Irish Art

Two pictures purchased from one of the first commercial exhibitions of the artist dubbed ‘the Irish Alfred Wallis’ soared above their estimates at auction this month.

Private domestic demand rather than trade drives bidding at Scottish and Irish art auctions.

Cubist work by often-overlooked artist fuels keen bidding before heading to California.

A near sell-out show at The Redfern Gallery in London in 1963 immediately established Patrick Procktor (1936-2003), the Dublin-born painter, as a star of the London art scene at the age of just 27.

Works by the Irish artist Paul Henry (1877-1958) appear frequently in Irish and UK salerooms but it is far more unusual for a painting by the Belfast-born painter – whose favoured subject matter was views of the west of Ireland – to emerge in Australia.

Pittsburgh entrepreneur Joseph Calihan and his wife Brenda bought their first piece of Irish art – an oil by Paul Henry – in the early 1990s.

Gracing the catalogue cover of Whyte’s Irish & International Art auction in Dublin on October 1 is this work by Séan Keating (1889-1977).

“Isn’t it possible that the Irish could be just as brilliant in the visual arts as they have been in music and literature?”

Though their output was dwarfed by their male counterparts, talented 20th century Irish female artists pack a punch in the saleroom when their art does appear at auction.

John Magnier, the Irish horse breeder and art collector, reportedly made a five-fold return on his Amadeo Modigliani reclining nude when it sold at Sotheby’s New York last month for $139m (£102.2m).

Among Horace Hone’s (1756-1825) most renowned depictions was the 18th century actress Sarah Siddons.

Like Romeo and Juliet, Hellelil and Hildebrand’s relationship was doomed from the start.

The work of Dublin painter Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) is strengthening after the value of his work went spiralling downwards at the height of the Celtic Tiger crash nearly a decade ago.

The sale of the Yeats collection at Sotheby’s in London brought mixed results: the highest estimated lot failed to sell but strong competition emerged elsewhere.