THE LAND ÉIRE, 1940
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
Thence by family descent
‘Irish Tourist Board Exhibition’, New York, 9-28 October 1976, catalogue no. 9;
‘Land/Eire’, Boston College, Massachusetts, 2002
Ernie O’Malley used to loan paintings under his alias Bernard Stewart as that was the name he gave to the British authorities when he was being cross-examined by them in Kilkenny and Dublin C...Read more
Ernie O’Malley used to loan paintings under his alias Bernard Stewart as that was the name he gave to the British authorities when he was being cross-examined by them in Kilkenny and Dublin Castle in December 1920.
At first glance Éire is a typical late-Jellett abstract composition but a closer look reveals the clever use of illusionistic space within the painting. Jellett delivers the Cubist aim of a flattened-out picture plane, particularly at the centre of the picture. Into this she masterfully inserts passages of three-dimensional space, such as those that describe the cottage at the centre-right and mountain peaks at the top. This has the effect of creating optical shifts where the eye moves in and out of the abstract and figurative planes. This optical shifting also functions to create visual puns where the audience can play the game of identifying some of the symbols that might describe Ireland: the cottages of the west, the mountains of the south, the waves of the Atlantic, the rain-laden clouds, the green fields or the Irish Harp.
By the time Mainie Jellett painted this picture she was the acknowledged doyenne of Irish modernism. Following her studies under masters in Paris in the early 1920s, she returned to Ireland and exhibited works of pure abstraction that attracted almost universal derision. This merely served to strengthen her resolve and she proselytised for modern art: teaching students from her studio, giving lectures, engaging in public debates; all the while developing her personal style alongside the artists Evie Hone and Albert Gleizes. All three were deeply devout people, and from the mid-20s she began to integrate religious images into otherwise purely abstract compositions. Her stylised crucifixions, depositions and other scenes used the art that was most recognisable and available to the ordinary people of Ireland (e.g. in churches) and married it to contemporary developments in Modernism. This had the effect of making abstract art more intelligible to an Irish audience.
Her desire to communicate to a wide audience meant that within a decade her work was embraced by the Irish establishment. Although the government under de Valera is most commonly associated with the realism of Seán Keating, they also recognised the value of appearing ‘Modern’ and outward-looking on a world stage and in 1939 chose Jellett and Hone, among others, to represent Ireland at the New York World’s Fair. This political alignment is relevant to a reading of this picture because alongside its playfulness it has a serious tone. Éire is a telling title for Jellett to use for it is not the merely descriptive ‘Ireland’ nor the poetic ‘Hibernia’ but after 1937 it denoted the political name of the new state. In 1940 when this work was painted that nation was in a state of emergency and the outcome of the war far from certain. Éire is a picture of a land under siege surrounded by stormy seas and foreign foes. This gives poignancy to the devices used by the artist for the very existence of the way of life that they symbolised was under threat.
Seán Kissane
Curator of Exhibitions, IMMA
- Auction Details
- T&Cs
- Bidding
The collection grossed €5.5 million, the highest result for an art auction in Ireland, including record breaking realisations for several works.
Clause 1
(a) Each lot is put up subject to any reserve price imposed by the vendor
(b) Subject to sub-clause (a) of this clause, the highest bidder for each lot shall be the purchaser thereof
(c) If any dispute arises as to the highest bidder the auctioneer shall have absolute discretion to determine the dispute and may put up again and re-sell the lot in respect of which the dispute arises.
Clause 2
(a) The bidding and advances shall be regulated by and at the absolute discretion of the auctioneer and he shall have the right to refuse any bid or bids. NOTE: Where an agent bids, even on behalf of a disclosed client, the auctioneer nevertheless has the right at his discretion to refuse any such bid.
(b) The purchaser of each lot shall immediately on its sale, if required by the auctioneer, give him the name and address of the purchaser and pay to the auctioneer at his discretion the whole or part of the purchase money. If the purchaser of any lot fails to comply with any such requirement the auctioneer may put up again and re-sell the lot; if upon such re-sale a lower price is obtained than was obtained on the first sale the purchaser in default on the first sale shall make good the difference in price and expenses of re-sale which shall become a debt due from him.
(c) Where an agent purchases on behalf of an undisclosed client such agent shall be personally liable for payment of the purchase money to the auctioneer and for safe delivery of the lot to the said client.
Clause 3
(a) The auctioneer reserves the rights to bid on behalf of clients including vendors, but shall not be liable for errors or omissions in executing instructions to bid.
(b) The auctioneer reserves the rights, before or during a sale, to group together lots belonging to the same vendor, to split up and to withdraw any lot or lots at the auctioneer's absolute discretion and without giving any reason in any case.
(c) The auctioneer acts as agent only, and therefore shall not be liable for any default of the purchaser or vendor.
