DUBLIN.- Whyte’swill present a diverse selection of Irish and International Art. On 29 September at the RDS where some of the biggest names in art history will be made available to shrewd collectors. The sale presents an opportunity for investment in the ever growing market as well as pleasure in outstanding works of art. Viewing for this auction takes place from 27 to 29 September at the RDS.
A stunning landscape by Paul Henry captures the artist’s favoured subject matter, Connemara. Purchased by the previous owner while travelling around Ireland in 1938, In The West Of Ireland, c. 1938 [lot 22, €45,000-€55,000], is an example of Henry’s later works. With the sky dominating the composition, the work contains all of the characteristics of this particular period in the artist’s career such as crisp colouring and briskly executed sky. Most likely working from previously carried out sketches, Henry completed the work in his studio. While it is not possible to identify the exact location of the scene it may be the landscape around Maam in Connemara.
The previously unrecorded portrait of Lady In Green, (Mrs. Cara H.), 1903 [lot 35, €20,000-€30,000] by Sir John Lavery is a testimony of the artist’s friendship with the American artist James McNeill Whistler. Some of Lavery's subtlest and most evocative portraits were painted as a result of this friendship.
It is not a detailed study of the sitter, which is one of the reasons her identity still remains a mystery, but rather a composition of harmonious tones and colours, which gives the piece its title Lady In Green.
The inimitable style of William Conor has been of consistent appeal to prudent art aficionados. His reputation as one of the leading recorders of life in Belfast and its environs is reinforced in his oil, Pulling for Shore [Lot 21, €18,000-€22,000] which typifies his style and subject. A smaller example of his style and ability to capture a fleeting chat in a Belfast street is depicted in Ten Minutes Craic [Lot 20, €2,000-€3,000].
Northern Irish artists continue to attract bidders with high prices paid recently for Daniel O’Neill in particular. This sale includes an intimate Studio Interior by O’Neill depicting the artist about to embark on painting two beautiful female models, [lot 64, €30,000-€40,000]. His friends and fellow artists Gerard Dillon, George Campbell and Arthur Armstrong also feature in the sale. Dillon, with one of his sand paintings, an experimental phase he was most excited by and proud of; Island Formation, West of Ireland [lot 64, €3,000-€5,000]; Armstrong with a pleasing Still Life with Pots [lot 61, €2,000-€3,000] and Campbell with Hot Chestnut Seller, [lot 57, €3,000-€4,000] and Spanish Market [lot 56, €800-€1,000].
Louis le Brocquy’s oeuvre of the 1970s is represented this autumn by an example from one of his most important bodies of work, the head series. Head (With Spectacles), 1971, [lot 72, €25,000-€35,000] represents the artist’s reaction, through his art, of the outbreak of civil warfare in the North of Ireland in 1969. The artist’s biographer Dorothy Walker wrote, “…and in the context of that war, le Brocquy's painting of the anguished individual reaches an intensity of expression that carried his work onto an even more powerful level of art”
Lot 81 (€10,000-€12,000) features a set of ten limited edition of sreenprints and lithographs of the famous Ned Kelly series by Australian born artist Sir Sidney Robert Nolan. Nolan's fascination with Ned Kelly, an Australian bushranger with Irish descent, developed from stories told by his grandfather, a trooper responsible for capturing the outlaw in 1880. Nolan was the first to successfully depict the harsh conditions of the Australian landscape, a task not easily achieved. The series follows key events of the Kelly story depicting scenes such as the bushrangers encounter with the authorities, the questioning and Kelly practising shooting. Nolan’s simplified and almost naïve depiction of Kelly in his armour has become an iconic Australian image.
Over 20 lots in the sale comprise The Taylor Collection. The Taylor Gallery, Belfast (in administration) was one of the leading art galleries in Northern Ireland and had established a reputation, not just for Irish paintings and sculpture, but also for works by international artists such as Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Joan Miró, and, more recently, in street artists such as Banksy all of which are included in this sale. For lovers of the avant-garde, works by Spanish surrealist and abstract expressionist Joan Miró presents a perfect opportunity to acquire pieces by an artist whose legacy withstood the changing market. His watercolour, Le Courtisan Grotesque (No. 6), 1965 [lot 101, €60,000 - €80,000]is inspired by a satirical play about the court of Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu.
