1939-45 war. From France originally, she came to Dublin in August 1939 to flee the war with her German husband, René Buhler, and another of their friends, the English painter Nick Nicholls. In Dublin she worked as a commercial artist and produced theatrical designs. She left Dublin in 1942, only to die that autumn in London. Nick Nicholls published a poem, ‘My Love is Dead’, dedicated to Zette Rondel, in The Bell, November 1942. |
|
Father Jack P. Hanlon (1913-1968)
MADONNA AND CHILD
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 44 by 34cm., 17.5 by 13.5in.
Provenance: Bequeathed by the artist to author Stephen Rynne; Thence by descent to the previous owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 63
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€5800 |
|
|
George Campbell RHA (1917-1979)
STILL LIFE WITH GUITAR, 1945
Signature: signed and dated lower right; inscribed label on reverse with artist's address (31 Banbridge Square, Edgware Road, W2)
Medium: crayon on paper
Dimensions: 25 by 18cm., 10 by 7.25in.
Provenance: Leinster Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 64
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€3000 |
|
|
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
SINGLE ELEMENT COMPOSITION
Signature: signed lower right; framer's instructions on reverse
Medium: gouache on card
Dimensions: 22 by 10cm., 8.75 by 4in.
Provenance: By family descent until 2005; Whence purchased privately by the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 65
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
Camille Souter HRHA (b.1929)
STORM AT SHANNON circa 1980-84
Signature: signed with initials lower right
Medium: oil on paper
Dimensions: 37 by 23cm., 14.5 by 9.25in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited: 'Camille Souter Retrospective Exhibition', Model Arts Centre and Niland Gallery, Sligo, 24 April - 2 June 2001, and Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 12 July - 26 August 2001, illustrated in catalogue p. 45
Literature: Garrett Cormican, Camille Souter: The Mirror in the Sea, Whyte's, Dublin 2006, catalogue no. 399, p. 304, illustrated p. 142 |
Lot
No.: 66
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€16500 |
| Towards the end of the 1970s Camille Souter’s son Tim and daughter Emma were attending boarding school in Villiers, County Limerick. While in the area, Souter decided to renew her acquaintance with nearby Shannon Airport. She had first visited the place with her parents in 1939, just before World War Two, and remembered it ‘vividly’. ‘The weather down there is stunning,’ she remarked. The severe contrast between the natural and man-made also fascinated her. Despite their inherent drama, the fact that countless numbers of people travel through them on a daily basis, airports have attracted little in the way of serious, artistic interest. Souter, on the other hand, ‘took one look at the place and said, I’m going to paint here’.
The level of attention Souter subsequently directed towards airports and flying is unique in the history of Irish art. Indeed, it is difficult to think of many artists internationally that have devoted so much energy to the subject either. It may, however, be true to say that her fascination has an ancestry in nineteenth century Romantic painting, though this does not seem to have ever crossed the artist’s mind. Like Souter, many Romantic painters were drawn to locations associated with travel, most notably harbours and docks – points of perpetual arrival and departure. In such places it is easy to imagine an exciting escape from one’s day-to-day routine. J. M. W. Turner is said to have had himself lashed to the mast of a boat at sea so that he could observe a storm. Not satisfied with simply watching aeroplanes, Souter herself took flying lessons and painted a series of views from the air. ‘I felt so proud that I could fly’ she once remarked, ‘they called me Biggles’. Indeed, with her scarf and beret, she must have looked the part. ‘Visually, it was wonderful. Because of a lack of money, it was [the lessons were] so precious; I only wanted to fly in bad weather. I wanted to see the landscape in bad weather,’ she recalled.
Evidently, the weather was not just a peripheral interest of the series but was often central to it. This applies both to those paintings based on views from the air and those from the ground. Storm at Shannon falls into the latter category of work. A white plane charges down the runway on a collision course towards an approaching front like a bull to a red rag. It has already gored half way into a sheet of dark grey cloud, propelled forward by the near irresistible force of its own momentum and relative mass. As Alain de Botton has pointed out, the ability of aircraft to defy gravity (and or the weather) and ascend skyward may lead us to contemplate a similar dramatic transformation of our own circumstances.1 The converse is also true. Their ability to land and bring us home to the safety and security of what we know best can be comforting. Seemingly insurmountable forces and unknown dangers can be overcome.
1 Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel, Penguin, London, 2003.
Garrett Cormican |
|
Camille Souter HRHA (b.1929)
THE KNOCKOUT, 1974 (DIPTYCH)
Signature: one section signed upper right; the other section signed lower left; inscribed by the artist on label on reverse
Medium: oil on paper
Dimensions: 21 by 19cm., 8.25 by 7.5in.
Provenance: Dawson Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited: 'Camille Souter Retrospective Exhibition', Model Arts Centre and Niland Gallery, Sligo, 24 April - 2 June 2001, and Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 12 July-26 August 2001
Literature: Garrett Cormican, Camille Souter: The Mirror in the Sea, Whyte's, Dublin 2006, catalogue no. 320, p. 296, illustrated p. 121 |
Lot
No.: 67
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Second section measures 7.5 by 8.25 inches.
While some commentators are better acquainted with Camille Souter’s paintings of landscapes and still-lives, she has made numerous paintings of the human form in every decade of her career. They are usually very intimate and rarely populated by more than two figures. In the mid 1950s, when she had barely enough money to survive, drawing conventional portraits of locals in a Melegnano trattoria even provided Souter’s ‘bread and butter’. From 1955 through to the late 1960s she produced numerous paintings of clowns and circus scenes. Under the influence of artists like Klee and Miro, these early depictions of the figure were almost like pared down signs or ‘match stick’ men (or women). However, over the course of the 1960s her style gradually became less abstracted. In 1966 she attended a ground-breaking exhibition of Pierre Bonnard’s work at the Royal Academy in London which may also have pushed her further in the direction of a more soft-edged, impressionistic approach to form.
The Knockout is one of a series of paintings to do with boxers that the artist produced during the 1970s. It may also be viewed in the broader context of her interest in sport. She also painted sports fields and depictions of footballers during the World Cup during the same decade. There may be another angle to it as well. Sport is intimately connected with violence and has been since people began to wrestle or watch gladiators in the Colosseum for entertainment. Modern sport is not expected to result in death but it continues to involve a physical contest between opposing individuals or nations. The Knockout presents the viewer with intimate close-ups of figures that have been beaten senseless. They lay awkwardly where they fell. The paint is quite thinly applied in places and the slightly blurred treatment of the forms gives each panel a dazed or dream-like quality. The figures could almost be the casualties of a war, a subject the artist would directly address a decade later. In some respects, they are also reminiscent of her fish series (c.1975-76), in which the immobile, sometimes bloody, creatures are laid out against a spare almost monochromatic background. One empathises with the vanquished, as though one were partly responsible for their fate and, as a spectator, perhaps one is.
With rare exceptions, Camille Souter’s paintings are inspired by something directly experienced. She would never, for example, work from a photograph as many young painters do today. She has, on occasion, used memories of fleeting images viewed through the medium of television and stories heard over the radio to inform her imagination however. This is the case with The Knockout. In a letter to the author, the artist once wrote ‘Some time I must go to a boxing match – glimpses on TV so rapid – stupid, they would be the same in reality, but more atmosphere, etc. Though I think the most exciting on radio 1930/40s times, my father loved listening to them. As has often been said, the pictures are better on the radio.’
Garrett Cormican |
|
Evie Hone HRHA (1894-1955)
CUBIST COMPOSITION
Signature:
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 91 by 66cm., 36 by 26in.
Provenance: Estate of the artist; Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Whence purchased by the present owner in 1988
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited as Abstract-Blue at the retrospective exhibition, 'Evie Hone 1894-1955', Trinity College Dublin, 29 July to 5 September 1958, catalogue no. 26
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 68
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€30000-50000
Price Realised:
€36000 |
| Evie Hone is widely celebrated as one of the finest stained glass artists Ireland has produced, yet her activities as a painter, and particularly as an abstract painter, are commonly overlooked. This may be partly owing to the success she achieved later in life with religious subjects, and partly owing to the large shadow cast by her friend and colleague, Mainie Jellett. Whereas Jellett’s paintings have been the subject of a scholarly monograph and a major exhibition at IMMA, Hone’s paintings have remained all but unexamined. That this should be the case would doubtless have surprised and puzzled at least some of Hone’s contemporaries, who considered her a more intuitive artist than Jellett (see for instance comments made by their co-worker at Moly Sabata, the Australian potter, Anne Dangar, who considered Hone a naturally gifted draughtswoman).1
Hone and Jellett met as students at the Westminster School of Art in London in 1917. The pair had much in common: both Dublin-born, they came from well-connected Protestant families (Hone was a descendent of Nathaniel Hone RA and a distant cousin to the younger Nathaniel Hone RHA). Both women were educated at home by governesses, and had already travelled extensively in Europe. Hone however, was partially disabled, her hand and both legs weakened as a result of infantile paralysis. She therefore depended upon her friend to help navigate their way through London and, soon afterwards, Paris, where the pair enrolled at André Lhote’s academy. James White once observed how little Lhote’s teaching seemed to impact on Hone; rather than impose a design on nature, as Lhote taught his students, Hone sought ‘for an analysis of forms which would provide a pictorial statement in which the parts of the picture would sing with the qualities analogous to but not repetitive of nature’. 2
Dissatisfied with Lhote’s teaching, Hone and Jellett approached Albert Gleizes for lessons. Gleizes was not at the time in the habit of teaching students, but at the two women’s insistence agreed to give them instruction in pure abstract painting. In later life he would acknowledge their importance in helping him to clarify his own theories on abstraction.3 Gleizes formulated a method he called ‘translation and rotation’, which involved the movement of rectangular shapes – echoing the shape of the canvas – horizontally, vertically and in circular rotation. The purpose of so doing was to arrange the basic forms harmoniously in such a way that resisted Renaissance perspective but produced a rhythmic organic whole.4
The present work and the three that follow (lots 69-71) are painted according to this system of translation and rotation, and demonstrate Hone’s ability to absorb Gleizes’ lessons and transform them in her work. In 1924 she and Mainie Jellett exhibited their abstract works at the Dublin Painters Society; they were met with incomprehension and abuse. The following year Hone ceased painting altogether, taking refuge with a community of Anglican nuns in Cornwall. After nearly a year’s spiritual contemplation, she returned to painting and began exhibiting with the avant-garde group Abstraction-Creation in Paris. Her work was also was accepted by the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d’Automn, and was reproduced at the time in a number of French art journals. In London she showed abstract works with the 7 & 5 Society, a group of artists including Ben Nicholson, Christopher Wood and Frances Hodgkins, who favoured a primitive or child-like approach to representation. The success that Hone and Jellett found overseas ultimately swayed critics in Ireland to consider their work in seriousness, and helped pave the way for a younger generation of experimental Irish artists such as Gerard Dillon and Louis le Brocquy.
1 Helen Topliss (ed.), Earth Fire Water Air: Anne Dangar’s Letters to Grace Crowley 1930-1951, Allen and Unwin, St Leonards, 2000.
2 James White, introduction to ‘Evie Hone 1894-1955’, exhibition catalogue, Trinity College Dublin, 1958, unpaginated.
3 The experience of teaching Hone and Jellett was crucial in the publication of Gleizes’ book, La Peinture et ses lois. He later thanked the two artists, posthumously, in the introduction to Eileen MacCarvill (ed.), The artists vision, Mainie Jellett: lectures and essays on art, Dundalgen Press, Dundalk, 1958.
4 For further reading see Bruce Arnold, Mainie Jellett and the modern movement in Ireland, Yale, 1991, pp. 62-7. |
|
Evie Hone HRHA (1894-1955)
CUBIST TRIPTYCH
Signature:
Medium: gouache and watercolour
Dimensions: 30 by 48cm., 12 by 19in.
Provenance: Estate of the artist; Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Whence purchased by the present owner in 1988
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 69
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
Evie Hone HRHA (1894-1955)
CUBIST COMPOSITION
Signature:
Medium: gouache
Dimensions: 51 by 38cm., 20.2 5 by 15in.
Provenance: Estate of the artist; Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Whence purchased by the present owner in 1988
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 70
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€22000 |
|
|
Evie Hone HRHA (1894-1955)
FERN STUDY WITH CUBIST SURROUND
Signature:
Medium: gouache
Dimensions: 56 by 42cm., 22 by 16.5in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Whence purchased by the present owner in 1988
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 71
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€11500 |
|
|
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
YOUNG COUPLE
Signature: signed lower right; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 60 by 39cm., 23.5 by 15.5in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 72
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€30000-40000
Price Realised:
€25500 |
| Young Couple belongs to the series of works painted by Gerard Dillon from the mid 1960s that feature the clown Pierrot. A familiar figure in the work of Picasso, Braque and Miró, Pierrot was both Dillon’s alter ego and a playful character through whom he could explore the dream world that increasingly provided the setting for his art.
Although James White has linked Dillon’s use of Pierrot with the artist’s fear of death, in this painting Pierrot is cast as a young lover.1 The contrast between the naked female figure, who resembles a model in a life class, and Pierrot, whose face and body are masked by his clown costume, echoes the traditional relationship between the male artist and the female model who is the object of the both the artist’s and the audience’s gaze.
Like Red Nude with Loving Pierrot, c.1970, and Once upon a Wavelength, c.1968, this painting includes a host of stencilled figures who occupy the sky. Reminiscent of patterns cut from fabric or paper, these figures echo Pierrot’s gestures and provide a shadowy chorus to the scene.
1 James White, Gerard Dillon: An Illustrated Biography, Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 1994, p. 90.
Riann Coulter |
|
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
LENT
Signature: original labels of reverse giving title and artist's address (102 Abbey Road, London)
Medium: oil and sand on hessian canvas
Dimensions: 44 by 65cm., 17.5 by 25.5in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 73
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Gerard Dillon is best known for his distinctive images of the west of Ireland, yet, unlike several of his contemporaries, he was not content to focus on western scenes for the whole of his career. The artist Noreen Rice, who lived and worked with Dillon in London, recalls the enthusiasm with which he embraced new developments in international art. Inspired by their first glimpses of work by Jackson Pollock, the Spanish painter Tàpies and the French sculptor Cézar in London galleries, both artists embraced abstraction and began to experiment with collage and the incorporation of found objects into their work.1
Lent, along with related compositions including Whit Tuesday, 1957, Masquerade, c.1959, and The Side of a Hill, c.1962, resulted from these experiments. In each case, Dillon created areas of texture by adding sand to the oil paint. In a letter of February 1958 Dillon described his new technique to James White:
I’ve discovered a new way, an exciting way to use sand with my painting. Remember when you were a child … you found an old glass pane, spat on it and drew with the finger, spreading the spittle, then you poured fine dust or sand over the glass and the dust stuck to the spit-drawing. Well I’ve done that with sand, different coloured sands … I did this with paint – put on with brush, knife, pour the sand over it all, until all is sand, then tilt and let the sand run off and Lo, you have a wonderful exciting picture. It’s the first time I have ever seen anything like it. I know Picasso and Braque used sand but not like this. It’s completely new.2
1 Noreen Rice, ‘Memories of Gerard Dillon’, Gerard Dillon: A Retrospective Exhibition, Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda, 2003, unpaginated.
2 Gerard Dillon, letter to James White, 20 February 1958, quoted by James White in Gerard Dillon, p. 78.
Riann Coulter |
|
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
ANY OLD TOWN
Signature: signed lower right; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: watercolour, crayon and coloured chalks
Dimensions: 38 by 56cm., 15 by 22in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 74
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€14500 |
| Related to the larger oil painting Any Old Irish Town, c.1958, this composition was created during the period that Dillon was experimenting with abstraction. Although representational, the window-studded facades in this urban scene are reminiscent of the abstract shapes in Lent, which in turn can be traced back to the compartmentalised structure of the Celtic carvings that Dillon admired at monastic sites such as Monasterboice and Mellifont.
Riann Coulter |
|
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
SHAPES IN LANDSCAPE
Signature: signed lower left; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: crayon and collage
Dimensions: 38 by 56cm., 15 by 22in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 75
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€11500 |
| Dillon’s love of colour and pattern was nurtured during the years he spent as a painter and decorator. As Noreen Rice recalls, by the late 1950s Dillon had begun to experiment with collage and introduce found objects into his work. Blurring the boundaries between painting and sculpture and fine art and design, he utilised craft and decorative techniques to create works such as Shapes in the Landscape (lot 75) and Not Man nor Beast (lot 77). Famously resourceful and self-sufficient, Dillon even branched out into fashion with his ultimately unsuccessful attempts to make himself a suit and a pair of shoes.1
1 Noreen Rice, ‘Memories of Gerard Dillon’, unpaginated.
Riann Coulter |
|
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
WANDERING IN A STRANGE PLACE
Signature: signed lower left; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: crayon, chalk and watercolour
Dimensions: 38 by 55cm., 15 by 21.5in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 76
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€10000 |
| While most of Dillon’s oeuvre is figurative, as a young man he had been befriended and championed by Mainie Jellett, who in 1923 had caused an uproar when her painting Decoration (National Gallery of Ireland) became the first abstract composition exhibited in Ireland. Like Jellett, Dillon refused to be confined by tradition and engaged with international developments in contemporary art. Dillon’s innovations were recognised in 1960, when Masquerade was chosen to represent Ireland at the Guggenheim International Award New York, and again in 1962, when The Side of a Hill was exhibited at the Marzotto European Community Painting Award.
Riann Coulter |
|
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
NOT MAN NOR BEAST
Signature: signed lower right; exhibition label on reverse
Medium: crayon and collage
Dimensions: 25 by 41cm., 10 by 16in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 77
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€5700 |
|
|
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
NUDE STUDY
Signature: exhibition label on reverse
Medium: watercolour, crayon and collage
Dimensions: 52 by 74cm., 20.5 by 29in.
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 78
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€9000 |
|
|
Helen Cody
AFTER LOUIS LE BROCQUY
Signature:
Medium: Camel cashmere ‘Perrier’ dress with hand dyed silk velvet padded flowers embedded with Swarovski chandelier crystals, lined in pure silk
Dimensions:
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 80
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1500-1800
Price Realised:
€1400 |
|
|
Helen Cody
AFTER GERARD DILLON
Signature:
Medium: lime crushed velvet strapless ruched and boned dress with gold metallic beaded embroidery, peacock feather tails, beige multilayered underskirt and hand dyed silk lining
Dimensions:
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 81
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2500-3000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
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Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958)
CLARE ISLAND, 1911
Signature: signed lower left; original newspaper clipping review from 1922 taped to reverse of frame
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 41 by 61cm., 16 by 24in.
Provenance: Oriel Gallery, Dublin; Whence acquired by the present owners, circa late 1970s.
Exhibited: (?) ‘Paintings of Irish Life: Mr and Mrs Paul Henry’, Pollocks Gallery, Belfast, 14-27 March 1911, catalogue no. 22;
’Paintings by Mrs Frances Baker, Grace Henry, Paul Henry, Casimir Bunin-Markievicz and George Russell’, Leinster Lecture Hall, Dublin, 16-21 October (either catalogue nos. 4, 7 or 22);
(?) ‘Pictures of the west of Ireland by Mr and Mrs Paul Henry’, The Carlton, Belfast, 15-29 March 1915;
’Exhibition of Pictures by Paul and Grace Henry’, Dublin Painter’s Society, 17 June – 1 July 1922;
(?) ‘Exhibition of Pictures by Paul and Grace Henry’, Magee’s Gallery, Belfast, from 12 April 1923;
(?) ‘Pictures by Paul Henry’, the Studio, Merrion Row, Dublin, c.5-19 July 1925, catalogue no. 33b, ex-catalogue and marked NFS
Literature: The Irish Times, 17 June 1922; S. B. Kennedy, 'Paul Henry: Paintings Drawings Illustrations', Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, catalogue no. 345, illustrated, p.163 |
Lot
No.: 82
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€80000-120000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| When he first visited Achill Island, in August 1910, Paul Henry settled with John and Eliza Barrett in the village of Keel in the south of the Island, but in the following January or early February he moved half a mile or so away to Pulloch, taking lodgings with Bridget Fadian who ran a small shop there. Not only was Mrs. Fadian able to provide him with a bedroom, but she also had a spare room which he fixed up as a studio. Thus Pulloch became his base for the next two to three years and of Bridget Fadian he later wrote that he was indebted to her — and later to her second husband, John MacNamara—“for two or three of the best years of my life”. 1 The village of Pulloch is situated on gently rising ground and commands a wide view of Keel Bay with, as Henry noted in An Irish Portrait, the mountains of Clare Island — which has been likened to the fabled isle of Hy Brazil — as a backdrop.
This composition, which dates from January or February 1911, is one of several that Henry painted of Clare Island at that time (for a note on the others see Kennedy, Henry Catalogue, numbers 344, 365, 380, 381). It is almost identical in compositional terms to Clare Island (Kennedy number 344) and illustrates the artist’s frequent habit of making closely related images of the same scene. Henry’s earliest Achill pictures are almost always dominated by figures working on the land, and it was not until around 1916 that he began to concentrate exclusively on the landscape as subject matter. This picture, therefore, an exception to this generalisation, is one of his earliest ‘pure’ landscapes in which there are no human figures. Yet even here, in the solitude of the scene, one is conscious of an eternal human presence, of a sense of the past and of terrain that has supported life for generations. Paul Henry suffered from red-green colour-blindness, and although the precise nature of this is unknown it no doubt contributed to his liking for cool lights and blocks of closely modulated tones as set down in this picture. Reviewing his 1915 Belfast exhibition the Northern Whig (15 March 1915), possibly speaking of this composition, admired the “dream-like vision”, “the strange wedge-shaped hill [rising] out of the waves [which it thought was] as glamorous as the fabled isle of Hy Brazil”; and in 1922 to the Irish Times (17 June 1922) the island lay “like a dream on a still sea, yet alive and breathing … what delicacy is in it, what subtle gradations, and what a sense of space” it said. The paint has been applied thinly but evenly throughout, and the texture of the coarsely woven canvas is used to good effect as is the spirited brushwork. The highest point of Clare Island, Knockmore, rises to a height of 462 metres. Probably painted from the headland of Gubelennaun, near Pulloch. There is a newspaper clipping from the Irish Times (17 June 1922) pasted on the rear of the canvas.
1 Paul Henry, An Irish Portrait, London, Batsford, 1951, p. 78.
S. B. Kennedy |
|
Grace Henry HRHA (1868-1953)
ACHILL VILLAGE
Signature: signed lower right; original exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on panel
Dimensions: 25 by 34cm., 10 by 13.5in.
Provenance: John Magee Gallery, Belfast; Oriel Gallery, Dublin; Whence purchased by the present owners, circa late 1970s
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 83
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€12500 |
|
|
Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964)
PINK BRIDGE, VENICE
Signature: signed with initials lower left
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 47 by 58cm., 18.5 by 23in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 84
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€14000 |
|
|
William John Leech RHA ROI (1881-1968)
PORTRAIT OF GUY BOTTERELL
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 73 by 57cm., 28.7 5 by 22.5in.
