Yeats and Henry will dominate winter auctions

As the winter auction season revs up, major paintings by Ireland’s two favourite artists feature in upcoming auctions at Adam’s, Bonhams and Christie’s

THE RECENT sale of a Jack B Yeats painting for €1 million has provided a major boost for the Irish art market. When Adam's offered A Fair Day, Mayofor sale in September, four bidders chased the painting before it eventually sold to an unnamed private Irish buyer and became the most expensive work of art in Irish auction history.

Inevitably, the sale has resulted in other important Irish paintings coming to market. Works by Jack B Yeats and Paul Henry – many unseen for decades – are set to dominate the winter series of art auctions in Dublin and London.

Adam’s will be hoping that disappointed under-bidders will return to its St Stephen’s Green saleroom on December 5th when five “fresh” paintings by Yeats will go under the hammer.

The highlight is Jazz Babies(1929), an oil-on-canvas, measuring 24in by 36in which carries a pre-sale estimate of €500,000-€800,000 – the same estimate initially given to A Fair Day, Mayo.

Auctioneer David Britton described it as “a pivotal work” charting Yeats’ move from realism to a “more expressionist approach”. It was first exhibited in the RHA exhibition of 1929.

In a catalogue note, art expert Dr Róisín Kennedy writes that Jazz Babiesis " an extremely unusual and invigorating example of Yeats' work and of modern Irish art in general".

She explains that, in the 1920s, “a jazz baby was a pleasure seeker or a socially active woman” and that the picture “focuses on the world of consumerism, depicting people browsing in a shop”.

But “while the centre of the painting is dominated by a stylish young woman it is not primarily concerned with feminine display. The jarring rhythm of the brushstrokes in the work is reminiscent of the syncopation of jazz music”.

Jazz Babiesand other works in the Adam's sale – including Paul Henry's Wind Blown Trees(estimate €80,000-€120,000) which was recently seen at IMMA – will go on public view in Northern Ireland, from next Wednesday, at the AVA Gallery, Clandeboye Estate, Bangor, Co Down, before being returned to Dublin for viewing ahead of the auction.

Meanwhile Yeats and Henry also feature in an auction of 20th Century British and Irish Art at Bonhams in London next Wednesday, November 16th, in the saleroom at New Bond Street.

The auction house says "an exceptional painting" by Jack B Yeats entitled A Giant Reading,which dates from 1942, is estimated at£70,000-£100,000. The oil-on-canvas, measuring 14in by 18in, has a circus theme and shows a man in a top-hat sitting beside a sign saying: "Tallest Man Alive".

He, and his female companion, are clearly working for a travelling circus as “living exhibits”.

A smaller painting by Yeats, The Hobby Horses,from 1927, depicts a busy fairground dominated by a merry-go-round and the figure of its attendant in a flat cap. The estimate is £40,000-£60,000.

But the Irish highlight in the sale is a painting titled Running for Shelterby Paul Henry which is estimated at £120,000-£180,000. Bonhams says the painting of men in a currach is "an unusual subject" for the artist better known for his images of Connemara mountains and cottages. The setting "is probably the rocky outcrop of Gubalennaun near the village of Keel on Achill Island, where the artist lived for a number of years".

It was shown at his annual exhibition in Dublin in 1938 when The Irish Timesnoted Henry's "emotional response" to the landscape and "sense of being alone with nature". The painting is being sold by a private collector from the Channel Islands.

Next week, also in London, Christie’s will sell more of the paintings seized by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) from property developer Derek Quinlan.

The first three paintings – by American artists – were auctioned at Christie's in New York this week (see auction results right). Among the paintings going under the hammer in London on Thursday are the felicitously titled Man Doing Accountsby Jack B Yeats, with an estimate of £120,000-£180,000 – rather lower than the £250,000 Quinlan paid at Christie's four years ago; and In Connemara by Paul Henry, which has an estimate of £70,000-£100,000 and was bought at a de Veres auction in Dublin in 1996 for Irish £23,000.