Irish Fine Art Market News - 2012
Auction Sales/Prices in Ireland: Whytes,
Adams, de Veres, Sothebys, Christie's Auctioneers.
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Irish Fine Art Market News - 2012 |
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Irish Art Market - 2012Bookmark this page for news and comment on the state of the art market in Ireland during the course of 2012. Irish Art 2011: Summary In general, the Irish art market in 2011 continued to reflect the difficult global economic climate, and the concomitant demand for good quality investments. Against a background of falling stock markets, falling commodity prices, and uncertainties over the Euro, a growing number of investors now see blue chip works of art as an important element (alongside gold and other precious items) in their portfolio of personal investments. The category of so-called 'blue chip' artworks includes rare works by artists of high standing in their particular field. The latter includes painters like Francis Bacon (1909-92), William Orpen (1878-1931), Jack Butler Yeats (1871-1957), John Lavery (1856-1941), Louis le Brocquy (b.1916), William Scott (1913-89), James Barry (1741-1806), Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940), Walter Osborne (1859-1903), Frank O'Meara (1853-88), Sean Scully (b.1945), Sean Keating (1889-1977), Paul Henry (1876-1958), Leo Whelan (1892-1956), Daniel O'Neill (1920-74), and others. The year's best example of such blue chip art was A Fair Day, Mayo (1925), an oil painting by Jack B. Yeats (formerly owned by Eamon de Valera, among others) which was sold in September for €1 million at Adam's sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin: the highest price ever paid at auction for a painting in Ireland. However, outside of this premium category of Irish art, buyers continue to be extremely circumspect about what they will buy and how much they will pay. The market for contemporary Irish art has suffered the greatest decline, and a huge number of works in this category remain unsold. Furthermore, a huge amount of uncertainty exists as to the commercial value of many contemporary painters, which is making it very difficult to arrive at any accurate valuations. |
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2011 NAMA Controversy In what looks like a typical piece of government stupidity, part of the stock of Irish paintings, sculptures and other valuables acquired by the National Asset Management Agency in Ireland - in lieu of unpaid debts incurred by building developers and others - was auctioned recently in London and New York by Christie's. This despite the fact that Irish art traditionally sells better in Dublin. Indeed art sales in Ireland have been quite robust in the run-up to Christmas, compared to London, where Christie's recent sale of 'UK and Irish Art' was relatively disappointing. Furthermore, while two Irish firms of auctioneers were invited to quote for disposing of the works, the contract was given to Christie's, who now stand to make an estimated €500,000 profit from the €2 million generated. James O'Halloran of Adam's auctioneers in Dublin reportedly told Finance Minister Mr Noonan that his firm would waive auction fees in return for keeping the business in Ireland - but to no avail. Unfortunately, this situation could be repeated many times, as NAMA is believed to be in possession of a large amount of Irish art - one collection alone contains half-a-dozen paintings by Jack B Yeats - which could flood the market and severely depress prices, unless properly handled. Hopefully at least, NAMA will issue the auction contract to a Dublin firm to prevent further unnecessary losses to the Irish taxpayer. Irish Art Market News & Sales Results - 2010 There's talk of a revival in the Irish art market. But a painting is not a standard object. So when a comparison is made between the Irish art prices in (say) 2010 and 2009, great care is required to ensure that one is comparing like with like: it's not like comparing oil prices. Thus, while it may be true in 2010 that both Adam's and Whyte's recorded increases of between 30 and 50 percent in sales volumes over 2009, a number of other factors need to be taken into account before an overall conclusion can be reached. First, while demand for good quality works by a handful of blue-chip Irish painters may have steadied, the market for contemporary art has yet to hit rock bottom. This much was clear from extremely disappointing results at the 180th Royal Hibernian Academy Exhibition in May. Unfortunately, no one knows exactly where the dividing line between these two categories lies. And let's face it, there's more to Irish painting than Jack B Yeats, John Lavery, Sean Scully, Paul Henry, Roderic O'Conor, Gerard Dillon and Basil Blackshaw. Except that if we exclude these seven artists, no Irish painting sold for more than €66,000 in 2010. Secondly, after a relatively successful Irish art sale in 2009, Christie's decided