Why Irish artworks keep breaking records at auction
View Yeats At Of Adam Window The A B James 'the With By Jack Town'
The record for an Irish artwork sold in 2024 was broken three times in quick succession at Sotheby's and Christie's this month. It was a similar story on the global market. Expectations around sales of Irish art at Whyte's, James Adam and Bonhams next week are high.
First Orpen's portrait of Evelyn St George made £720,000 (€864,010) at Sotheby's, then by Orpen made £756,000 (€907,210) at Christie's followed later in the sale of the Hobart collection by O'Connell Bridge by Jack B Yeats which made £886,000 (€1,063,210).
The art market is proving to be robust in the face of two years of downturn and continuing global uncertainty. The global market breached the $100 million barrier only once this year when Magritte's surrealist masterpiece L'Empire des lumièresmade $105,000,000 ($121,160,000 with fees) at Christie's last week. The more conservative and resilient Irish market got a million euro-plus artwork in 2024.
On the home front, the combined top estimate of €2.5 million for the top four lots at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin next Wednesday (December 4) speaks volumes about the current state of the Irish art market. The four, three by Yeats and one by Orpen, are from the collection of Jacqueline and Vincent O'Brien. Horsemen,1947 (€500,000-€800,000), and He Reads a Book, 1952, (€500,000-€700,000) both feature horses, a subject by Yeats that is particularly prized by collectors.
There is much excitement around these works and no wonder. They are from the collection of Ireland's greatest trainer, voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll in 2003. Orpen's Old John's Cottage, Connemara is estimated at €300,000-€500,000 as is another Yeats from their collection, The Window with a View of the Town from 1951.
Paul Henry and Jack B Yeats share the top billing at Whyte's sale of Irish and International art in Dublin on Monday evening (December 2). by Paul Henry and by Yeats are each estimated at €100,000-€150,000. A self-portrait by Roderic O'Conor has an estimate of €70,000-€90,000.
The sale at Whyte's includes nine lots from the Bank of Ireland collection including Colin Middleton's from 1970 (€18,000-€22,000). There is art by Maurice MacGonigal, William Crozier, Michael Farrell and Peter Collis.
Amongst other lots Walter Osborne's is estimated at €60,000-€80,000 and the sale offers art by Nano Reid, Flora Mitchell, Letitia Hamilton and many more artists. The large sculpture section includes work by Rowan Gillespie, John Coll, Eamonn O'Doherty and Linda Brunker.
The Irish Sale: Vision and Voice online at Bonhams until December 5 features work by Sir John Lavery, Mainie Jellett, Mary Swanzy, John Doherty, Dan O'Neill and a collection of 20 works by Norah McGuinness consigned by her family.
In New York last week by Ed Ruscha sold for $68.5 million at Christie's. A monumental Water Lilies by Claude Monet made $65.5 million at Sotheby's.
The question now is will more records be broken in Ireland in December?