Provenance: Mrs Jim Botterell; Pyms Gallery, London; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: Denise Ferran, William John Leech: An Irish Painter Abroad, NGI, 1996, pp 70, 72, illustrated p. 72 |
Lot
No.: 85
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| After 1910 William John Leech made London his home, with annual painting trips to France with Elizabeth Lane, who became his wife in 1912. With the outbreak of the First World War he remained in Brittany with Elizabeth but his marriage, his painting and his finances greatly suffered. When he returned to London at the end of the war in 1918 he met the Botterell family who had just returned from Holland where Percy Botterell, an eminent London lawyer, had been a commercial attaché to The Hague. Percy Botterwell’s wife May organised a relief centre for released prisoners of war, providing clothes, money and information on their return home, and there met Leech’s older brother, Cecil. Cecil Leech, who had fought in the First World War as a commissioned officer in the Royal Horse Artillery, spent four years in a prisoner of war camp and worked with May Botterell to ensure the safe return of soldiers in his command. In London he arranged meetings between the Botterell family and the Leech family and from this introduction Percy Botterell commissioned W. J. Leech to paint portraits of himself, his wife, May and his three children, James 1, Guy and Suzanne. This meeting and the painting of May’s portrait was to change the Botterell family life irrevocably and was to begin the lifelong relationship between May Botterell and W. J. Leech, which culminated in their wedding in 1953, after the death of Percy Botterell in 1951 and Leech’s wife Elizabeth, in 1950.
Guy Botterell was the second eldest of the Botterell’s three children. He had accompanied his parents and younger sister to Holland while Jim, the eldest, remained at school in Winchester. Guy was a sensitive retiring young teenager when Leech painted this portrait of him, c.1923, wearing his school tie. Under the comfortable armchair behind him is his toy train set, his childhood interests remaining as he emerges into manhood. He avoids direct contact with the viewer but gazes into the distance, wrapped in his private world, which is emphasised by Leech’s use of blues and greys with just a flash of red in the train set in the corner. A contemporary photograph of Guy (fig. 1), taken with Jim at his mother’s apartment at 24 Hamilton Terrace, London, after she had moved out from the family home at Coombe-Edge, Hampstead, shows Guy as a vulnerable younger brother, similar to the image captured by Leech in this portrait. As an artist, Leech had the ability to catch the likeness of his sitter as was the case in his later portrait of Chloe Abbott 2 in 1965, forty-three years later, but he eschewed portrait painting as a profitable source of income. Leech captures Guy, at the time of the break-up of his happy family home and he resented Leech’s intrusion very deeply, a mood conveyed in this portrait. His brother Jim, recounted in conversation with me in the 1980s, how devastated Guy was when his mother, May, planned to move out of the family home to Hamilton Terrace with Leech in a studio close by in Hamilton Mews. However, May and Percy Botterell maintained a cordial relationship for the sake of their children and family time was spent during the holidays at their large family home in Hampstead and later in the Botterell home in Burley in the New Forest, when Percy Botterell, suffering from multiple sclerosis, moved out of London. Guy never married and after his father’s death remained at Burley. He was joined there by Jim and his wife Eileen and their two daughters, and they continued to have their mother and Leech visit, especially during May’s later illnesses.
Denise Ferran
1 Portrait of James Botterell, 1926, sold through these rooms 30 April 2007 as lot 73.
2 Sold through these rooms on 30 April 2007 as lot 72. |
|
Robert James Enraght Moony RBA (1869-1946)
A FAERY SCENE AT SPRINGTIME
Signature: signed lower right and again in monogram upper right
Medium: tempera on canvas
Dimensions: 41 by 51cm., 16 by 20in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited at the NEAC, London, 1916, no. 234 under the title "I dreamed the sleeping spring arose with half closed eyes"
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 86
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| With an unfinished head of a woman on reverse.
Born in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, into the land-owning classes, Enraght Moony was educated at Galway Grammar School and in Devon. During the 1890s he went to Paris where he studied under Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921), and also travelled through Italy where, according to Nicola Gordon Bowe, he appears to have come under the influence of the Italian Symbolist painter Giovanni Segantini (1858-99). He first exhibited at the RHA in 1903 and at the RA in 1909. His work straddled a number of genres and styles, combining the heightened realism of the Pre-Raphaelites (see for instance his illustrations for Kenneth Graham’s The Golden Age of 1915), with the otherworldly ‘faery’ subject matter much in vogue in Ireland during the Literary Revival. |
|
Robert James Enraght Moony RBA (1869-1946)
THE WISHING STREAM, 1926
Signature: signed and dated lower left and signed again in monogram lower right; original exhibition label on reverse
Medium: tempera on canvas
Dimensions: 64 by 76cm., 25 by 30in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'International Exhibition of Watercolour Paintings', Art Institute of Chicago, 1926
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 87
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| With a copy of Kenneth Grahame's 'The Golden Age', illustrated by R.J.E. Moony published by John Lane, London, 1915 included with lot. |
|
George Russell "AE" (1867-1935)
THE BATHERS
Signature: signed in monogram lower right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 41 by 53cm., 16 by 21in.
Provenance: By descent from the great-aunt of the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 88
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€18000-22000
Price Realised:
€23000 |
|
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William Percy French (1854-1920)
BOG SCENE, 1916
Signature: signed and dated lower left
Medium: watercolour
Dimensions: 24 by 33cm., 9.5 by 13in.
Provenance: By descent from Mrs Betty Robson, Lurgan, Co. Armagh
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 89
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€5800 |
|
|
William Percy French (1854-1920)
BOG LANDSCAPE WITH TURF STACKS, 1910
Signature: signed and dated lower left
Medium: watercolour
Dimensions: 22 by 27cm., 8.5 by 10.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 90
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€8000 |
| In the original frame of Combridge's, Dublin. |
|
Charles MacIver Grierson RI (1864-1939)
THE POTATO PLANTER, SLIGO, 1904
Signature: signed and dated lower left; typed label on reverse
Medium: watercolour and pastel
Dimensions: 36 by 28cm., 14 by 11in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, 1904
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 91
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-5000
Price Realised:
€4600 |
|
|
William Percy French (1854-1920)
FAR O’ER THE MOORS THE LAKELETS LIE ADREAM, THE PAINTER’S VISION AND THE POET'S THEME, 1896
Signature: signed and dated lower right; original label on reverse inscribed with title, price (£10) and artist's address (35 Mespil Road, Dublin)
Medium: watercolour
Dimensions: 40 by 59cm., 15.7 5 by 23.2 5i
Provenance: Gift to the present owner's uncle in 1960
Exhibited: Belfast Art Society, 1896, catalogue no. 95
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 92
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€20000 |
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William Percy French (1854-1920)
CANDLE-SMOKE DRAWING OF A NAVAL SHIP, circa 1916-18
Signature:
Medium: candle smoke on base of china saucer
Dimensions: 10 by 10cm., 4 by 4in.
Provenance: By descent from Mrs Betty Robson, Lurgan, Co. Armagh
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 93
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1200-1500
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Percy French used to produce these novelty drawings as part of his on-stage comic skits. Having blackened the base of the china plate with candle-smoke, he would ‘etch’ an image using either a matchstick or the wooden end of his paintbrush (see Snoddy, p. 167). The present example was made during a performance at Lurgan Town Hall circa 1916-18. |
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Constance Gore-Booth, Countess Markievicz (1868-1927)
HEAD OF A WOMAN IN A MOP CAP, A YOUNG SERVANT GIRL IN A PINAFORE, and HEAD OF A YOUNG WOMAN (SET OF THREE)
Signature: former signed "C. Gore Booth" lower right
Medium: charcoal and white chalk on tinted paper
Dimensions: 57 by 44cm., 22.5 by 17.5in.
Provenance: Gore-Booth family, Lissadell House, Co. Sligo; Their sale, Mealy's, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, May 2002; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 94
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€15000 |
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William H. Rice, District Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary
RECOLLECTIONS OF KERRY
Signature:
Medium: Typescript, 360pp, clothbound, with additional 25pp in paper
Dimensions: 25 by 18cm., 10 by 7in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 94.1
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€300-500
Price Realised:
€3200 |
| A rare and fascinating account of a policeman’s life in County Kerry in the 1880s and 1890s during the Land League agitation with first hand accounts of riots, shootings, burnings, evictions, boycotts, murders as well as some light hearted reminiscences of life in those troubled times. |
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Dennis B. Sheahan (American, fl.1870-1900)
ROBERT EMMET, 1884
Signature: signed, inscribed and dated lower left
Medium: copper relief panel
Dimensions: 26 by 26cm., 10.2 5 by 10.2 5i
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 95
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2000-3000
Price Realised:
€2600 |
| Profile head of the executed Irish patriot, Robert Emmet (1778-1803), based on the stipple engraved portrait by James Petrie and sculpted by the American-born artist Dennis B. Sheahan. Sheahan evidently had Irish connections for in 1879 he was commissioned by the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick to sculpt a bust of the poet Thomas Moore, which now stands in Central Park, New York. Other recorded works include a 27 inch high standing statue of Daniel O’Connell (sold through Skinner’s, Massachusetts, 1997) and a marble bust of the engineer Joseph Harrison Jnr in the Pennsylvania Academy for the Fine Arts. Sheahan earned a degree of notoriety for his forgeries of eighteenth century sundials and scientific equipment, which had become highly collectible by the late 1880s and proved a lucrative sideline industry. |
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1882 PHOENIX PARK MURDERS-POSTER AND POSTCARD
Signature:
Medium: letterpress single sheet and chromolithograph picture postca
Dimensions: 61 by 43cm., 24 by 17in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 95.1
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€800-1000
Price Realised:
€850 |
| On 6 May 1882 the most senior Irish civil servant, Thomas Henry Burke, the Permanent Under Secretary of State for Ireland, and Lord Frederick Cavendish, the Chief Secretary for Ireland – who also happened to be Prime Minister William Gladstone’s nephew – were stabbed to death as they walked through the Phoenix Park en route to the Viceregal Lodge. The “Phoenix Park Murders” as they became known, were claimed by a hitherto little known group calling themselves the “Irish National Invincibles”, and were condemned by Charles Stuart Parnell. The political repercussions led to the delay of Home Rule for Ireland.
This Daily Telegraph poster of 31 July 1882 refers to the assassination of James Carey, who joined the Fenians in 1861, became treasurer of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and was a member of the “Invincibles”. Carey took part in the Phoenix Park murders, his role being to identify the intended victims. He was arrested and turned Queen’s evidence, with the result that five of his co-conspirators were found guilty and executed. The authorities arranged for him to emigrate to South Africa under the name of Power but he was followed and shot by the “Invincibles” on a ship between Cape Town and Natal, hence the headline here.
