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Superlative Masterpieces From Around The World
Resurface At Sotheby’s Annual Irish Sale
Sir John Lavery, A Lady in Brown, Estimate £100,000‐150,000 / €117,000‐175,000*
SOTHEBY’S SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL IRISH SALE in London, to take place on Tuesday, 29 March,
2011, brings together exceptional masterpieces by eminent Irish artists. The group of works, many
never before offered on the market, boasts superb and rare pictures by John Lavery, Roderic O’Conor
and Mary Swanzy. Louis le Brocquy is represented with thirteen works that span his career, and a
selection by today’s most sought after Irish artists, including Basil Blackshaw, John Shinnors, William
Scott, Colin Middleton and Sean Scully, complete a sale that draws attention to the richness of
Ireland’s longstanding artistic output.
John Laveryʹs portrait of Lady Gwendoline Churchill, A Lady in Brown, comes to auction for the first
time in its history, from a private collection in the UK. Passed down through the generations
following its purchase in 1921, the painting was probably executed during the summer of 1915.
Between the closing years of the nineteenth century and the end of the First World War, Lavery
produced a series of canvases that were essentially studies in brown. He had observed the muted
harmonies of brown and black in Velazquezʹ work, and intuited the aesthetic power of such a scheme
when applied to portraiture. Lady Gwendoline was noted by a contemporary to possess a ʹsubtle
twilight beautyʹ and the present picture, produced at the threshold of the Jazz Age, is a summation of
Laveryʹs essential concerns as a painter during this period: an acute and Whisterian sense of colour, an
sublime exploitation of the compelling gaze of the female sitter, and a subtle handling of paintwork. A
Lady in Brown is estimated at £100,000‐150,000 (€117,000‐175,000).
fishing port on the Bouches du Rhône, it dates to one of
rejuvenating effect on the artist, who found himself in the
peaks of the imposing limestone cliffs of Le Cap Canail.
scumbled surface that vividly approximates the parched landscape. The unusual portrait format is
cleverly resolved by dividing the composition into broad horizontal zones of colour, each bounded by
edges that form an up arrow, mirroring the shape of the mountain. The colouration of Gauguin is
evident here; the two artists had formed a friendship in 1894, just a year after Gauguin returned from
his first trip to the South Seas. On seeing OʹConorʹs submission of six canvases to the 1913 Salon
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dʹAutomne exhibition, the poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire singled out OʹConorʹs preservation of
the tradition handed down to him by Gauguin. It is possible to surmise that the Irish artistʹs
landscapes exhibited the same yearning for an earthly paradise, and Landscape, Cassis, estimated at
£120,000‐180,000 (€140,000‐210,000), is one of the most accomplished of his works to appear at auction.
The sale will offer a work by one of the most important
female Irish artists. Sunlit Landscape by Mary Swanzy is
a dazzling modernist painting by one of the first artists
in Ireland to embrace the experimental and innovative
93,500), it is one of Swanzyʹs most accomplished cubist
landscapes ever to appear at auction. It encapsulates all
the best aspects of her work, from the warmth of the
colour palette, the sophisticated flow of the composition through to the command of shape and form.
Swanzy achieved international recognition during her long life, and early in her career she had lived
in Paris, witnessing the groundbreaking artistic developments of the first decade of the twentieth
century. The present workʹs bright colours and curved, architectonic forms show the influences of
artists of this period. However, Sunlit Landscape is part of a series of lyrical Provencal cubist
landscapes produced following a stay at Grasse in the South of France in the winter of 1926‐1927.
Daniel OʹNeill is represented in the sale with one of the most
expressive and affecting works by the artist to ever appear at
auction. On Reading Dear Theo is a portrait of Vincent van
Gogh. The Dutch artist is instantly recognisable here from his
own self portraits, and OʹNeill deftly captures the strong brow,
50,000 (€35,000‐58,500), On Reading Dear Theo conveys a pathos
that suggests a kinship with the artist, and indeed OʹNeill would once more reference van Gogh
during his career.
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Louis le Brocquy is Irelandʹs most distinguished
1978, and the series of images of him produced
verisimilitude, le Brocquy sought to capture the
powerful imagery of the present work. A testament to le Brocquyʹs extraordinary ability as an artist,
Image of Samuel Beckett has the same striking immediacy as the day it was painted almost thirty years
ago.
Further works by le Brocquy include Study (Man with a Towel)
from the artistʹs seminal ʹGrey Periodʹ, executed in 1951 and
Laussel Venus (Opus 708) from a series of works known as ʹHuman
Imagesʹ that span from 1996 to 2004 (est. £40,000‐60,000 / €46,600‐
the sombre, monochrome tones of his ʹGrey Periodʹ, and pre‐
empted his ʹWhite Paintingsʹ in which he exploits his formal
93,500); and several still lifes of fruit and flowers with estimates
series in pen, ink and watercolour, conveys an intimacy and vitality as engaging as the works in oil
(est. £18,000‐25,000 / €21,000‐29,100).
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A group of four still lifes by William Scott includes Double Grey
Fish Still Life, an oil on canvas dated 1982 that is suffused with
an elegant minimalism. The still life consumed Scott throughout
his career; his execution and innovative play with form and
the present work, he uses a paired down colour palette to
represent the dead fish, plate and pan, with the pan’s earthy red
estimated at £60,000‐80,000 / €70,000‐93,500.
greatest living artists, and Red Dog with Muzzle, an oil
the people and animals that populate it. Mars, Hearted
Scarecrow and Birds by John Shinnors dates from 2009‐2011 and displays the bold abstract style the
artist is so well known for today (est. £20,000‐30,000 / €23,300‐35,000). Shinnorsʹ recent works are
among his most accomplished, and the present oil on linen is a rich tapestry of colours, textures and
interplaying shapes. While non‐representational on the surface, the painting remains rooted in reality
and rewards the viewer with its inventive and thoughtful vocabulary, with the sources of inspiration
provided by the title of the work. William Crozier and Hughie O’Donoghue also feature, with The
Standing Stone (est. £25,000‐35,000 / €29,100‐40,800) and Parable of the Dutiful Son (est. £7,000‐10,000 /
€8,200‐11,700) respectively.
Further works by the great Irish masters include The Child of the Sea by Jack Butler Yeats (est. £100,000‐
150,000 / €117,000‐175,000) and Street Corner Shop by Colin Middleton (est. £20,000‐30,000 / €23,300‐
35,000).
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Viewing in Ireland
Location:
Lismore Castle Arts, Co. Waterford
Saturday 5 March, 10am – 6pm
Sunday 6 March, 10am – 3pm
Location:
Sotheby’s, 16 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2
Tuesday 8 March, 10am – 5pm
Wednesday 9 March, 10am – 5pm
Location:
The Belfast Waterfront Hall, Gallery Level 2, Lanyon Place
Friday 11 March, 10am – 5pm
Saturday 12 March, 10am – 5pm
Viewing in London
Location:
Sotheby’s, 35‐35 New Bond Street, W1A 2AA
Thursday 24 March, 9am – 4.30pm
Friday 25 March, 9am – 4.30pm
Sunday 27 March, Noon – 5pm
Monday 28 March, 9am – 4.30pm
Auction in London
Tuesday 29 March at 11am
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium