DUBLIN.- Whyte’s auction of Irish & International art promises to deliver another exciting opportunity for collectors to acquire rare artworks of outstanding quality and enduring value. On Monday 26 May 2025 the auction will include 131 lots of Irish & International art valued at €1.3 million.
The live auction will take place at the Freemasons Hall, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 and online at bid.whytes.ie. Viewing takes place at Whyte’s Galleries in Molesworth Street from Monday 19 May to Friday 23 May, 10am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 24 & 25 May, 1pm to 5pm and Monday 26 May – day of sale - 10am to 4pm.
The cover lot is a spectacular oil by Mainie Jellett titled Achill Horses, 1933 (lot 37, €70,000-€100,000). Jellett's use of a modern abstract style to depict the West was in marked contrast to the dominant realist mode of presenting the region as found in the work of her contemporaries Paul Henry and Charles Lamb. Her success in creating a new visual language for rural Ireland was confirmed by the fact Jellett was chosen to create murals representing the life and people of Ireland for the Free State's pavilion at the Glasgow Empire Exhibition in 1938. Another version of the subject, Achill Horses II is included in the exhibition Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone, The Art of Friendship running at the National Gallery of Ireland until 10 August.
Paul Henry again takes the top lot spot by value. West of Ireland Bog [lot 18, estimate €120,000-€180,000] is a tour de force example by the artist whose quintessential depictions of the Connemara landscape continue to attract huge attention in the saleroom. There is fairly heavy impasto in many areas throughout, especially in the sky, distant mountains and landscape. This is also true of the foreground turf stacks, which stand out in their darkness. The immediate foreground, with its water-strewn landscape shows Paul Henry's consummate skill with such a scene. Cottages, West of Ireland, c.1920s (lot 21, €60,000-€80,000) records in paint Henry's fascination with and appreciation for life on the harsh Atlantic coast. Here he is not distracted by the weather, the cloud formations or the immense natural world which surrounds this community. Here the islanders' lives take centre stage. Secondary to the scene is the skyscape which is flatly painted with a single cumulus cloud hovering in the distance. Keel Bay, Achill, c.1910-15 (lot 25, €50,000-€70,000) is a charming oil sketch also on offer, originally purchased through John Magee, Belfast, in 1961.
Reviewing the 1933 annual exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Irish Independent correspondent noted that two paintings by Harry Kernoff offered 'remarkably life-like impressions of open-air scenes.' One of these was Anglesea Market (lot 32, €30,000-€50,000): a busy street scene showing the characteristic colouring of Kernoff's cityscapes. Framed by a jigsaw of buildings and wooden shop fronts, Kernoff fills the narrow space with bric-a-brac: a brass bed frame, an armchair, tables, a chest of drawers, crockery and books, along with a range of coats and other clothing. The clutter is enlivened by the shoppers and traders that weave their way through the market's offerings. Anglesea Market as well as Rotunda Market, Taaffe's Market, and Norfolk Market were all lost during the construction of the Ilac centre in Dublin's north inner city which opened in 1981. For a view of Norfolk Market see lot 33 by Fergus O’Ryan (estimate €1,500-€2,000)
An early Jack Yeats' watercolour, A Patriot, c.1902 (lot 14, €18,000-€22,000) shows the artist’s perceptive use of composition and colour. Through an open doorway he allows us a glimpse of the warm interior of a rural cottage. A man is seated by an open fire on which a large cooking pot is placed. Pride of place amongst his modest possessions is a coloured print of Robert Emmet, the great hero of Irish nationalism. Yeats was first drawn to Emmet and the nationalist cult of the hero when he visited Sligo and Donegal in the summer of 1898, attending the 1798 centenary celebrations. An intricate ink and watercolour drawing titled A Small Fair c.1902 (lot 13) is also on offer at an estimate of €10,000-€15,000.
Group scenes were a constant source of inspiration to Letitia Hamilton whether at home or abroad. She was adept at capturing the hustle and bustle of such occasions and the characters who attended them. In Hill Fair at Achill Island (lot 17, €15,000-€20,000) the viewer joins the busy scene entering on an uneven path between two large limestone rocks behind an animal that appears to be laden with wares. To the right foreground a black horse with a white blaze stands quietly apart. The artist balances the reds and blues in the composition by adding accents of pinks, mauves and purples elsewhere in the canvas, hues that recall the chalky pastel shades of her Venetian paintings and draw the eye from the rocks in the foreground through to the mountains and the sky beyond.
Augustus Burke was one of the first Irish artists to go to Brittany, arriving there about 1875, and was working in Pont-Aven at the same time as Aloysius O’Kelly. Between 1876 and 1878 he sent fifteen Breton scenes to the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. One of these was a painting entitled At the Chapel Door, Brittany, to which Outside the Chapel, Brittany (lot 10, €5,000-€7,000) is closely related. Dr. Julian Campbell points out that: “The setting for the painting is the old chapel of Tremalo, situated in farmland above Pont-Aven. The church was later to be immortalised when Gauguin featured its small wooden crucifix in his painting The Yellow Christ.”
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John Atkinson Grimshaw was an English Victorian-era artist best known for his nocturnal scenes of urban landscapes. He was called a 'remarkable and imaginative painter' by the critic and historian Christopher Wood in Victorian Painting (1999). When he started gaining success in the 1870s he rented a second home in Scarborough and the town was to become a favourite subject. Scarborough Harbour (lot 79, €50,000-€70,000) is typical of the artist’s nocturnal scenes, expertly handling the moonlight and reflections on the calm waters.
Ferdinand Victor Leon Roybet was a successful French artist, acclaimed for his magnificent portraits of well-dressed male figures set in the 16th and 17th centuries. He is particularly recognised for his Spanish cavalier themed works, of which The Connaisseur (lot 82, €6,000-€8,000) is an excellent example. Roybet’s works are reminiscent of those of the 17th century Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, and notable for their realism and the artist’s dramatic use of colour and execution of detail.
Other international artists represented in the sale include Arthur John Elsley, Harold Harvey, Paula Rego, Bridget Riley, Maurice Poirson and Eugene Galien-Laloue. Also included is a sketch of James Joyce by his close friend and writer Frank Budgen (lot 29, €5,000-€7,000). Budgen and Joyce would meet in the early summer of 1918 in Zürich, a decisive year for the Irish writer as he was working on his novel Ulysses. The two friends would spend time together drinking wine and discussing the progress and evolution of the novel before Joyce moved to Trieste, Italy.
Watch out for… a collection of William Percy French watercolours, some with Dublin and Westmeath interest (lots 1-7, estimates range from €1,500 to €8,000). Also included are major works by William Leech (lot 26, €15,000-€20,000), Daniel O’Neill (lot 42, €18,000-€22,000), Colin Middleton and George Russell. There are two ink and watercolour Dublin scenes by Flora Mitchell on offer aswell as a selection of prints from Patrick Scott, William Scott and Louis le Brocquy as well as the latter’s watercolour depiction of Francis Bacon (lot 48, €12,000-€18,000). There is a sculpture section including some of Ireland’s best-known artists such as Rowan Gillespie and John Behan. Auction favourites include Kenneth Webb, Liam O’Neill, Cecil Maguire, Arthur Maderson and a number of examples from the ever-popular Graham Knuttel.