Also with this lot is a very rare picture postcard of P. J. Tynan in an unusual military uniform at the Boston Convention. Tynan was the “Number One” (leader) of the “Invincibles” at the time of the murders. (2 items) |
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1908-1922 RARE COLLECTION OF PROPAGANDA STAMPS ISSUED BY SINN FÉIN, THE IRA AND OTHERS
Signature:
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Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 96
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1500-2000
Price Realised:
€2600 |
| This comprehensive collection includes the Sinn Fin Celtic Cross (pairs of both printings) and Wolfhound issues of 1908-09 with two postally used (rare as they were banned by the authorities), the Manchester Martyrs pair of stamps issued Easter 1916 at the same time as the Rising, the very rare complete sheet in fine mint condition of Irish Republic Post stamps issued by North American sympathisers immediately after the 1916 execution of the Rising leaders – 8 different designs, erroneously inscribed “ERIE PUIST”, and the three stamps issued by the IRA in Cork in 1922. A magnificent collection of great philatelic and historic interest. (10 items) |
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SINN FEIN REBELLION HANDBOOK, EASTER 1916 & “WAR NEWS” No. 174 LIST OF IRA DEAD OF 1922-23 CIVIL WAR
Signature:
Medium: Crown octavo; original pink printed wrappers, complete with
Dimensions: 25 by 15cm., 10 by 6in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 96.1
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€400-600
Price Realised:
€650 |
| 1917 issue, published by Weekly Irish Times, Dublin. "A Complete and Connected Narrative of the Rising, with Detailed Accounts of the Fighting at All Points...etc.” including lists of casualties, prisoners, etc. The definitive contemporaneous reference work to the 1916 Rising. Also “Poblacht na h Éireann War News 174” listing the Anti Treaty republicans killed during the Civil War 1922-23, another useful historical source. (2 items) |
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1916 FRONGOCH CAMP – IRISH VOLUNTEERS AUTOGRAPH BOOK INCLUDING A POEM BY MICHAEL COLLINS
Signature:
Medium: Pigskin bound autograph book, 96pp.
Dimensions: 14 by 18cm., 5.5 by 7in.
Provenance: By descent from the family of one of the prisoners.
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 97
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€13000 |
| A valuable collection of inscriptions, watercolour drawings (4) by Cathal MacDubhgaill including badge and crest designs as well as a view of the camp, verse and prose by Irish Volunteers imprisoned at this internment camp in Wales after the 1916 Rising. The book is dated 14 October 1916. Includes a ms poem by Commandant W. J. Brennan Whitmore, who was IRA Camp Commandant, and ms contributions from Diarmuid Ó Laoghaire, London Brigade, Risteard Ua Maolcatha (later General Richard Mulcahy, C in C IRA in the War of Independence), John McLoughlin, Commandant IRA HQ, GPO and Moore Street in the Rising. Most importantly the book contains a manuscript poem “Executed 1916” in Michael Collins hand and signed “Miceal Ua Coileain, Capt. IRA, Woodfield, Clonakilty. Frongoch 1916”. |
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1916-1917 IRISH VOLUNTEER PRISON CAMP, CORK AUTOGRAPH BOOK INCLUDING INSCRIPTIONS FROM TOMÁS MAC CURTÁIN AND TERENCE MACSWINEY
Signature:
Medium: small autograph book, lacking its cover and missing some pages, 36pp remaining
Dimensions: 10 by 11cm., 4 by 4.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 97.1
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2000-3000
Price Realised:
€5400 |
| Mementoes from the Prison Camp on the Great Western Road, Cork are exceedingly rare. This little booklet includes an inscription in Irish by Tomás Mac Curtain, Commandant of the IRA in the camp, later Lord Mayor of Cork, murdered in his home by British forces in 1920, and Terence MacSwiney who succeeded MacCurtain as Lord Mayor and died in prison on hunger strike in 1920 – “Torndealbac mac Suibne, Ceann Cata, Fianna Fáil, Corcaig”. The other signatories are from IRA brigades in Cork, Clare, Limerick and Kerry. |
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Laurent Mellet (b.1968)
A GUN OF THE 1916 RISING - PADRAIG PEARSE, 2006
Signature: initialed on the underside
Medium: cast bronze on a wooden base
Dimensions: 17 cm., 6.5 in. high
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 98
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| Cast from the original Belgian Browning pattern hand-gun belonging to Padraig Pearse and used by him in the 1916 Rising, now in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland. Limited edition of nine, of which only six were ever cast.
Born in Co. Tipperary and resident in Co. Wicklow, Laurent Mellet graduated from NCAD in 1992 and has since worked in New York, San Francisco, Paris and Dublin, on both sculptural commissions and as an art director on numerous film and television projects. Commissions include a set of five sculptures for ABN AMRO Bank’s offices in the International Services Centre, Dublin, an ‘art mobile’ for Saatchi & Saatchi’s offices, London, and a large pig sculpture, created to raise money for the Kosovo Fund and now on permanent display at Dublin Airport. He exhibits annually at the RHA and was awarded the Solomon Gallery prize for sculpture in 2003. |
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1916-1921 A RARE GROUP OF MEDALS, BADGES AND RELATED MEMORABILIA OF VOUNTEER DANIEL TYNAN, “B” COMPANY, FIRST DUBLIN BATTALION, IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY
Signature:
Medium:
Dimensions:
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 98.1
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€25000 |
| A very rare collection of medals awarded to Daniel Tynan (1895-1974) including 1916 Rising Service Medal, 1919-21 War of Independence Service Medal with Comrac bar for Combat Service, 1966 Rising Jubilee Medal and 1971 War of Independence Jubilee Medal, the latter awarded to surviving veterans of both campaigns, complete with ribbons and tunic flashes, the Jubilee armband worn by the 1916 Rising veterans who marched in the commemorative parade in O’Connell Street, Dublin at Easter 1966, the 1971 medal still in its original box of issue and official Department of Defence registered envelope. Also included with the medals are a black and purple cloth and leather funeral sash, believed to have been worn by Tynan as a Volunteer at the funeral of O’Donovan Rossa in 1915, his Irish Volunteers membership card, dated 28 November 1914, his military service commemorative certificate signed by Oscar Traynor, 1941, his cloth prison number (Portland Prison, England 1921), a series of letters to his mother from Portland and Dartmoor Prisons, 1921, and later from Mountjoy and “Tintown” (The Curragh) Internment Camps 1923, 1923 Saorstát Éireann Internment Order to imprison Daniel Tynan, signed by Richard Mulcahy, a handkerchief handpainted memorial “1st Dublin Batt. In Loving Memory of the Officers and Men Killed in Action” signed by Daniel Tynan and dated 1923, made in prison, photographs of Daniel Tynan parading with IRA veterans, various mementoes of the Dublin Brigade IRA reunions, association membership card, some menus signed including survivors of the Four Courts action in the Civil War, a rare commemorative card marking the 1946 “Historical Presentation” to Commandant Tom Byrne, “the last Surviving Officer, Irish Brigade, Boer War 1899-1922”, etc.
A marvellous archive of immense interest to collectors of this period. |
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1916-1959 COLLECTION OF SCARCE AND RARE PUBLICATIONS OF HISTORICAL INTEREST
Signature:
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Provenance:
Exhibited:
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Lot
No.: 98.2
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€800-1000
Price Realised:
€2400 |
| This rare assembly was the property of Daniel Tynan who served as a Volunteer with B Company 1st Dublin Battalion, IRA, from 1914 to 1923 (see lot 98A for his military medals and memorabilia). It includes the Weekly Irish Times Sinn Fein Rebellion Handbook in excellent condition complete with all maps, an extremely rare 1921 leaflet in Spanish, English and Irish published in Madrid on Terence MacSwiney including a portrait by Maroto, a 1922 Cumann na mBan, Hunger Strike notice concerning woman prisoners at Mountjoy including Mrs Seán McDermott, National Museum questionnaire for veterans on the weapons they used in 1916-22, 1926 Eamon de Valera’s National Policy Outlined booklet, 1931 Easter Week Commemoration Programme, a rare Communist Party of Ireland booklet The Irish Revolt – 1916 and after, with interesting ms note by Tynan regarding its sale at Glasnevin Cemetery Easter 1936 during Parade of “so-called IRA” and an attack on them by “Catholic Action Sections” (apparently a clash between Communists and Fascists), An Dé (The Spark) scarce duplicated 5pp, issued by the Joseph Mary Plunkett Cumann, Sinn Féin, March 1936, No. 12, 1946 Republican Prisoners’ Release Association Constitution, etc., also 1940s Anti-Partition “stamps”, 1966 Rising Jubilee stamps, and some interesting newspaper cuttings |
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PÁDRAIG PEARSE SIGNED CHEQUE
Signature:
Medium: printed and manuscript cheque
Dimensions: 9 by 19cm., 3.5 by 7.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 99
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1500-2000
Price Realised:
€3400 |
| Royal Bank of Ireland Terenure cheque to J. & W. Nolan in the amount of one pound five shillings and nine pence, handwritten and signed "Pádraic Mac Piarais" by Pádraig Pearse, from his school, St. Enda’s, in Rathfarnham. A fine and rare clear autograph of the commander in chief of the Irish Republic of April 1916 and the main author and signatory of the 1916 Proclamation. |
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1916 RISING: A MILITARY PASS ISSUED TO RAILWAY OFFICIALS AT AMIENS STREET STATION
Signature:
Medium: Typescript and manuscript on Army Form for Messages and Signals
Dimensions: 22 by 14cm., 8.5 by 5.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 99.1
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€800-1000
Price Realised:
€1500 |
| This rare type of pass reads (ms in italics): “AVAILABLE FOR DAYLIGHT ONLY / Please pass Bearer. / Name J. A. & J. L. Armstrong / Residence Amiens Street Station / Occupation GNR (I) officials / To and from Amiens Street. & Baggot St. Hospital. / Signed. C. Loathes Major. / Ulster Composite Battalion. Amiens Street. / Date. 1st.May.1916”
Martial Law was declared on 25 April 1916 and anyone who needed to travel in the city had to have a military pass which were only granted to essential workers such as, in this case, these Great Northern Railway (Ireland) officials. |
Click for larger image |
MICHAEL COLLINS LETTER TO THOMAS ASHE, 24 APRIL 1917
Signature: signed "Mick C."
Medium: autograph ms letter: two folio pages, written on both sides
Dimensions: 43 by 56cm., 17 by 22in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 100
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€40000-60000
Price Realised:
€260000 |
| Dated on the first anniversary of the Easter Rising this is letter of great importance between two of the leading republicans of the time. Michael Collins, having been released from Frongoch Internment Camp in December 1916, was trying to establish himself as a political organiser in the republican movement, which at that time was reforming under the general aegis of “Sinn Féin”. Collins had already been involved in getting Count George Plunkett (father of executed 1916 leader Joseph Mary Plunkett) elected in the by-election at North Roscommon on 3 February 1917 as a separatist republican candidate.
The letter is part of a manuscript that includes letters from Séamus Ó Donnchadha and Ashe’s sister, Nora. Although dated by Ó Donnchadha 24 April, Collins mentions that his part of the epistle was written on 2 May.
Collins writes in coded terms to his comrade in arms Thomas Ashe, still in Lewes Jail, about the campaign to get Joe McGuinness elected as MP for Longford in the upcoming by-election on 9 May 1917. “Collins didn’t make the decision [to nominate McGuinness] but… he took the blame and, rather cleverly, the responsibility” Collins continues. “You can tell Con Collins, Seán McGarry, & any other highbrows that I’ve been getting all their scathing messages and am not a little annoyed, or at least was, but one gets used to be called bad names & being misunderstood If they only knew of the long fight I’ve had with AG [Arthur Griffith] & some of his pals before I could gain the present point!”
Referring to Griffith’s opposition to the Rising and the new republican movement he writes “The difference we had with him in the old school has been continued & grows more intense as the new school [the separatist republicans like Collins and Ashe] passes into working order” and “don’t think Master AG is going to turn us into eight two’ites [the parliamentary reformists of 1782 whom Griffiths idealised according to Hart].
In the rest of the letter Collins continues to use the school metaphor to disguise his comments on the political manoeuvres in the republican movement from the prison censor, a typical example being “the new master is going strongly for the highest salary” – a reference to De Valera’s ambition perhaps. Careful analysis of the content will reveal Collins’ view of the other protagonists in the political battle to unite republicans and nationalists under the Sinn Féin banner to carry on the struggle for independence by both political and military means.
