Mainie Jellett
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An abstract and figure painter, Jellett started to take watercolour lessons as a young girl, later working under Sarah Cecilia Harrison and May Manning. She entered the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art in 1914 while William Orpen was teaching there. Three years later she went to study at the Westminster Art School in London with Walter Sickert. It was there that she met Evie Hone who became a life-long friend. In 1920 she won the Taylor Scholarship and this money allowed her to travel to Paris with Hone where they worked in Andrι Lhotes studio. Here they got their first taste of Cubism, however, after a while they both decided to move into the realm of pure abstract painting and transferred to work with Albert Gleizes. On her return to Ireland, Jellett continued to visit him during the summer for the next ten years. In Dublin she gave painting lessons from her home and began to exhibit her cubist paintings which received hostile criticism from George Russell. During the 1920s she exhibited regularly at the Dublin Painters Gallery while also showing at several exhibitions in Paris. Her art developed a greater realism in the 1930s and also became more religious in subject matter. She exhibited at the RHA from 1930 to 1937 while at the same time contributing to the Watercolour Society of Ireland until 1943. She became a leader in the modern movement in Ireland and joined the avant-garde group of painters, the White Stag in 1940, regularly lecturing and exhibiting with them. She exhibited in the first ever Irish Exhibition of Living Art where she had been appointed chairman but was unable to attend as she fell ill and died a short time later. Her works are in all the major Irish collections. The highest price and world record for her oeuvre was recently reached in May 2025 in Whytes with a winning bid of 210,000 for her Achill Horses, 1933, oil on canvas. (whytes.ie)
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'ACHILL HORSES, 1933'
- Price Realised: 210,000
- Sale: 26 May 2025
- oil on canvas
- 36 x 26in. (91.44 x 66.04cm)
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'THE LAND ΙIRE, 1940'
- Price Realised: 110,000
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- oil on canvas
- 24½ x 29½in. (62.23 x 74.93cm)
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'TWO ELEMENTS, 1924'
- Price Realised: 40,000
- Sale: 28 November 2006
- oil on canvas
- 85 by 66cm., 33.5 by 26in.
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'PAINTING, 1930'
- Price Realised: 36,000
- Sale: 28 September 2020
- oil on canvas
- 30 x 36in. (76.20 x 91.44cm)
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'NUDE IN LANDSCAPE, circa 1921'
- Price Realised: 35,000
- Sale: 30 April 2007
- oil on canvas
- 51 by 66cm., 20 by 26in.
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'DEATH OF PROCRIS, 1929'
- Price Realised: 32,000
- Sale: 25 November 2013
- oil on canvas
- 27 by 47in., 67.5 by 117.5cm.
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'ABSTRACT COMPOSITION, c.1929'
- Price Realised: 27,000
- Sale: 04 December 2023
- gouache
- 18 x 11in. (45.72 x 27.94cm)
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'ABSTRACT COMPOSITION'
- Price Realised: 15,000
- Sale: 28 November 2022
- gouache
- 18 x 15½in. (45.72 x 39.37cm)
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'ABSTRACT DESIGN'
- Price Realised: 15,000
- Sale: 04 March 2019
- gouache
- 26½ x 14in. (67.31 x 35.56cm)
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'BETTY ON THE ROCKS, 1919'
- Price Realised: 11,500
- Sale: 28 September 2015
- oil on canvas
- 20 x 16in. (50.80 x 40.64cm)
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'ABSTRACT, circa 1924-26'
- Price Realised: 8,500
- Sale: 19 February 2007
- gouache on paper mounted on board
- 23 by 12cm., 9.25 by 4.75in.
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'BABBIN AND BETTY, FITZWILLIAM SQUARE'
- Price Realised: 8,400
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- watercolour on paper
- 25 by 22cm., 9.75 by 8.5in.
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'ΑVILA, SPAIN, c.1920s'
- Price Realised: 8,000
- Sale: 06 March 2023
- oil on board
- 11½ x 14in. (29.21 x 35.56cm)
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'ADORATION OF THE MADONNA AND CHILD'
- Price Realised: 8,000
- Sale: 19 September 2006
- tempera on panel
- 50 by 70cm., 19.5 by 27.5in.
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'ABSTRACT COMPOSITION, 1925'
- Price Realised: 7,000
- Sale: 30 November 2004
- watercolour and gouache over pencil
- 17 by 24cm., 6.5 by 9.5in.
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'WOMAN IN SUMMER HAT'
- Price Realised: 7,000
- Sale: 27 April 2004
- watercolour over pencil
- 19 by 15cm., 7.5 by 6in.
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'WATERFALL'
- Price Realised: 5,800
- Sale: 27 April 2004
- gouache on board
- 30 by 19cm., 12 by 7.5in.
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'THE CRUCIFIXION'
- Price Realised: 5,586
- Sale: 13 March 2001
- gouache on paper mounted on board
- 46 by 36cm., 18 by 14in.
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![ABSTRACT [22], 1924 by Mainie Jellett sold for 5,400 at Whyte's Auctions](/images/archive/20121001/142.jpg "ABSTRACT [22], 1924 by Mainie Jellett sold for 5,400 at Whyte's Auctions")
'ABSTRACT [22], 1924'
- Price Realised: 5,400
- Sale: 01 October 2012
- gouache on paper mounted on board
- 7 by 10.5in., 18 by 27cm.
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'CUBIST COMPOSITION'
- Price Realised: 5,200
- Sale: 26 September 2016
- gouache on card
- 12 x 8½in. (30.48 x 21.59cm)
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'STUDY FOR BOG AND SEA'
- Price Realised: 5,200
- Sale: 18 November 2003
- gouache on paper
- 27 by 36cm., 10.5 by 14.2in.
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'SEATED NUDE'
- Price Realised: 5,000
- Sale: 09 March 2020
- oil on canvas
- 16 x 12in. (40.64 x 30.48cm)
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'DESIGN FOR 'THE ROOF GARDEN', c.1938-1939'
- Price Realised: 5,000
- Sale: 29 May 2017
- gouache
- 10½ x 16in. (26.67 x 40.64cm)
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'ABSTRACT COMPOSITION (HOLY FAMILY)'
- Price Realised: 4,800
- Sale: 18 February 2003
- gouache over pencil on card
- 20 by 22cm., 8 by 8.5in.
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'STUDY FOR BOG AND SEA, 1940'
- Price Realised: 4,600
- Sale: 04 March 2024
- gouache
- 10½ x 14Όin. (26.67 x 36.20cm)
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'ABSTRACT COMPOSITION'
- Price Realised: 4,400
- Sale: 26 September 2016
- gouache
- 21 x 8Ύin. (53.34 x 22.23cm)
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'FIGURE COMPOSITION'
- Price Realised: 4,400
- Sale: 18 November 2003
- gouache
- 23 by 18cm., 9 by 7in.
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'AN ARTIST AT HER EASEL IN THE LIFE ROOM AT THE WESTMINSTER SCHOOL OF ART'
- Price Realised: 4,000
- Sale: 27 April 2004
- watercolour over pencil
- 23 by 18cm., 9 by 7in.