WHILE Bank of Ireland sells off some of the silver, an art auction in Galway tomorrow features John Schwatschke's Once I was a Banker,a rather different image of a banker. Dolan's will auction a broad range of traditional and contemporary work by many of Ireland's established artists and sculptors at the Marriott Hotel, Headford Road, at 3pm.
Most of the lots have no reserve. Auctioneer Niall Dolan said: “I have long believed that ‘good’ works of art have the power to brighten peoples’ lives, even for a moment, and make people think or question, even if those thoughts are simply nostalgic or sentimental.
“Nor do I believe that art needs to be expensive to be ‘good.’”
Lot No 42, Once I was a Bankerby John Schwatschke isn't expensive and may well trigger "sentimental" thoughts among bankers, nostalgic for the glory days of the boom and its light-hearted quality is an antidote to the current gloom surrounding the national banking system.
The artist was born in Dublin in 1943 to an Austrian father and Carlow mother. Schwatschke lives in Waterford after stints in Saudi Arabia, Provençe and California. He has painted portraits of, among others, Ingrid Bergman, Robert Mitchum, Harold Robbins, Cyril Cusack, the Duke of Edinburgh and Eamon de Valera but now concentrates on caricatures.
Dolan’s sale also includes works by Graham Knuttel, Susan Cuffe, Fred Rochford, Mat Grogan, Mark Cullen, David Ffrench le Roy, James Cahill,Arthur Maderson, Markey Robinson, John Kingerlee, Douglas Hutton, John Skelton, Bernard McDonagh, and Kenneth Webb.
