Optimism around Whyte’s sale of Irish art at the RDS

Des O’Sullivan reports on renewed confidence in the rising Irish art market on the basis of encouraging sales.

Night, Roaringwater Bay is the title of this oil on board by Ciaran Clear (1920-2000) at Whyte’s sale in Dublin (€1,500-€1,800). It is inscribed Cape Clear and Sherkin on the reverse.

Art by Paul Henry and Jack Butler Yeats will be the highlight at Whyte’s sale at the RDS in Dublin on Monday week — an auction they say is on the back of enormously encouraging results for sales of Irish art in 2015.

The inaugural 2016 sale at Whyte’s will include Irish art stalwarts and international offerings with work by Joan Miro, Tracey Emin, David Hockney, and Damien Hirst included.

Paul Henry was enchanted with Kerry, telling a friend in New York of its loveliness and saying that he felt that if he spent a lifetime there he would never exhaust all the possible subjects.

The Wild Ponies of Connemara by Patrick Hennessy will be for sale at Whyte’s (€8,000-€10,000).

A Kerry Bog in this sale dates to 1934-35 and is estimated at €60,000-€80,000. There is a similar estimate on The Quay Worker’s Home by Jack B Yeats, a rare depiction of urban life in 1920s Ireland.

A Study of Dustman Reilly for The Key Men c1958-60 by Seán Keating features a well-known Dublin character and bin man who was chairman of the George Bernard Shaw branch of the Irish Labour Party in Dublin.

It is estimated at €20,000-€30,000.

An untitled work by Joan Miro is estimated at €18,000-€20,000 and there are examples of work by Dame Elisabeth Frink and other British artists.

Night, Roaringwater Bay is the title of this oil on board by Ciaran Clear (1920-2000) at Whyte’s sale in Dublin (€1,500-€1,800). It is inscribed Cape Clear and Sherkin on the reverse.

Henry Street Dublin during the 1916 Rising by Flemish artist Edmond Delrenne has an estimate of €8,000-€10,000.

There is work by Patrick Hennessy, Basil Blackshaw, Percy French, Nathanial Hone, Harry Kernoff, Frank McKelvey, George Campbell, Markey Robinson, Tony O’Malley, and Patrick Scott and a pair of 1861 views of Glengarriff by George Shalders (1826-1873) estimated at €1,500-€2,000.

The catalogue lists 208 lots. Viewing is from 10am to 6pm daily at the RDS from next Saturday, February 27.