1 Peter Hart, Mick: The Real Michael Collins, Macmillan, London, 2005. |
Click for larger image |
Leo Whelan RHA (1892-1956)
PORTRAIT OF THOMAS ASHE IN THE UNIFORM OF THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed on reverse with artist's name and address (Studio, 64 Dawson Street, Dublin)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 61 by 48cm., 24 by 18.7 5in.
Provenance: The family of Thomas Ashe
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 101
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€50000-70000
Price Realised:
€40000 |
| Thomas Patrick Ashe was born in 1885 at Lispole, Co. Kerry. He became a teacher and an active member of the Gaelic League and the Irish Republican Brotherhood and was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers. In the 1916 Rising he commanded the I.V. Fingal Battalion which he led into battle with British forces at Ashbourne, Co. Meath, where he gained a significant victory over a superior force. On the surrender of the Irish Volunteers Ashe was imprisoned in England but was not released under the general amnesty in June 1917. On return to Ireland he immediately became involved in the new struggle for independence. In August Tom Ashe was arrested for sedition and at a court martial in September, which his friend Michael Collins described as farcical, he was sentenced to one year’s hard labour. He was sent to Mountjoy prison where he and other prisoners started a hunger strike as part of a campaign to be treated as prisoners of war rather than as common criminals. The authorities reacted, as they had against the pre war Suffragettes, by force feeding the hunger strikers. Tragically the force feeding was badly administered to Ashe and he died from its effects on 25 September 1917. He was the first Irish political prisoner to die on hunger strike. His death led to national outrage, and an even greater desire of the majority of the populace to press for independence from Britain which led to the success of Sinn Féin in the 1918 general election, the formation of An Dáil in 1919, the War of Independence, and, ultimately the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. |
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1921 MICHAEL COLLINS AS MINISTER FOR FINANCE TO DAIL EIREANN SIGNED LETTER
Signature:
Medium: typescript on printed letterhead with ms signature
Dimensions: 27 by 20cm., 10.5 by 8in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 102
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2000-3000
Price Realised:
€4200 |
| Amusing personal letter to Seán Etchingham TD, Minister for Fisheries, on Dáil Éireann Department of Finance notepaper, dated “12 Lughnasa 1921” concerning a practical joke Collins had played on Dick King, who worked for Etchingham. Attached is a receipt from the Irish Republican Prisoners’ Dependents’ Fund for eighteen shillings and seven pence made out to King. On reverse of the letter is a jocular reply by Dick King accusing Collins of sponging drink and taking his pipe “you got it as you get everything and everywhere” and finishing “I’ll have the satisfaction of seeing you on Gaffer work in Hell and 18/7 [the amount of money taken by Collins] in coppers playing the Rakes of Mallow off your chest bone”. With a note by Mrs Mary Woods into whose possession the letter came, as it had been hidden under the floor at her house at 131 Morehampton Road, Donnybrook, one of the safe houses Collins used to eat or sleep in. A rare item of personal correspondence giving an insight to Collins’ sense of humour. (2 items) |
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1921 MICHAEL COLLINS LETTER REGARDING HIS "SAFE HOUSE"
Signature:
Medium: manuscript letter
Dimensions: 20 by 13cm., 8 by 5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 103
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2000-3000
Price Realised:
€5200 |
| A letter written in Michael Collins’ hand and signed “M” to Mrs Woods, who acted as housekeeper for him at 9 St. Mary’s Road, Ballsbridge, where he sometimes stayed. Dated 25 May 1921 he thanks her for her trouble and there is mention of Mrs Quinn who was a candidate as a replacement for Mary Woods, who also looked after other republicans on the run including Liam Mellowes, Austin Stack and Desmond FitzGerald, and who was too busy with her other activities for the movement to continue keeping house for them. In the letter Collins expresses doubts over Mrs Quinn’s suitability; in fact he appointed Mrs Comerford (mother of Máire) to the position of “safe house” keeper. A rare and interesting note from Collins in the middle of the guerrilla war in Dublin. |
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1922 (28 JUNE) PROCLAMATION AT THE FOUR COURTS BY THE ANTI-TREATY IRA FORCES – THE START OF THE CIVIL WAR
Signature:
Medium: letterpress printed single sheet
Dimensions:
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 104
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-5000
Price Realised:
€4200 |
| “Fellow Citizens… the fateful hour has come. At the dictation of our hereditary enemy our rightful cause is being treacherously assaulted by recreant Irishmen. The crash of arms and the boom of artillery reverberate in this supreme test of the Nation’s destiny……………”
“We…appeal to all citizens who have withstood unflinchingly the oppression of the enemy during the past six years to rally to the support of the Republic, and recognise that the resistance now being offered is but the continuance of the struggle that was suspended by the truce with the British.”
The (printed) signatories include Commandant Generals Liam Mellowes, Rory O’Connor, Joseph McKelvey, Earnan O’Maille, Seamus Robinson, Sean Moylan, Michael Kilroy, Frank Barrett, Thomas Deerig, Liam Deasy, General Liam Lynch, and Commandant Tom Barry among others.
This historic document was issued on the day that Free State forces laid siege to the Four Courts which had been occupied by Anti-Treaty forces since April. This was the start of a tragic civil war which only ended nearly a year later in May 1923. |
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1917-18. AN IRISHWOMAN’S APPEAL TO ALL IRISH SOLDIERS – PRO GERMAN ANTI BRITISH BROADSHEET POSTER
Signature:
Medium: letterpress single broadsheet poster
Dimensions: 56 by 38cm., 22 by 15in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 105
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1000-1500
Price Realised:
€1500 |
| A very rare exhortation by a “Mrs Leonard Marshall” to Irish soldiers to join Germany’s Irish Brigade to fight the British and to liberate Ireland. “I came to Germany as I would have gone to Hell itself were the powers of Darkness fighting against the Sassanach……” Mention is made of the Irish soldiers in the British Army whom the writer met as prisoners of war at Limburg, also of the “Judas John Redmond” who had encouraged Irishmen to join the British Army “to come to the rescue of poor little Belgium” . Typical of the content is “All Hail to England’s foes in Germany, India, Egypt, Persia. South Africa”.
We have not found any record of this rare publication in an Irish library. |
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1921-22 LIAM MELLOWES CORRESPONDENCE
Signature:
Medium: manuscript and typewritten letters (4) and 2 other related i
Dimensions:
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 106
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2000-3000
Price Realised:
€5200 |
| ms letter dated 25 May 1921 and signed “L” to Mrs Mary Woods, “Mother expects the gang this evening” warning her of visitors to the safe house kept by Mary Woods for Michael Collins at St Mary’s Road. “Miss Daly [probably Paddy Daly, one of Collins’ assassins] will come too”.
Typed letter to Mrs Woods, dated 5 September 1921 concerning the Prisoners’ Dependents Fund, signed in ms “LM”.
Typed letter to Mrs Woods, dated 3 February 1922, signed ms “Liam M” seeking work for a man who was unemployed.
Handwritten letters on one sheet to Mrs Mary Woods from her son Anthony and Liam Mellowes, in Mountjoy Jail, dated 16 November 1922. Three weeks later, on 8 December 1922, Mellowes, along with Rory O’Connor, Joe McKelvey and Richard Barrett, was executed by firing squad on the orders of the Free State Government in reprisal for the assassination of TD Seán Hales. The letter refers to the dire conditions in the prison and to the fact that this letter was being smuggled out. Mellowes was imprisoned in Mountjoy after the surrender of the IRA Dublin Brigade at the Four Courts in June 1922. (6 items). |
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James Joyce (1882-1941)
ULYSSES, first edition
Signature:
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Lot
No.: 107
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€23000 |
| Copy number 248 of the first edition. Published by Shakespeare and Company, Paris, 1922. The first edition of Ulysses was limited to 1,000 copies, of which the first 100 were printed on Dutch paper and signed by Joyce, the following 150 (numbered 101-250) were issued on vergé D’Arches (large paper), and the final 750 copies were printed on handmade paper. This is one of 150 copies printed on vergé D’Arches, bound with the half-title but without the preliminary or concluding blank leaves. Finely bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe in full pale blue levant morocco, inside gilt borders, marbled endpapers, and top edges gilt. A handsome copy in fine condition of what is widely regarded as the most important work of twentieth century literature. |
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John Henry Foley RA RHA (1818-1874)
OLIVER GOLDSMITH, 1861
Signature:
Medium: electroplated bronze
Dimensions: 51 cm., 20.2 5 in. high
Provenance:
Exhibited: RHA, Dublin, 1861, catalogue no. 599; RA, London, 1861, catalogue no. 981
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 108
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€6200 |
| Maquette for the life-size bronze erected in 1863 at the front gates to Trinity College Dublin. The original plaster model is in the Birmingham City Art Gallery. This is believed to be an earlier cast than the later Elkington and Co. bronzes, and the darker patina closer to the original patina of the Trinity statues. |
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Jerome Connor (1874-1943)
FALLEN SOLDIER - STUDY FOR THE BRONX VICTORY MEMORIAL, circa 1924-5
Signature: signed 'Jerome Connor fecit' on base
Medium: bronze
Dimensions: 23 cm., 9 in. high
Provenance:
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited in Dublin in January 1926
Literature: Irish Independent, 22 January 1926, p. 3; Jerome Connor retrospective exhibition catalogue, NGI, Dublin, 1993, p. 80, footnote 63 |
Lot
No.: 109
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2000-3000
Price Realised:
€12000 |
| Study for a United States war memorial commemorating servicemen from Bedford Park and Norwood who died in World War I. The memorial stands in the Mosholu Parkway on Hull and Marion Avenues, New York. |
|
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
BELFAST AFTER THE BLITZ, 1942
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse and with original exhibition labels
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 47 by 62cm., 18.7 by 24.5in.
Provenance: Purchased by the resent owner's grandfather, circa 1943
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited under the title, Crucified City, Irish Exhibition of Living Art, Dublin, 1943, catalogue no. 20;
’Gerard Dillon’, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Ulster Museum, Belfast, November – December 1972 and the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, January – February 1973, catalogue no. 16
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 110
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€40000-60000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
Harry Kernoff RHA (1900-1974)
WINETAVERN STREET, DUBLIN
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: watercolour
Dimensions: 23 by 32cm., 9 by 12.7 5in.
Provenance: Gift to Maire Nolan (n
Exhibited: RHA, Dublin, 1957, catalogue no. 147 (
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 111
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€24000 |
| Teeming with historic and anecdotal details, Kernoff’s cityscapes chronicled Dublin life of the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. He first exhibited a view of Winetavern Street in 1934 at a solo exhibition at Daniel Egan’s Gallery. In 1940 he painted Winetavern Street, July Morning, exhibiting it that year at the RHA (later sold through Sotheby’s, 16 May 2003, lot 106). Two years later he showed another version, Old Houses, Winetavern Street, at the Studio Arts Club, and finally in 1957 exhibited the present watercolour at the RHA. It was also the subject of a woodcut print. In each version it is possible to discern the names of the various shops: at number 5 is a clothier by the name of Walker; at number 7 a fishmonger, Richardson; T. Young, hatter, is at number 9; and on the far corner (presumably at number 11), red and white stripes indicate a barbershop. Above the rooftops the green dome of the Four Courts is visible, whilst the foreground is dominated by the looming shadow of Christchurch Cathedral. The old houses of Winetavern Street were demolished in 1964. |
|
Harry Kernoff RHA (1900-1974)
ST STEPHEN'S GREEN, SUMMER IN DUBLIN
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: watercolour over pencil
Dimensions: 25 by 32cm., 10 by 12.5in.