Clause 4
(a) Each lot shall be at the purchaser's risk from the fall of the hammer and shall be paid for in full before delivery and taken away at his expense within one day of the sale. The buyer will be responsible for all removal, storage and insurance charges in respect of any lot which has not been collected within one day of the date of sale. (b) If any purchaser fails to pay in full for any lot within 21 days of the date of sale such lot may at any time thereafter at the auctioneer's discretion be put up for sale by auction again or sold privately; if upon such re-sale a lower price is obtained than was obtained on the first sale the purchaser in default on the first sale shall make good the difference in price and the expenses of re-sale which shall become debt due from him. (c) Interest at 2 per cent per month and legal costs (if any) for recovery of monies due shall be payable by the purchaser on any overdue account.
Clause 5
(a) All lots are made available for inspection before each sale and each buyer, by making a bid, acknowledges that he has satisfied himself as to the physical condition, age and catalogue description of each lot (including but not restricted to whether the lot is damaged or has been repaired or restored).
(b) All lots are sold with all faults and imperfections and errors of description and the Auctioneer and its employees, servants or agents shall not be responsible for any error of description or for the condition or authenticity of any lot, save for Clause 5 (c) below. Written or verbal condition reports may be supplied by the Auctioneer on request but these are merely statements of opinion, and any error or omission in these reports may not be taken as grounds for a cancellation of sale or refund of any part of the purchase price or the cost of any repairs to the lot or lots reported on
(c) A purchaser shall be at liberty to reject any lot if he - (i) gives the auctioneer written notice of intention to question the genuineness of the lot within seven days from the date of sale; AND (ii) proves that the lot is a deliberate forgery and (iii) returns to the auctioneer within 20 days from the date of sale the lot in the same condition as it was at the time of sale; provided that the auctioneer may, at his discretion, on receiving a request in writing from the purchaser, extend for a reasonable period the time for return of the lot to enable it to be submitted to expertisation. NOTE: The onus of proving a lot to be a deliberate forgery is on the purchaser.
(d) Where a lot has been submitted to expertisation, all costs of such expertisation shall be paid by the person who retains the certificate of expertisation and item or items to which the certificate relates.
(e) Where the purchaser of a lot discharges the onus and acts in accordance with sub-clause (b) of this clause, the auctioneer shall rescind the sale and repay to the purchaser the purchase money paid by him in respect of the lot.
(f) No lot shall be rejected if, subsequent to the sale, it has been marked by an expert committee or treated by any other process unless the auctioneer's permission to subject the lot to such treatment has first been obtained in writing.
(g) Any lot listed as a "collection, range, portfolio etc." or stated to comprise or contain a collection or range of items which are not described shall be put up for sale not subject to rejection and shall be taken by the purchaser with all (if any) faults, lack of genuineness and errors of description and numbers of items in the lot, and the purchaser shall have no right to reject the lot; except that, notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this sub-clause, where before a sale a person intending to bid at the sale gives notice in writing to, and satisfies the auctioneer that any such lot contains any item or items undescribed in the sale catalogue and that person specifically describes that item or those items in that notice, then that item or those items shall, as between the auctioneer and that person, to be taken to form part of the description of the lot.
Clause 6
The respective rights and obligations of the parties shall be governed and interpreted by Irish law, and the buyer hereby submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish Courts.
Special Conditions
a) The buyer shall pay the Auctioneer a commission at the rate of 20% up to and including €3 million, and 13.5% of that part of the hammer price over €3 million. The Buyer's Premium is added to the hammer price of all lots and is subject to VAT at the prevailing rate.
(b) The Auctioneer or its employees, servants or agents may, on request organise packing and shipping of lots purchased or may order on the buyer's behalf third parties to pack or ship purchases. Under no circumstances does the Auctioneer accept any liability whatsoever for any loss or damage howsoever occasioned in the course of such service.
(c) The buyer authorises the Auctioneer to use any photographs or illustrations of any lot purchased for any or all purposes as the Auctioneer may require. The placing of a bid will be taken as full agreement to all the above conditions.
WHYTE AND SONS AUCTIONEERS LIMITED, 2018.
TIMED ONLINE AUCTIONS:
Timed auctions don’t have an auctioneer calling the bids – there’s just a bidding time frame and whoever bids highest during the time frame wins.
Each lot can be bid on for a defined time period. At the end of this period, the bidder who has submitted the highest bid wins the lot, provided the bid exceeds the reserve price.
You tell us the most you’re willing to pay – and we’ll bid intelligently for you, only bidding enough for you to meet the reserve or stay in the lead.
Don’t worry, your maximum bid is not disclosed, and is held in confidence on our bidding system. If someone bids higher than your ‘maximum’, we will send you an 'outbid alert' via email to let you know, so you can decide whether to bid more.
You'll know it's a timed auction as the end time will be displaced on the lot page. If a bid is placed in the last 5 minutes of the defined time period, the time period will be extended by 5 minutes.
More details:
Before the auction starts you can leave bids – your top bid is not revealed, and your bid will start at one step above the previous bid or at the start price if no other bid. You will be notified by email if you get outbid before the auction starts. Once the auction starts - on 16 December at 6pm - email notifications cease and you should follow the auction on-line to see how your bids are doing.