the market in 2010 did not justify a separate Irish sale, and instead bundled it with their auction of British art. Do they know something we don't? Thirdly, the Dublin-based auctioneers de Veres stated that their 2010 sales were slightly down on 2009. Fourthly, unless they have spent the last 2 years on Mars, every seller knows that unless a work is (1) high quality (2) new-to-market (3) well-provenanced and (4) accurately estimated, it won't sell. Take for instance Until We Meet Again by Jack B Yeats: it was offered for sale at Christie's for €1 million in 2010, but failed to attract a single bid. Lastly, it's difficult to know who to believe, these days. Back in the boom years, most people who were making a living from Irish art were delighted to see rocketing prices. Dealers, in particular, were telling us that €60,000 for a painting by XYZ was good value - the same dealers who are now shaking their heads and saying XYZ isn't selling at all: "he became terribly over-priced, you know." What better illustration of that phrase "Caveat emptor" - buyer beware! Looking ahead in 2011, our more conservative view is that, while the speculators have withdrawn - leaving the salesroom to more knowledgable buyers, with perhaps more measured (and less trendy) tastes - the market remains uncertain: not least because the market for other securities, like shares and bonds, remains so unpredictable. In short, a general trend has yet to emerge, and prices may fall further before a firm upward trend emerges. Meantime, the only consistent demand is for realistically-priced, well-provenanced, rare-ish paintings by top Irish artists, such as Jack B Yeats, William Orpen, John Lavery, William Osborne, Sean Scully, Paul Henry, Roderic O'Conor, Gerard Dillon, Basil Blackshaw and the like. June 16: Last of the Major Dublin Auctions Satisfactory Sales results from De Vere's Irish Art sale - the last major auction of the season, with 230 lots - were satisfactory but no more. Nearly all the top works found buyers at prices within pre-sale estimates, and total sales amounted to €410,000. The top price was €46,000 for The Dingle Peninsula from Rossbeigh Beach by Paul Henry, with three works by Tony O'Malley - Spring, Summer and Winter - going for an aggregate of €123,000 - well ahead of estimates. However, about 33 percent of lots went unsold, and even though they comprised mainly low-estimate works, many had no reserves. June 2010: Auction Results Provide Sparkle in Dublin Sales results at Dublin's top auctioneers Adam's and Whyte's provided a welcome pointer for a market still unsure of itself. Adam's sold 75 percent of its 160 lots, for a total of €1.5 million; Whyte's sold 86 percent of 220 lots for €1.08 million. Prices were comfortably within pre-sale estimates - which were set, it is fair to say, at a very realistic level - but more importantly, they attracted competitive bidding across the board. The top-priced lot at Adam's was Mending Nets, Aran (1942) by Gerard Dillon, which went for €80,000; individual artists whose works sold well included: Walter Osborne, Sir John Lavery, Jack B Yeats, Colin Middleton and William Conor. At Whyte's, the top lot was Kerry Landscape (1941) by Paul Henry, which was also hammered down for €80,000, while successful painters included: Gerard Dillon, Tony O'Malley, John Shinnors, Hughie O'Donoghue and William Crozier. Forecasts are dangerous to make just now, but it does seem as if the Irish art market has finally bottomed out. End of May 2010: Poor Sales Results For Irish Art Less than 30 percent of Irish paintings were sold at Christie's auction of British and Irish art in London, this week. By comparison, over 70 percent of British lots found buyers. Among the big-name failures were Until We Meet Again (1949) by Jack B Yeats, whose £1 million pre-sale estimate failed to attract a single bid. Other blue-chip works that failed to reach their reserves, and were therefore withdrawn, included: a large abstract composition by William Scott, a drawing in pencil and crayon by Sir William Orpen, a figurative study by Louis le Brocquy, a river scene by Sir John Lavery, a study of a mother and child by William Conor, and a landscape by Colin Middleton. Only three works of art by Irish artists actually sold, albeit only just within estimates: Chrysanthemums (1928), a still life by Paul Henry, for €60,000; The Music Has Come (1950) by Jack B Yeats, for €63,000; and Together (1965) by William Scott, for €26,000. All this leaves Adam's upcoming sale on Wednesday June 2 with the final word on the current state of the Irish art market. |