Provenance: Gift from the artist's sister-in-law to the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 112
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
William Conor RHA RUA ROI OBE (1881-1968)
THE SEE-SAW (BOTANIC GARDENS)
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: crayon on paper
Dimensions: 51 by 61cm., 20 by 24in.
Provenance: Arches Gallery, Belfast; Private collection
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited as In the Botanic Gardens, Ulster Academy of Arts, Belfast, 1946, catalogue no. 154;
’A Time and a Place: Two Centuries of Irish Social Life’, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 18 October 2006 – 28 January 2007, catalogue no. 64
Literature: Brendan Rooney, A Time and a Place: Two Centuries of Irish Social Life, NGI, Dublin, 2006, pp. 119-20, illustrated p. 120 |
Lot
No.: 113
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€23000 |
| In the mid 1940s and early ‘50s Conor exhibited a series of work depicting children at play, including Swing High, Swing Low (1944), Hobby Horses (1947) and Chair-o-Planes (1951). The present work can be dated to this same period and – given the style of dress and the subject – may tentatively be identified as a work exhibited in 1946 under the title In the Botanic Gardens. In the catalogue to the recent National Gallery exhibition, Brendan Rooney wrote of this work:
The carefree, excited play of children on a see-saw on a bright summer’s day can be seen as a kind of pictorial antidote to some of the harsher realities – illness, physical work, penury and unemployment – of life in working-class Belfast in the 1920s and 1930s, and a counterpoint to the daily toils of artisans and the lower middle-class. Significantly, and not
withstanding the complexity of Conor’s identity, these pictures, including those of children at play, transcend the sectarianism that had crept with increasing virulence into Belfast from the late nineteenth century onwards. Conor delighted in depicting recreational activities, from music and games to singing, dancing, visits to the beach, theatre and even polo. Other works, including Lamp-post Swinging and Queue for the Picture House (both in the collection of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum) echo the cheeriness communicated in The See-Saw, and reflect the artist’s fascination with the collective nature of children’s recreation. His ability to communicate glee and good-humour was unsurpassed. Nor was it one-dimensional. He could capture with equal alacrity the jovial confidence of an army recruit, the celebratory air of a wedding party, or the giddiness of a dancing couple.
A study for this work was exhibited at the Oriel Gallery’s ‘William Conor Centenary Exhibition’, 8-22 July 1981, catalogue no. 9 (illustrated). |
|
Jack B. Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
BELOW THE GOLDEN FALLS, 1936
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 23 by 36cm., 9.25 by 14.2 5in.
Provenance: Bought from Robert Dunthorne and Sons Ltd, London, in 1936 by a Dublin collector and passed by legacy to the previous owner; de Vere's, Dublin, 21 November 2000, lot 383; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited: 'Jack B. Yeats: Recent Paintings' Robert Dunthorne, the Rembrandt Gallery, London, 19 March - 15 April 1936, catalogue no. 32
Literature: Hilary Pyle, Jack B. Yeats: A Catalogue Raisonne of the Oil Paintings, Andre Deutsch, London, 1992, Vol. 1, p. 433, catalogue no. 478 |
Lot
No.: 114
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€60000-80000
Price Realised:
€70000 |
| Jack Yeats exhibited only once with Robert Dunthorne, who owned the Rembrandt Gallery, in Vigo Street, off Regent Street in London. The exhibition, from March 19 to April 16, 1936, was widely and successfully noticed, and caused quite a stir. What was detected, by several critics, was a shift away from ‘hearty pictures of Irish life, of horses, races, fairs and crowds’, to an abstraction of his art which was becoming ‘vague and visionary’. The art critic of the New Statesman wrote of a new devotion to landscape and interiors, and great attention was paid by all the critics to a major work, About to Write a Letter, included in the show. The same critic also referred to Jack Yeats’ new performance as a writer. His book, The Amaranthers, appeared at roughly the same time.
These changes and new qualities were picked up by more than one critic at the time in respect of Below the Golden Falls. It was described as ‘an impression of the Liffey at its best’ in the Cork Examiner, and praised in The Morning Post [the London newspaper which later was amalgamated with The Daily Telegraph] as ‘songs without words, or the formless music of dreams’. The general view of critics was favourable, and the softer, warmer aspects of the painter’s art were emphasised.
In those days, Yeats had no hesitation – as he later had – about talking with the press, and The Cork Examiner published his views about Ireland. ‘The one great change I do notice about masses of Irish people is that the young ones are in ascendant. That change has been brought about by the big slump in emigration to America.’ And he added: ‘I think the boys and girls at political meetings leave the politicians wondering as to what they are thinking about.’
A fellow artist in London, James Bone, gave Jack Yeats a printed quotation from Seneca which was appropriate to his career, then and later, and which he kept for the rest of his life: ‘It is nothing for a man to hold his head in a calm; but to maintain his post when all others have quitted their ground, and there to stand upright, where all the other men are beaten down – this is divine and praiseworthy.’
Bruce Arnold |
|
George Collie RHA (1904-1975)
STREET ACCORDION PLAYER
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 76 by 64cm., 30 by 25in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited at the RHA, 1966, as Dublin Street Musician, catalogue no. 73
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 115
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€10000 |
| Born in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, Collie moved to Dublin when still a child, and was educated at St Kevin’s School in Blackpitts. At the age of eighteen he began exhibiting with the RHA, showing a study of a head and a still life. He was a star pupil at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, studying under Patrick Tuohy, James Sinton Sleator and Seán Keating. His depiction of The Fruit and Vegetable Market, Dublin won him the Taylor Scholarship in 1927, whilst The Mid-day Meal, another piece of social realist documentation, set in the dining room of the Dublin Union, won the Taylor Prize in 1928. This enabled him to study abroad, firstly at the Royal College of Art in London, and later at the Académie la Grande Chaumière and at Colarossi’s in Paris. Upon returning to Dublin he took up a teaching position at the Metropolitan School. By 1938 he had opened his own private school in Schoolhouse Lane, off Molesworth Street, where he taught pupils for the next thirty years. He was a regular exhibitor at the Academy, showing mostly portraits such as Eamon de Valera, Liam Cosgrave, Cardinal D’Alton and Thomas McGreevy (NGI). Collie’s skill as a portraitist also came to the fore in a number of fine character studies such as Blighted Hopes, c.1933 (Ulster Museum), which depicts an aging man, slumped with eyes downcast, oblivious to the crowd of people and dogs behind him. Street Accordion Player belongs to this latter category of works, revealing Collie’s interest in working class Dubliners and showing the artist’s extraordinary skill in figure painting. |
|
Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940)
FEMME AU CORSAGE MAUVE, 1912
Signature: signed and dated upper right; atelier stamp on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 81 by 65cm., 32 by 25.5in.
Provenance: Hotel Drouot, Paris, Vente O’Conor, 6-7 February 1956;
Oscar Ghez, Musée du Petit Palais, Geneve;
Private collection, Belfast;
Christie’s, London, 9 March 1984, lot 239;
Private collection, Newry;
Sotheby’s, London, 2 May 1990, lot 26;
Sotheby’s, London, 22 May 1997, lot 226;
de Vere’s, Dublin, 16 November 1999, lot 64;
Milmo Penny Fine Art, Dublin;
Whence purchased by present owner, March 2000
Exhibited:
Literature: Jonathan Benington, Roderic O'Conor, Irish Academic Press, Dublin 1992, catalogue no. 162, illustrated plate 48, p. 112; Dominic Milmo-Penny and Daniel Fennelly, Roderic O'Conor, Private View, Dublin, 2001, pp. 48-9, reproduced |
Lot
No.: 116
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€50000-70000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| The heightened realism of this portrait reiterates the fact that O’Conor was forever seeking out new modes of expression and never allowed himself to be typecast as the exponent of any one style or method. The palpable, almost sculptural rendering of volumes in Femme au corsage mauve, with its strong side-lighting and sharply delineated forms, could be seen as a distant echo of the Irishman’s academic training in the art schools of Dublin, Antwerp and Paris during the 1880s. The strong colours and tonal contrasts of the present work are reminiscent of those seen in such early portraits as A Breton Fisherman of 1891, whilst the arrangement of the figure along a diagonal harks back to works like Paysanne Bretonne, an etching of 1893.
Precisely why O’Conor should have decided to revisit these techniques when he was in his middle age will remain a mystery, but it may have had something to do with the more settled life he was able to enjoy following his acquisition of a permanent studio in Paris in 1904. Here, blissfully isolated in a courtyard setting and at one remove from the bustle of the boulevards, he had time to focus his attention on the indoor subjects of female figures (nude and clothed), self-portraits and still lifes, developing these themes exhaustively at the expense of his former preoccupation with landscape. With ample space in which to pose the model, position his studio furniture and store his wet canvases, O’Conor was able to experiment with a more textured and layered approach than was his wont at this time, using palette knives to build up a dense, rich impasto. We see the outcome of this daring method to good effect in Femme au corsage mauve, where the paint in some areas must almost be as thick as a centimetre, thereby endowing the surface with a relief-like quality. And yet the densely layered pigment is never allowed to interfere with the clarity of the forms it depicts, for ultimately this painting is all about control, right down to the painstaking representation of the model’s intertwined fingers.
O’Conor’s depictions of women usually fell into one of two categories: nudes, or interior views where the sitter’s features were blurred. Hence portraits of women, especially those wearing casual everyday dress (as opposed to peasant costume), are rare in his oeuvre. It is naturally tempting to speculate on the identity of Femme au corsage mauve, and indeed a previous commentator has suggested that she is Renée Honta, the artist’s mistress (and later wife). However, Renée was only 18 years old in 1912, whereas O’Conor’s portrait shows a woman of more mature years, perhaps a friend or fellow artist. The artist’s great niece, Sister Olga Dwyer, has confirmed from a photograph that the lady was not a member of the O’Conor family. It is safe to assume she was someone from his inner circle of cultured Parisian acquaintances, given the trouble he has so obviously lavished on the picture, plus the fact that it remained in his possession for the remaining 28 years of his life.
Jonathan Benington |
|
Sir William Orpen RA RI HRHA (1878-1931)
NOW WOPPY IS BUT A BEGINNER
Signature: inscribed upper right
Medium: pen and ink with wash
Dimensions: 25 by 20cm., 10 by 8in.
Provenance: Letter to Mrs Evelyn St George; Thence by descent
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 117
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1500-2000
Price Realised:
€1500 |
| Orpen often referred to himself as ‘Woppy’ in his letters to the St George family. Full inscription reads: ‘Now Woppy is but a beginner / though he simply delights in his dinner / and with six dozen drinks / His eye never blinks / but he only grows thinner and thinner’. |
|
Sir William Orpen RA RI HRHA (1878-1931)
THAT DEAR LITTLE GIRL CALLED POPPY
Signature: inscribed upper centre
Medium: pen and ink on paper
Dimensions: 25 by 20cm., 9.75 by 8in.
