Brittany: A place of inspiration for Irish artists

Art lovers will have the pick of the crop next week, as the major auction houses in Dublin set out their stalls for their early summer art sales. Whyte’s Exceptional Irish Art auction goes ahead on Monday, May 27th, at 6pm. DeVeres will host its Outstanding Irish Art and Sculpture auction on Tuesday, May 28th, and the Adam’s Important Irish Art auction will be held on Wednesday, May 29th, at 6pm.

One thing for sure is that the pale, male and stale moniker doesn’t apply to Irish male artists from the 19th and 20th century, as paintings by artists including Jack Butler Yeats, Paul Henry, Louis le Brocquy, Walter Frederick Osborne and Sir William Orpen fetch good prices regularly at auctions.

But auctioneers do admit that there is a growing interest in works by female Irish artists among seasoned art buyers – not least because of the more affordable prices of many of the paintings created by women artists at the moment.

When considering a painting from an Irish artist who was inspired by locations outside of Ireland, it’s interesting to understand what drew them to that particular spot.

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Art colonies emerged in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century, as artists relocated to the countryside for peace, quiet and less expensive places to live. Think St Ives in Cornwall, Skagen in Denmark and Bergen in the Netherlands.

[ Hone, Jellett and Henry: Irish art in focus at this week’s sales ]

Brittany also attracted a lot of French and international artists to places like Pont-Aven, Quimperlé and Le Pouldu – where you can even retrace the painters’ paths to view the landscapes that inspired them.

The school of Pont-Aven developed quite a reputation during the years when Paul Gauguin lived there in the late 1880s. However, even after Gauguin’s departure, lots of artists, including some from Ireland, were drawn to the Breton towns and villages. Roderic O’Conor’s painting of a Breton sailor in Pont-Aven (€80,000-€120,000), which is in the deVeres auction, is one of five portraits of this elderly sailor with his weather-beaten face. O’Conor arrived in the pretty town in 1891, and continued his association with Brittany for another 13 years.

Walter Frederick Osborne’s Early Morning in the Market, Quimperlé (€120,000-€160,000), which is on sale at Adam’s, was painted in 1883. James O’Halloran from Adam’s says that although it has been well exhibited over the years, this painting has been in the same family since it was acquired directly from the artist.

[ 5,313 works submitted, 515 on show: RHA Annual Exhibition 2024 ready to be unveiled ]

“Osborne painted some of his finest early work in this area of Brittany, including Gathering Apples, Quimperlé, which is one of the National Gallery’s prized works by the artist,” says O’Halloran.

The Place, Concarneau, Morning (€4,000-€6,000), by William John Leech, which is on sale in Whyte’s auction, was inspired by the Breton harbour with its plane trees in the foreground. Leech, who was taught by Osborne, spent some time in Concarneau, which, like Pont-Aven, attracted many cosmopolitan artists.

Mary Swanzy, Grace Henry, Gladys MacCabe, Barbara Warren and Flora H Mitchell are among the Irish women artists whose work is on sale at the Whyte’s auction. Mitchell’s ink and watercolour drawings of Dublin buildings, including the Campanile in Trinity College Dublin (€2,000-€3,000), have a gentle yet precise mood to them.

Meanwhile, the deVeres auction includes a strong collection of sculptures with several pieces by John Behan, Rowan Gillespie and Patrick O’Reilly. Of particular note among the 30 lots of sculpture – which are on view in the garden of the Merrion Hotel until the auction – are Animal by Henry Moore (€10,000-€15,000). Moore – whose bronze piece, Reclining Connected Form is in Library Square in Trinity College Dublin – was of course one of Britain’s most famous 20th-century sculptors. The auction also includes an intriguing piece entitled Headscape Heart (€15,000-€20,000), by Irish sculptor Orla de Brí.

Finally, Victor Mee’s annual online summer garden sale on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 28th and 29th, has an eclectic mix of outdoor sculptures, planters, bird baths and garden furniture as well as a few extraordinary larger pieces. “We offer clients an opportunity to move away from fast furniture and come to appreciate the individuality, the provenance and sentimentality that comes with buying a unique piece at auction,” says Mee.

The large items on sale include a Victorian bandstand (€3,000-€5,000), originally sited at St Louis Convent in Co Monaghan. Disassembled and removed from the grounds of the girls’ secondary school in 1998, it has been reassembled on site.

The summer garden sale also includes a huge bronze crab sculpture (€8,000-€12,000), which could become a piece of public art in a fishing port. There are also a number of wrought iron gates, piers and a set of limestone steps salvaged from a 19th-century French chateau (€5,000-€8,000).

Now, that would provide some talking points at an outdoor garden party.

whytes.ie; deveres.ie; adams.ie; victormeeauctions.ie

What did it sell for?

Bulgari enamel and diamond serpenti bracelet watch

Estimate: €40,000-€60,000

Hammer price: €94,000

Auction house: Adam’s

David Morris diamond and black enamel ring

Estimate: €58,000-€65,000

Hammer price: Unsold

Auction house: O’Reilly’s

1960s Chaumet diamond tiara

Estimate: €130,000-€164,000

Hammer price: €245,000

Auction house: Sotheby’s

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