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May 2010: Sotheby's Sale of Irish Art: 41 Percent of Lots Sold At Sotheby's annual Irish art sale in London, the largest auction of Irish art so far this year, sale-prices were slightly down on 2009, with 41 percent of lots selling at the lower end of pre-sale estimates. Total receipts were €2.3 million. The highest price of €564,000 (inc fees) was paid for The Gold Turban (1929) by the Impressionist Sir John Lavery (1856-1941). A portrait of his wife Hazel, the work had not been seen before at auction. Other top prices included €424,000 for Spanish Shawl, a Study in White (1942) by the great Louis le Brocquy (b.1916); €212,000 for Paysage Ensoleille by the expatriate Irish colourist Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940); €142,000 for the Dublin streetscape A Garden in a City at Night (1949) by Jack B Yeats (1871-1957); €118,540 for the equestrian work Morning Exerise by Basil Blackshaw (b.1932); €62,130 for the watercolour At the Railway Station by Harry Kernoff (1900-74). The unsold lots included the equestrian The Morning Ride (1909) by Lavery (estimate: €115-172,000); the abstract Eriskay by the Irish-American Sean Scully (b.1945) (estimate: €229-344,000); the 4-panel work Life in the West of Ireland by Gerard Dillon (1916-71) (estimate: €57-92,000); Self-Portrait in a Bearskin by Sean Keating (1889-1977) (estimate: €80-115,000) among others. February 2010: Is This an Upturn? Results from both Christie's (Feb 2) and Sotheby's (Feb 3) London sales of Impressionist and Modern Art exceeded most expectations, with a world record price (104,327,006) being set for a work of art at auction. (Walking Man by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti sold for $104,327,006). Whether this upturn will be replicated in upcoming sales of Irish painting and sculpture is anybody's guess, although we feel that Irish prices are likely to be even more conditional on the quality of artworks being offered for sale. Irish Art Market News & Sales Results - 2009 Sales figures for 2009 from the big three Irish auction houses - Adam's, Whyte's and DeVere's show a significant fall compared to 2008. For example, Adam's revenue from Irish art sales was down to €4.12m (€7.2m in 2008); at Whytes the figure was €2.4m (€6.5m in 2008). In London, Irish art sales declined in value by about 50 percent at both Sotheby's and Christie's annual auctions. Given that 2008 sales of Irish art were approximately 40 percent down on 2007, the overall collapse in value has been nothing short of horrific. No wonder top-quality paintings are in short supply. December 2009: Buyer's Market In general, as far as Irish art is concerned, 2009 has proved to be very much a buyer's market, as evidenced by a return to price levels last seen 3-4 years ago. But there have been exceptions, especially in the fourth quarter of the year, when quality items fresh to the market attracted excellent prices. Adam's Country House Collections sale at Slane Castle in October doubled expectations with total revenue of €2.16 million, while some comfort can be gleaned from the €240,000 paid for The Fisherman’s Cottage by Paul Henry (1876-1958) at Adam's December auction - a record for an Irish artist sold at auction in Ireland in 2009. The auction of Edward Delaney's bronze sculptures in October - some three weeks after the artist's death - also produced some spectacular results, notably the extraordinary €190,000 for the two-figure sculpture King and Queen - a record price for a work of Irish sculpture. Even so, as stated, these were very much the exceptions to the rule. One particular problem has been the relatively small number of works of art coming onto the market, as sellers shy away from current depressed price levels. Some experts have stated that this situation is not likely to improve significantly until the middle of 2011. December 2009: Impressionism & Contemporary Art Auctions - Paris Sotheby's December 8th auction of contemporary art made a total of €10.6 million - far outstripping its €6 million - €8.4 million forecast. The following day its sale of Impressionist and Modern artworks generated €10.8 million, once again considerably exceeding its €6.5 million - €9.5 million pre-sale estimate. While pre-sale forecasts reflected the current depressed state of the market, the actual sales achieved represent a noteworthy vote of confidence in the international art market. September 2009: The International Art World Art auctions, like all markets, are driven by investor confidence in the future, which explains why the current international art market is so uncertain. Are we in the throes of a "V-shaped" or "W-shaped" recession? No one knows - even Sothebys or Christie's, whose 2009 revenues have fallen 87 percent and 35 percent respectively. So right now, with art collectors keeping their hands in their pockets, any predictions about what is likely to happen to the world (or Irish) art market in 2009-2010 must be based more on sentiment than hard fact. Brief Survey of Current Trends Contemporary art is in meltdown: this much is obvious from auctions at Sothebys and Christie's in May 2009, when contemporary works that actually found a buyer sold for a fraction of previous prices. Impressionist and Modern art has fared less badly (works by Monet and Degas stood up well), although the