Some of the most significant female figures in Irish modernism, including Mainie Jellett and Mary Swanzy, will feature in Bonhams’ upcoming Irish art sale.
The Vision and Voice auction, to be held on December 5th, includes 20 works by Norah McGuinness (1901-1980), including an unusual seascape of Dublin Bay (€10,000-€15,000), and Snow on the Hills, Rockbrook, County Dublin (€10,000-€15,000).
There are also works by Mary Swanzy and Mainie Jellett, both of whom were among Ireland’s first abstract painters, including South of France landscape by Mary Swanzy (estimate €20,000-30,000), and Composition by Mainie Jellett (estimate €15,000-€20,000). All three artists were pioneers of a national avant-garde and were strong supporters of modern art in Ireland. Jellett and McGuinness were co-founders of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1944, which was formed in opposition to the dominance of more traditional institutions such as the Royal Hibernian Academy. As noted in the auction notes, interest among collectors has increased significantly over the past 20 years for Irish female artists.
Further choice will be found at Whyte’s Irish and International Art on December 2nd.
Ian Whyte of Whyte’s estimates that about 60 per cent of the works for auction are new to the market, as there are no previous sales records for these pieces.
“When we take in work from collectors, we publish their provenance and we have some interesting works, which were gifts from the artist to family members of the present owners,” he says.
One such painting is Walter Osborne’s Girl Feeding a Tortoise Cat, painted in 1897 (€60,000-€80,000). In the catalogue notes, Dr Julian Campbell explains that Walter Osborne excelled at painting children and animals. “He was the son of an animal painter, William Osborne, and pet dogs and cats were an important part of the family household, providing inspiration for many notable pictures,” writes Campbell. The George Russell painting Children Playing in a Wood (€8,000-€12,000), was also gifted by the artist to the present owner.
There are plenty of landscapes and seascapes too. John Lavery’s The Turquoise Sea Mimizan, 1917, with an estimate of €60,000-€70,000, is particularly pleasing. Other such works include those by Edwin Hayes, William Percy French, Frank McKelvey, James Hubert Craig, Paul Henry, Arthur Armstrong and Letitia Marion Hamilton – her Rainbow and Cottages has an estimate of €1,500-€2,000.
Whyte is also keen to point to “a nice selection of sculpture” in the current auction, with works by living Irish sculptors including Sandra Bell, Linda Brunker, John Coen, Rowan Gillespie, John Coll and others.
James O’Halloran from Adam’s is particularly excited about the paintings from the Jacqueline and Vincent O’Brien collection in Adam’s Important Irish Art auction on Wednesday, December 4th.
The auction has four Jack B Yeats oil paintings including Horseman (1947), He Reads (1953) and The Window with a View over the Town (1951), which were owned by the Co Tipperary horse trainer and Jacqueline O’Brien, a photographer and writer. The paintings hung in the couple’s home, Ballydoyle House, from the 1970s until O’Brien retired from training, after which they were on loan to the National Gallery of Ireland.
Jack B Yeats painted more than 670 oil paintings from 1941-1955 – the most prolific years of his career. And in 1945, when Yeats was 74, a big exhibition of his work, The Jack B Yeats National Loan Exhibition, was held in Dublin at the same time as the publication of the book Jack B Yeats: An Appreciation and an Interpretation, by Irish poet and critic Thomas MacGreevy.
Also for sale at Adam’s are 39 works owned by the late American appeals court judge, Hon Francis D Murnaghan jnr. Murnaghan, from Baltimore, was a nephew of James Augustine Murnaghan, who served on the Supreme Court of Ireland and was a trustee of the National Gallery of Ireland.
The collection includes The Cello Player by Leo Whelan (1892-1956) (€20,000-€30,000); and The Christening Party by Aloysius O’Kelly (1853-1936), with an estimate of €10,000-€15,000. O’Kelly was one of the first Irish artists to study at L’École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He was also one of the first Irish artists to discover the landscape and people of Brittany, which later became a popular destination for many other artists from throughout Europe. This painting was exhibited in the Irish Impressionists exhibition at the National Gallery in 1984. The Adam’s auction also has an interesting selection of sculptures, including those by Orla de Brí, Hilary Heron, Edward Delaney and Conor Fallon.
Another artist of note is Sarah Cecilia Harrison (1863-1941), whose self-portrait is on sale (€6,000-€8,000) at Adam’s auction. Harrison, a leading portrait painter of her generation, was also the first female to be elected to Dublin Corporation (now Dublin City Council). She passionately championed the rights of Dublin’s underprivileged, while also being a fervent advocate for the arts, campaigning for a modern art gallery to house the art collection of Hugh Lane.
bonhams.com, whytes.ie, adams.ie
What did it sell for?
Rescued by Martin Gale
Estimate €10,000-€15,000
Hammer price €19,000
Auction house deVeres
Footbridge at Seapoint, 2001 by Donald Teskey
Estimate €20,000-€30,000
Hammer price Not sold
Auction house deVeres
Winged Figure by Sonja Landweer
Estimate €3,000-€5,000
Hammer price €3,000
Auction house deVeres
The Red Bogs by Camille Souter
Estimate €3,000-€5,000
Hammer price €3,800
Auction house deVeres
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