When the auction starts: The bidding for each lot is opened for 45 seconds at a start price determined by the reserve or bids already received. Each lot will be open and remain open for bidding until its end time is reached; the end time will be extended by 2 minutes if another bid is received.
During this period of open bidding you will be able to see the current highest bid on each lot. You may place a higher bid at the defined bidding increment you choose. Bidders are automatically informed by email if they are the winning bidder, or if they have been outbid by another competing bidder.
At the end time, if there are no further bids and the highest bid offered equals or exceeds the reserve price the lot is sold.
How to bid:
· Log in or register at www.bid.whytes.ie
· Visit the timed online auction catalogue
· Find the lot number you are interested in
· Place your maximum bid which will be kept secret by the system, the current highest bid will be displayed
· The minimum bid required to beat the highest bid will also be shown
· When you place your maximum bid, the system will automatically bid for you – only enough to meet the reserve or to stay in the lead, up to your maximum if necessary
Example: Bidder A leaves a maximum bid of €100, bidder B leaves a maximum bid of €200 on the same lot. Bidder B then has the winning bid unless another bid that beats B’s maximum is received before the end time.
· If you are outbid you will be notified immediately by email. You have up to the end time to counter bid
· To increase your bid, simply log in and increase your bid
· When the timed auction finishes, winning bidders will be notified by email. The timed lots will close at the specified date and time and will close in chronological order with 1 minute between each lot before it closes
A FEW TIPS FOR ABSENTEE BIDDERS:
Bid the maximum price you would pay for the lot; we will try and secure the lot for you at the lowest possible price. For instance if you bid €2,000 on a lot and the highest other bid we receive is €1,200 you get it for €1,250.
Most people tend to bid in round numbers, e.g. €500. It’s often a good idea to bid an odd number, e.g. €520, or €540 which will outbid an even number.
Check the results the day after the sale: these are published on our website www.whytes.ie at about 10am on the day after the sale. Successful bidders are also notified of results by mail.
TIE BIDS: if two or more equal bids are received the lot will be sold to the first called by the auctioneer.
Buyers Premium of 20% plus VAT (24.6% in total) will be added to your winning bid amount. Your invoice will detail all the payment, collection and shipping particulars. There is no additional fee for bidding online with Whyte's
HELP?
Live Chat is also available on our website. For technical help during the auction call +44 2039234629
BIDDING STEPS:
Up to €100 x €5
Up to €300 x€10
Up to €500 x €20
Up to €1,200 x €50
Up to €3,000 x €100
Up to €7,000 x €200
Up to €13,000 x €500
Up to €30,000 x €1,000
Up to €40,000 x €2,000
Up to €70,000 x €2,000
Up to €130,000 x €5,000
Up to 500,000 x €10,000
And 10% thereafter
Due to Government regulations and guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 there will be no room bidding at this auction. So here is how you can bid:
YOU CAN LEAVE BIDS OR BID LIVE ON THE INTERNET - all our sales are broadcast live with video and audio at NO EXTRA COST to buyers. Register using www.bid.whytes.ie or follow the link to LIVE BIDDING. For a guide to bidding online click here.
YOU CAN BID LIVE ON THE TELEPHONE: (on lots with a low estimate of €1,000+ only) We will telephone you on lots you are interested in and you can bid live over the phone during the auction. This service is offered subject to availability of lines and we accept no responsibility whatsoever for not being able to contact clients during the auction for any reason, be it technical difficulty or otherwise.
YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR BIDS FOR US TO PLACE – please use the bidding form provided. You can fill it in and leave it with our staff or email it in to our office – preferably at the very least an hour before the sale starts. Our staff will be happy to help you with this.
YOU CAN E-MAIL BIDS to bids@whytes.ie You will need to include your full name and address and telephone number as well as photo id and proof of address - a driver's licence will cover both requirements.
A FEW TIPS FOR ABSENTEE BIDDERS:
Bid the maximum price you would pay for the lot; we will try and secure the lot for you at the lowest possible price. For instance if you bid €2,000 on a lot and the highest other bid we receive is €1,200 you get it for €1,250.
Most people tend to bid in round numbers, e.g. €500. It’s often a good idea to bid an odd number, e.g. €520, or €540 which will outbid an even number.
Check the results the day after the sale: these are published on our website www.whytes.ie at about 10am on the day after the sale. Successful bidders are also notified of results by mail.
TIE BIDS: if two or more equal bids are received the lot will be sold to the first called by the auctioneer.
Buyers Premium of 20% plus VAT (24.2% in total) will be added to your winning bid amount. Your invoice will detail all the payment, collection and shipping particulars.
HELP?
Live Chat is also available on our website.
BIDDING STEPS:
Up to €100 x €5
Up to €300 x€10
Up to €700 x €20
Up to €1,300 x €50
Up to €3,000 x €100
Up to €7,000 x €200
Up to €13,000 x €500
Up to €30,000 x €1,000
Up to €40,000 x €2,000
Up to €70,000 x €2,000
Up to €130,000 x €5,000
Up to 500,000 x €10,000
And 10% thereafter