Provenance: Letter to Gardenia St George; Thence by descent
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 118
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1500-2000
Price Realised:
€1500 |
| Poppy was Orpen’s pet-name for Gardenia St George. Full inscription reads: ‘But That dear little girl called Poppy / Loves no one so well as dear Woppy... / Which shows she is wise / for both the same size / are, Poppy-Wop, Woppy pop Poppy!’ |
|
John Butler Yeats RHA (1839-1922)
HENRIETTA PAGET, NEÉ FARR
Signature: signed and dated 23 September 1894 lower right; inscribed "Etta" lower left
Medium: pencil
Dimensions: 17 by 11cm., 6.5 by 4.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 119
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€6500 |
| Henrietta Paget was the daughter of statistician, William Farr. The Pagets were neighbours of the Yeats family in Bedford Park in west London in the 1890s. They were a family of artists and illustrators. Etta and her sister Florence were members of a group called the Golden Dawn, who were involved with spiritualism and the occult. W. B. Yeats was also a member; indeed Florence Paget was said to have had an affair with both W. B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw. |
|
Nathaniel Hone RHA (1931-1917)
FISHING FLEET ON THE SANDS AT SCHEVENINGEN
Signature: signed lower right; remains of an exhibition label (number 1[?]52) on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 30 by 46cm., 12 by 18in.
Provenance: Adam's, Dublin, (date unknown) ; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited at the RHA, 1886, catalogue no. 267 as Scheveningen
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 120
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€18000 |
| A similar composition, The Fishing Fleet, Scheveningen (National Gallery of Ireland, no. 1425) was part of the Hone Bequest in 1919. Both works were clearly based upon a watercolour sketch, Study: Dutch Fishing Fleet, some with sails set, others not; and Sand, listed as no. 592 in Bodkin’s Four Irish Landscape Painters and sold through the Gorry Gallery, Dublin, June 2002, catalogue no. 5. |
|
William Guy Wall (1792-1864)
SCENE IN THE GLEN OF THE DOWNS, 1848
Signature: original exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 52 by 81cm., 20.5 by 32in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: National Art Union for Ireland, 1848
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 121
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| William Guy Wall was born and educated in Dublin, but moved to America in 1818. There he achieved recognition for his series of watercolour landscapes which were published in aquatint form as the Hudson River Portfolio (c.1820), and which were later used as transfer printed designs for Stevenson’s Cobridge pottery works in Staffordshire, England. In 1826 Wall helped found the National Academy of Design in New York, from where he exhibited, whilst also showing at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He returned to Ireland around 1832 and began exhibiting at the RHA in 1840. In 1843 Wall was one of the nine founding members of the Society of Irish Artists (along with Edward Hayes, Michael Angelo Hayes, and the Brocas family). However, a perceived neglect of his work led Wall to return to America in 1856 for a period of four years. He finally returned to Dublin in 1860 where he died in relative obscurity. His work hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and in the collection of the New York Historical Society.
Strickland records that many of Wall’s paintings were purchased by the Royal Irish Art Union and given as prizes to subscribers during the years 1843-46 (vol. II, p. 499). However, Wall’s association with the National Art Union was hitherto unrecorded. The National Art Union was founded in 1846 with the object of encouraging Irish artists. According to Strickland, ‘it began with great promise, but, owing chiefly to want of funds, had only a brief existence, and came to an end in 1851’ (vol. II, p. 663). |
|
Thomas Walmsley (1763-1806)
TRAVELLERS IN A RIVER GORGE
Signature:
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 66 by 91cm., 26 by 36in.
Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 18 May 2001, lot 130; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 123
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
Attributed to Thomas Walmsley (1763-1806)
FIGURES BY A LAKE NEAR CASTLE RUINS
Signature:
Medium: watercolour and gouache on paper
Dimensions: 38 by 51cm., 15 by 20in.
Provenance: Collection of John Heard Esq, Hertford, by 1905; Thence to his wife, Lena Gertrude Heard, in 1954; By whom bequeathed to the previous owner (full details on reverse)
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 124
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€800-1000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
Francis Wheatley RA (1747-1801)
PASTORAL SCENE WITH FIGURES RESTING IN A VALLEY AND A MAN HERDING CATTLE BEYOND
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: watercolour with pen and ink on paper
Dimensions: 36 by 48cm., 14 by 19in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 125
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€2150 |
|
|
John Henry Campbell (1757-1828)
GLENDALOUGH, COUNTY WICKLOW
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: watercolour over pencil on paper
Dimensions: 22 by 30cm., 8.5 by 11.7 5in.
Provenance: Grafton Gallery, Dublin; Smurfit collection; Private collection, Dublin
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 126
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1500-2000
Price Realised:
€2200 |
|
|
John Henry Campbell (1757-1828)
RUINED CASTLE
Signature:
Medium: watercolour on paper
Dimensions: 13 by 18cm., 5 by 7in.
Provenance: Grafton Gallery, Dublin; Smurfit collection; Private collection, Dublin
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 127
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€800-1000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
Sir Robert Ponsonby Staples RBA (1853-1943)
LISSAN HOUSE, COOKSTOWN, COUNTY TYRONE, 1937
Signature: signed, inscribed "to Mondes" and dated centre right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 36 by 46cm., 14 by 18in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 128
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€3000 |
| Depicts the front porch of the carriage entrance of Lissan House, the ancestral home of the Staples family. |
|
Sir Robert Ponsonby Staples RBA (1853-1943)
SLIEVE GALLION, COUNTY TYRONE, 1876
Signature: signed and dated lower left; inscribed on reverse with title 'Slievegalion, Ireland' and artist's addresses (20 Newman and 30 Marlboro Hill St John's Wood)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 46 by 119cm., 18 by 47in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: RHA, Dublin, 1876, catalogue no. 161 (£26-5-0)
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 129
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€4000 |
|
|
Mildred Anne Butler RWS (1858-1941)
KILMURRAY - CATS CHASING BIRDS, 1918
Signature: signed and dated July 1918 lower left; exhibition labels on reverse
Medium: watercolour
Dimensions: 26 by 36cm., 10.2 5 by 14.2 5i
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'Mildred Anne Butler', Kilkenny Art Gallery, 1987, catalogue no. 71; 'Mildred Anne Butler', Ulster Museum, Belfast, 29 April - 12 June 1988, catalogue no. 14
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 130
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€6000 |
|
|
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
THE POTATO GATHERERS, 1922
Signature: signed and dated lower left
Medium: watercolour over pencil
Dimensions: 36 by 53cm., 14.2 5 by 20.7in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 131
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€24000 |
| The old woman depicted in this work was used as a model by McKelvey on several other occasions during the early 1920s. She was presumably a friend or neighbour from the area around Bessborough, Co. Armagh, where McKelvey’s in-laws owned a farm. She appears in a similar pose – arms akimbo, hands on hips – in a delicately painted watercolour of this period, Tending Her Goats (sold through these room, 21 February 2006, lot 87). Her distinctive lined visage is recognisable in the watercolour, Feeding the Hens, 1920 (sold through these rooms, 20 September 2005, lot 57). She was also possibly the model for McKelvey’s prize-winning entry to the Taylor art competition in 1918, The Grandmother. |
|
Theodore James Gracey RUA (1895-1959)
DONEGAL COTTAGES
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: watercolour over pencil
Dimensions: 18 by 25cm., 7.25 by 10in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 132
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1000-1500
Price Realised:
€1900 |
| Remains of the original hand-lettered mount and framer's label (Samuel Mills, Belfast) on reverse. |
|
Fergus O'Ryan RHA (1911-1989)
SLIEVEMORE FROM ACHILL SOUND
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on panel
Dimensions: 50 by 66cm., 19.7 5 by 26in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 133
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1500-2000
Price Realised:
€2200 |
|
|
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
THE FRIARY BEACH, ARDS BAY, COUNTY DONEGAL
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed with title on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 46 by 61cm., 18 by 24in.
Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 16 May 2002, lot 138; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 134
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€20000-30000
Price Realised:
€17000 |
|
|
James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1877-1944)
THE MUCKISH RIVER, COUNTY DONEGAL
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51 by 61cm., 20 by 24in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: Possibly exhibited at the RHA, 1932, catalogue no. 306
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 135
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-12000
Price Realised:
€8500 |
|
|
James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1877-1944)
IN THE ROSSES, COUNTY DONEGAL
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on panel
Dimensions: 29 by 42cm., 11.5 by 16.5in.
Provenance: Mellors Fine Art, Toronto; Whence purchased by C. R. Arthur Esq, 1935
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 136
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-18000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| With the original bill of sale included with lot. |
|
Charles Vincent Lamb RHA RUA (1893-1964)
TURF BOATS IN CONNEMARA
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 27 by 35cm., 10.5 by 13.7 5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 137
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-5000
Price Realised:
€3250 |
| In the original frame of the Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin. |
|
Charles Vincent Lamb RHA RUA (1893-1964)
THE CLIFFS ON THE ARAN ISLANDS
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 27 by 35cm., 10.5 by 13.7 5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 138
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-5000
Price Realised:
€4000 |
| In the original frame of the Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin. |
|
Maurice MacGonigal PRHA (1900-1979)
COTTAGE AT FAUL, CONNEMARA
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 51 by 76cm., 20 by 30in.
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin; Tom Caldwell Galleries, Dublin and Belfast, by 1986; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 139
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€12000 |
| Painted circa 1968-70. |
|
Charles Vincent Lamb RHA RUA (1893-1964)
TURF BOATS MOORED AT CARRAROE, COUNTY GALWAY
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 27 by 36cm., 10.5 by 14in.
Provenance: Purchased from the artist by the previous owner in 1964
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 140
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€6200 |
|
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Charles Vincent Lamb RHA RUA (1893-1964)
CARRAROE PIER AT SUNSET, COUNTY GALWAY
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 27 by 36cm., 10.5 by 14in.
Provenance: Purchased from the artist by the previous owner in 1964
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 141
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€5600 |
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Charles Vincent Lamb RHA RUA (1893-1964)
CARLINGFORD, COUNTY LOUTH
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 27 by 36cm., 10.5 by 14in.
Provenance: Purchased from the artist by the previous owner in 1964
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 142
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€7000 |
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Nano Reid (1900-1981)
WOODLAND SCENE
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 30 by 46cm., 12 by 18in.
Provenance: Gift from the artist to the original owner; Thence by descent
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 143
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€5000 |
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Simon Coleman RHA (1916-1995)
FIDDLER
Signature:
Medium: watercolour over pencil
Dimensions: 55 by 44cm., 21.5 by 17.2 5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 144
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2000-3000
Price Realised:
€0 |
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Simon Coleman RHA (1916-1995)
BACKYARDS, LIFFEY STREET, DUBLIN
Signature:
Medium: watercolour over pencil
Dimensions: 38 by 34cm., 15 by 13.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 145
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€1500-2000
Price Realised:
€1500 |
| With several figure studies in pencil and ink on reverse. |
|
Fergus O'Ryan RHA (1911-1989)
PATRICK STREET, DUBLIN, 1940
Signature: signed and dated lower left
Medium: watercolour
Dimensions: 36 by 25cm., 14 by 10in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 146
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€800-1200
Price Realised:
€1200 |
| With the spire of St Patrick's Cathedral visible behind the row of shops and houses. The houses at the left were later cleared for the construction of the new buildings for St. Patricks. |
|
William Conor RHA RUA ROI OBE (1881-1968)
THREE SHAWLIES, SMITHFIELD, 1908
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed and dated lower right
Medium: crayon on paper
Dimensions: 29 by 23cm., 11.2 5 by 9.25in.
