A LARGE oil painting by Jack B Yeats has sold for $325,000 (€228,000) at auction in the United States. It was bought by a Dublin auctioneer on behalf of an Irish client. The price is the highest paid for an Irish painting this year.
The Breaker Outwas bought in Freeman's sale of American and European art in Philadelphia on Sunday night by Dublin auctioneer Ian Whyte, who was "acting for an Irish collector living abroad". Mr Whyte is in the US to value Irish art for American collectors who may wish to sell at future auctions in Dublin.
He attended the sale in the Pennsylvanian city – 128km (80 miles) south of New York – where the painting was offered with an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. His successful bid was $270,000 but, when the auction fees were added, the final price came to $325,000. Mr Whyte, who has travelled on to California, told The Irish Timesthat the price paid was "reasonable" and that his "client is very pleased at the purchase price".
He described the picture as “a very important Yeats, originally owned by the famous Irish artist May Guinness” and said “it would be sought after by any curator of a major Yeats exhibition”.
The painting, which measures 20in x 27in, was originally purchased by Guinness at an exhibition in Dublin in 1945.
It passed through a number of owners before ending up in a private collection in the American state of Virginia. The vendor has not been named.
The painting appears to show a scene in the old Dublin port. According to a catalogue note: “Yeats used to explain that the ‘breaker out’ is the man who signals to the crane manipulator where and when to lower the packages on to a boat – ‘so as not to crush everyone to death’.”
The sale represents the latest manifestation of continuing strong interest from collectors of Irish art in the works of Jack B Yeats, who died in 1957. Earlier this month, his painting The Westering Sunmade €135,000 at an Adam's art auction in Dublin – the highest price paid for a painting in Ireland in 2011 to date.
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