jury is still out on this type of art. Old Master paintings appear to be doing the best: July auctions at Sothebys and Christie's saw works by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (The Massacre of the Innocents 1605-10) and Jusepe de Ribera (Prometheus, 1630) comfortably exceed their pre-sale estimates, the latter being hammered down for three times the expected price. Implications For Irish Art Prices 2009-2010 Despite the fact that the Irish art market has - over the past two decades or so - demonstrated a significant degree of independence from international market trends, one doubts that this will continue in any positive sense. Indeed, recent London auctions of Irish art (May 2009) suggest that even "Irish Old Masters" like William Orpen and John Lavery are regarded as considerably less valuable in today's art market. At Christie's, a portrait of world-famous tenor Count John McCormack by William Orpen was originally expected to fetch up to €680,000 but it received no offers and was withdrawn. As it was, the National Gallery of Ireland stepped in with an offer and a sale price of €404,600 was agreed. Orpen's second portrait of Lewis R. Tomalin sold for a mere £49,250 against an estimate: £150,000-250,000. At Sothebys, John Lavery's On the Road to Fontainebleau sold for £120,000 against an estimate of £120,000-180,000, while Orpen's On the Cliff, Dublin Bay, Morning and Paul Henry's A Connemara Village performed better but hardly spectacularly, given the overall reduced estimates. Furthermore, a number of important works by the Francophile colourist Roderic O'Conor, the Impressionist Walter Frederick Osborne and the modern still-life master William Scott failed to find buyers. All this despite the sale's promotion as a collection of exceptional works by the most reputed names in Irish art. Irish Modern and Contemporary Art If prices for works by the great painters of Ireland are so depressed, what does this signify for lesser artists? One supposes that, while their prices will shrink in line with Orpen and Lavery, the biggest impact will be a shortage of buyers. After all, until some certainty is achieved in respect of valuations for blue-chip artists, one doubts that collectors will be paying top-estimate prices for more speculative works. Of course none of this is helped by an 18.5 percent reduction in the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism’s budget from €221m in 2008 to €180m in 2009. |
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Irish Art Market News & Sales Results - 2008 40 Percent Reduction in Art Sales in 2008 According to sales figures released by the big three Irish auction houses - Adam's, Whytes and De Vere's, who between them account for four-fifths of the Irish market - gross sales for the year fell by roughly 40 percent, compared with 2007. Total number of lots remained static at 3,500 - as did sales rates, at around 70 percent. Top prices reached €200,000 (eg. River Mouth 1946, by Jack B Yeats), compared with €680,000 in 2007 (A Family, by Louis le Brocquy). Reasons for the drop in sales include: lower sales rates at the upper end of the market, as well as a scarcity of top-priced works being offered by sellers, who were clearly unwilling to sell into a declining market. In addition, sales were reduced due to unrealistic minimum prices. Sales of Irish paintings at Sotheby's and Christie's fared no better. Sales receipts for 2008 were also roughly 40 percent lower than 2007. (Source: Irish Times, Dec 28). Anecdotal Evidence of Downturn: Oct 27 Reports from galleries and artists seem to indicate a definite reduction in demand for certain categories of fine art. Works by new and emerging painters seem to be worst affected, although the downturn is likely (as the latest auction figures suggest) to spread to all categories. Whether this will simply lead to keener prices, or develop into something worse, is as yet unclear. Bookmark this page for regular updates about the market. De Veres Fine Art Auction: 13 Oct A seemingly lack-lustre set of auction results from de Veres produced only one pair of highlights: Autumn Coastline, and Downpatrick Head II by Donald Teskey (b.1956), which sold for €30,000 and €22,000 respectively. Sales down at Water Colour Society of Ireland Show: 28 Sept - 11 Oct According to organizers, sales were approx 30 percent down at the annual WCSI exhibition, the largest annual watercolour show in Ireland, which featured works by over 100 watercolourists, including members of the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Royal Ulster Academy. Latest Irish Auction Results: 29 Sept - 1 Oct 2008 Sales of Irish fine art at Whytes, Adam's, Dolan's and O'Driscoll's auctions during the week were seen as reassuringly positive by most auctioneers and salesroom experts. The two big Dublin sales - Whyte & Sons (Mon 29 Sept) and James Adam and Sons (Wed 1 Oct) - both reported positive results, as did Dolan's (Galway) and O'Driscoll's (Cork).
