Autumn art auctions: From Clifden to cantaloupes

Des O'Sullivan previews autumn art auctions

'Space Fruit: Cantaloupes I' by Andy Warhol at Gormleys.

What's not to like? From West of Ireland landscapes by Paul Henry to Cantaloupes by Andy Warhol and a shimmering nude by Mainie Jellett, the autumn art auctions by Gormleys, James Adam, Whyte's and deVeres are brimful of goodies.

Paintings by Louis le Brocquy, Paul Henry and Gerard Dillon make up the top six lots at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art on Wednesday evening (September 23). Paul Henry is the sort of artist people invest in. His paintings are sought after and expensive. At Adam's, the offerings this season are small-scale works. 

Painted at a momentous moment for the artist, Gubbellaunaun from the Bog at Adam's measures just 10-and-a-half by 15-and-a-half inches and is estimated at €50,000-€80,000. "The currents of life had carried me to this remote spot (Achill Island), and there seemed no current strong enough to carry me away," Henry wrote in his autobiography. "I made another of my quick decisions, which I never regretted and, taking my return ticket to London out of my pocket, tore it into small pieces and scattered the fragments into the sea, which foamed round the rocks of Gubellaunaun."

The 126 lots on the catalogue at James Adam cater to a wide variety of tastes, styles and prices. They range from Hot Spots III, an oil and mixed media on canvas by Tim Goulding, an abstract figural bronze sculpture by Leo Higgins and a coloured pencil drawing of Figures, Coconut and other Trees, Samoa by Mary Swanzy to a large oil on canvas, Woman (1960) by Louis le Brocquy, A Connemara Quayside by Gerard Dillon and An Early View of Pullough Bay, Achill by Paul Henry.

Paul Henry's 'Gubellaunaun from the Bog at James Adam.

Fascinating works like The Tailor's House, Clifden by Maurice MacGonigal, which somehow calls to mind The Little Street by Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum, expose a surprising commonality between a quiet street in Delft during the Dutch Golden Age and an Irish street in Clifden in the mid-20th century.

At the Gormleys online auction of 125 lots of Irish and international art — now on view at Francis Street in Dublin — there is work by Dan O'Neill, Patrick Scott, Colin Davidson, Markey Robinson, Harry Kernoff and Mildred Anne Butler alongside art by internationally acclaimed luminaries like Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon and Anish Kapoor.

'The Tailor's House, Clifden, Connemara' by Maurice MacGonigal at James Adam.

The most expensively estimated lot is by the Victorian artist John Atkinson Grimshaw, best known for his nocturnal scenes of urban landscapes. Atkinson's Moonlit Carriage by a River carries an estimate of €30,000-€50,000. Andy Warhol's screen print from 1979, Space Fruit: Cantaloupes I (FS II.20I) is estimated at €12,000-€18,000.

This auction is to be held this  Tuesday evening (September 22). The Jellett nude is a Whyte's on September 28. The sale by deVeres is on October 6. 

Art is for everyone to appreciate and enjoy. With estimates from €400 up, these sales offer a feast for the eyes without necessarily breaking the bank. Be warned. 

Most true collectors will sooner or later fall in love with a painting they must have at all costs. The habit of collecting can be both a gift and a curse. Personal banks are occasionally broken for the sake of art. What of it. Where is the art of living if we never overextend?

'The Fourth Day' by Patrick Scott at Gormleys.

These sales offer far more than mere opportunities to stretch the budget. There is art here to be savoured long into an unknowable future, a chance to enhance a collection or to get one started.