Provenance: Purchased from the Bell Gallery, 1968, for 3gns; Later sold back to the Bell Gallery, £300; Whyte's, 29 April 2003, lot 80; Whence re-purchased by the original owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 147
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
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Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
IN THE MOURNES
Signature: signed lower left; original label on reverse
Medium: watercolour over pencil
Dimensions: 27 by 37cm., 10.5 by 14.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 148
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3500-4500
Price Realised:
€4800 |
| In the original frame of William Rodman and Co., Belfast. |
|
Harry Kernoff RHA (1900-1974)
INTERIOR WITH VASE OF GLADIOLI, 1957 and STILL LIFE WITH MIXED FLOWERS ON A GLASS-TOP TABLE (A PAIR)
Signature: former signed and dated lower left; latter signed upper right
Medium: watercolour over pencil
Dimensions: 37 by 29cm., 14.5 by 11.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 149
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€12000 |
| Each in matching frames from the Dawson Gallery, Dublin. The former work isbelieved to be the sitting room in the artist's house in Stamer Street, with his hat on one of the seats and one of his 'Colleen ' paintings on the wall beyond. |
|
Pauline Bewick RHA (b.1935)
MISS M. ON KERRY TRAIN, 1974
Signature: signed in monogram lower right; original exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on panel
Dimensions: 34 by 48cm., 13.2 5 by 18.7 5i
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'Pauline Bewick: New Works', Dawson Gallery, Dublin, 1-16 May 1975, catalogue no. 2
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 150
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-5000
Price Realised:
€5000 |
| Also with lot is an unframed preliminary pen and ink drawing on paper, inscribed 'Miss M going back to Kerry on the Train', dated 1974. |
|
Gerald J. Bruen RHA (1908-2004)
QUAYSIDE
Signature: original inscribed label on reverse signed lower right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 84 by 69cm., 33 by 27in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 151
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€8200 |
| A view of Usher's Quay, Dublin on the south side of the River Liffey. |
|
Sean Keating PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977)
TWO MEN WITH WINE GOBLETS
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: charcoal
Dimensions: 55 by 64cm., 21.5 by 25in.
Provenance: Bell Gallery, Belfast; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 152
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€8700 |
|
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Cecil Maguire RHA RUA (b.1930)
† CLIFDEN FAIR, 1970
Signature: signed and dated lower right; inscribed with title and artist's address (Woodlane, Lurgan) on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 25 by 30cm., 10 by 12in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'An Exhibition of Paintings by Cecil Maguire', Kenny's Gallery and Bookshop, Galway, June - August 1970, catalogue no. 9
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 154
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
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Cecil Maguire RHA RUA (b.1930)
KILMURVEY, ARAN, 1970
Signature: signed and dated lower right; inscribed with title and artist's address (Woodlane, Lurgan) on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 46 by 56cm., 18 by 22in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'An Exhibition of Paintings by Cecil Maguire', Kenny's Gallery and Bookshop, Galway, June-August 1970, catalogue no.46 (as 'Jarveys at Kilmurvey')
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 155
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€14500 |
|
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George K. Gillespie RUA (1924-1995)
AMONG THE TWELVE PINS, CONNEMARA, COUNTY GALWAY
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed label on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51 by 76cm., 20 by 30in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 156
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€6200 |
|
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George K. Gillespie RUA (1924-1995)
AUTUMN DAY, OWENMORE RIVER, CONNEMARA
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed label on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51 by 76cm., 20 by 30in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 157
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€7000-9000
Price Realised:
€7000 |
|
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George K. Gillespie RUA (1924-1995)
ON THE OWENMORE RIVER, NEAR LEENANE, CONNEMARA
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 76 by 91cm., 30 by 36in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 158
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€12000 |
|
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George K. Gillespie RUA (1924-1995)
NEAR ROUNDSTONE, COUNTY GALWAY
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed label on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 61 by 91cm., 24 by 36in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 159
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-12000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
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Peter Curling (b.1955)
† ON THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 36 by 91cm., 14 by 36in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 160
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-12000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
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Cecil Maguire RHA RUA (b.1930)
† TWELVE BENS FROM LETTERDYFE, ROUNDSTONE, 1987
Signature: signed and dated lower right; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 46 by 61cm., 18 by 24in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 161
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
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Martin Mooney (b.1960)
† STILL LIFE WITH BLUE AND WHITE TUREEN, 2006
Signature: signed with initials and dated lower right; inscribed and signed in full on reverse; also with exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 61 by 122cm., 24 by 48in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'Martin Mooney', Portland Gallery, London, 2-25 November 2006, catalogue no. 10
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 162
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€18000-22000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
|
Martin Mooney (b.1960)
† STILL LIFE WITH PORCELAIN CUP, 2006
Signature: signed with initials and dated lower right; inscribed and signed in full on reverse; also with exhibition
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 61 by 91cm., 24 by 36in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'Martin Mooney', Portland Gallery, London, 2-25 November 2006, catalogue no. 11
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 163
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€15000 |
|
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Mark O'Neill (b.1963)
† SUMMER WINE, 1998
Signature: signed and dated lower left
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 60 by 65cm., 23.5 by 25.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 164
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€8400 |
|
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Stuart Morle (b.1960)
STILL LIFE WITH EARTHENWARE AND GOURDS
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on canvas laid on board
Dimensions: 65 by 94cm., 25.5 by 37in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 165
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
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John Coll (b.1956)
RAFTERY, 1985
Signature: artist's label beneath base
Medium: welded stainless steel on marble plinth
Dimensions: 32 cm., 12.5 in. high
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 166
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2500-3500
Price Realised:
€3000 |
| Born in Co. Galway, John Coll originally studied science, qualifying as a zoologist in 1979. However, he was always drawn to the study of natural forms, modelling animals in plasticine as a child, and a visit to a John Behan exhibition at Kenny’s prompted him to consider sculpting as a career. After three years doing marine science field work along the shoreline at Carna, he enrolled in 1983 at the technical college in Galway to study art. Since then he has worked full-time at sculpture. His best known public commission is the bronze figure of Patrick Kavanagh, seated on a park bench beside the canal at Baggot Street, commissioned by ICI in 1991. He has also sculpted a memorial bust of Veronica Guerin for Trinity College Dublin and a life-size figure of Brendan Behan for Dublin City Council. He has had numerous solo shows with Kenny’s in Galway, and another in AIB’s offices in New York in 1998. |
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John Coll (b.1956)
OWL, 1985
Signature: artist's label beneath base
Medium: welded stainless steel on marble plinth
Dimensions: 42 cm., 16.5 in. high
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 167
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2500-3500
Price Realised:
€3600 |
|
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Jeremiah Hoad (1924-1999)
GOATS ON A CLIFF, 1992
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 91 by 71cm., 36 by 28in.
Provenance:
Exhibited: 'Earth Energies: Jeremiah Hoad', Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 26 May - 10 June 1994, catalogue no. 19 ; 'Jeremiah Hoad (1924-1999): Reflections, A Retrospective Exhibition', Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 27 September - 5 October 2001, catalogue no. 5
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 168
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
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Richard Kingston RHA (1922-2003)
ASPECT OF DUBLIN BAY
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 41 by 137cm., 16 by 54in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 169
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-12000
Price Realised:
€10000 |
|
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Richard Kingston RHA (1922-2003)
ESTUARY
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 76 by 122cm., 30 by 48in.
Provenance: Oriel Gallery, Dublin; A corporate collection, Dublin
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 170
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€0 |
| In the original frame of the Dawson Gallery. |
|
Kenneth Webb RWA FRSA RUA (b.1927)
BLUE LANDSCAPE AND WHITE GABLE, circa 1960-2
Signature: signed lower left; original exhibition label on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 41 by 102cm., 16 by 40in.
Provenance: Frost and Reed, London; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 171
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€15500 |
|
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Kenneth Webb RWA FRSA RUA (b.1927)
THE LITTLE LAKE, BALLYCONNEELY
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 41 by 102cm., 16 by 40in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 172
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€13500 |
|
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Kenneth Webb RWA FRSA RUA (b.1927)
CLADDAGH FISHERMAN
Signature: signed lower right; inscribed in another hand on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 41 by 51cm., 16 by 20in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 173
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€8200 |
|
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Arthur Armstrong RHA (1924-1996)
BLUE EVENING
Signature: signed lower left; gallery label on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 30 by 36cm., 12 by 14in.
Provenance: Hendriks Gallery, Dublin; Whence purchased by W. Brown Esq, April 1971
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 174
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€2000-3000
Price Realised:
€2800 |
| In the original frame of the Hendriks Gallery, Dublin. |
|
Rowan Gillespie (b.1953)
HARPIST, 1984
Signature: signed, dated and numbered at base
Medium: cast bronze (no. 1 from an edition of 9)
Dimensions: 44 cm., 17.5 in. high
Provenance:
Exhibited: Solo exhibition, Solomon Gallery, Dublin, 8-31 October 1984, illustrated on the front of the exhibition invitation
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 175
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€11500 |
|
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Markey Robinson (1918-1999)
WATCHING THE BOATS
Signature:
Medium: gouache on board
Dimensions: 60 by 103cm., 23.5 by 40.5in.
Provenance: Christie's, Glasgow, 15 July 1992; New Apollo Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 176
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€15500 |
|
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Markey Robinson (1918-1999)
FISHERFOLK LOADING BOATS
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 48 by 122cm., 19 by 48in.
Provenance: Oriel Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 177
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€17000 |
|
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Markey Robinson (1918-1999)
FISHING BOATS
Signature: signed lower left; inscribed on reverse
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 91 by 56cm., 36 by 22in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 178
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€12000-15000
Price Realised:
€12000 |
|
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Markey Robinson (1918-1999)
SHIPS AND BOATS
Signature: signed lower centre
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 61 by 122cm., 24 by 48in.
Provenance: Estate of the artist
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 179
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€15000-20000
Price Realised:
€0 |
|
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Markey Robinson (1918-1999)
SHAWLIE ON ROAD INTO VILLAGE
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 31 by 50cm., 12.2 5 by 19.5in.
Provenance: Oriel Gallery, Dublin; Whence purchased by the present owners in 1982
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 180
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€4000-6000
Price Realised:
€6200 |
|
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Markey Robinson (1818-1999)
VILLAGE IN WINTER, circa 1950s
Signature: signed lower left
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 41 by 52cm., 16 by 20.5in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 181
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€10000-15000
Price Realised:
€11000 |
|
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John B. Vallely (b.1941)
LANCE ARMSTRONG, THE YELLOW JERSEY
Signature: signed with initials lower right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 30 by 25cm., 12 by 10in.
Provenance: Taylor Gallery, Belfast; Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 182
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€8000-10000
Price Realised:
€8500 |
|
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Graham Knuttel (b.1954)
SAILOR WITH ACCORDION
Signature: signed lower right
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 91 by 122cm., 36 by 48in.
Provenance: Purchased by the present owner in 1991
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 183
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€6000 |
|
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Neil Shawcross RHA RUA (b.1940)
WINE BOTTLE AND GOBLETS WITH BOWL OF APPLES, 1996
Signature: signed and dated lower right
Medium: acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 67 by 91cm., 26.5 by 36in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 184
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€6000-8000
Price Realised:
€6800 |
|
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Neil Shawcross RHA RUA (b.1940)
THE HOMES OF DONEGAL - GUITAR AND SHEET MUSIC, 2002
Signature: signed and dated lower right
Medium: watercolour and charcoal
Dimensions: 44 by 64cm., 17.2 5 by 25in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 185
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€5000-7000
Price Realised:
€5000 |
|
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Gene Lambert RHA (b.1952)
ACROBATS, 2007
Signature: signed and dated lower centre
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions: 61 by 46cm., 24 by 18in.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Literature: |
Lot
No.: 186
Auction Date:
26 November 2007
Published Estimate:
€3000-4000
Price Realised:
€3000 |
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| 38 Molesworth Street,
Dublin 2, Ireland |
Tel: +353 (0)1
676 2888 Fax:+353 (0)1 676 2880 |
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