Bacon Tops Contemporary Art Sales - 30 June, 2008 The top lot of Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Auction was Three Studies for a Self Portrait by Francis Bacon (1909-1992), a rare self-portrait triptych painted while the artist was in Paris in 1975. It was hammered down at $34.4 million. William Scott Still-Life Sells for £1 million - June 6, 2008 The still life painting "Bowl, Eggs and Lemons", by County Fermanagh painter William Scott (1913-89), was bought for for £1,071,650 at Christie's in London. Scott thus joins the select band of Irish artists whose works have breached the £1 million barrier. World Record Price For Irish Painting - May 14, 2008 May 14, 2008: At the Sotheby's auction in New York, a mystery art collector spent $86.3 million on "Triptych", a three-panel painting by Francis Bacon, making it the most expensive piece of Irish art in history. Sources claim that the unidentified buyer was none other than Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of London's Chelsea football club. Not previously noted for his love of fine art, Abramovich is worth over £11 billion, according to the Sunday Times "Rich List," and allegedly bought the work for his wife's new art gallery in Moscow. |
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Auction of Irish Art - May 7, 2008 The annual London sale of Irish art at Sotheby's (May 7, 2008) and Christie's (May 8, 2008) was down by 40 percent on the previous year. Salesroom revenue (excl fees) totalled £6.7 million, although active post-auction selling is estimated to add a further £600,000. Despite good attendance figures at both auctions, a sign that the Irish art market remains popular at least among collectors from Ireland, buyers were cautious and much more selective in their bidding, with approximately 40 percent of lots being unsold at Sotheby's, and 34 percent at Christie's; a significant increase on 2007. The top hammer price was £500,000 paid by an American buyer for a portrait by Walter Osborne (1859-1903) entitled 'Dorothy and Irene Falkiner', while auction records were set for Nathaniel Hone The Elder (1718-84) and Daniel O'Neill (1920-74), in respect of a 1782 double-portrait (£295,000) and 'Reclining Figure' (£216,000) respectively. Other highlights from Sotheby's and Christie's included two works by John Lavery (1856-1941) - 'A Windy Day' (£400,000) and 'Miss Auras, The Red Book' (£170,000) - 'Connemara Cottage Dwellers' (£240,500) by Louis le Brocquy, 'Pasage, Pont-Aven' (£200,000) by the Irish Impressionist Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940), a Galway landscape (£168,500) by Paul Henry (1876-1958), two paintings by Jack B Yeats (1871-1957), 'Death' (£80,000) by Harry Aaaron Kernoff (1900-74), 'The Harvesters' (£65,000) by Nora McGuinness (1901-80), an 18-inch sculpture 'The Pianist I' (£38,000) by FE McWilliam (1909-92), and a bronze (£23,000) by the contemporary Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie. |
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However, several paintings by major Irish artists were withdrawn from sale, including: 'Image of Samuel Beckett' by Louis le Brocquy (later sold at the low estimate of £180,000), 'The Table in the Blue Room' by Gerard Dillon (later sold for £100,000), and 'The Shrimper' by Paul Henry (later sold for £110,000). Other works withdrawn pending further negotiations included 'The Bridge at Paris' by William Leech (1881-1968) and 'We Are Leaving You Now' by Jack B Yeats. At Sotheby's, 116 lots grossed £4.15 million, compared with £6.12 million from 164 lots in 2007. At Christie's, 162 lots grossed £2.6 million compared with £4.38 million from 138 lots in 2007, although Christie's afternoon sale of lesser works (which contributed £1 million to the 2007 total) was dropped from the 2008 event. Overall, given the economic slowdown over the last 18 months, the results were not unexpected, and although Irish auctioneers and dealers described the atmosphere as much quieter than previous years, sentiment in the Irish art market remains relatively buoyant with no shortage of money for rare or realistically priced items. |
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Irish Art Market News & Sales Results - 2007 Although sellers registered numerous record prices and recorded healthy profits during the year, signs of caution emerged, not least because of the general slowdown in economic activity. One should also note the relative scale of market pricing: according to An Investor's Guide to the Art Market (Dr Clare McAndrew), more than 80 per cent of work sold here went under the hammer for less than 5,000 euros, and almost 50 percent for 1,000 euros or less. Add to this, the fact that the reputation of many Irish artists is confined largely to their native country. In short, excluding worldwide 'names' like Francis Bacon, Louis le Brocquy and Jack B. Yeats, the Irish art market lacks a global dimension. True, this is offset to a degree by the enthusiasm of Irish buyers for local artworks (witness the huge price of €400,000 paid for Ulysses Off Connemara (1952) by Sean Keating), but it serves to demonstrate that the Irish market is, to a degree, 'detached' from the global market. Thus, after spectacular results in early 2007, (for example, Whyte's February sale generated several new Irish painting records for artists like George (AE) Russell and Markey Robinson; while de Veres June sale generated double the revenues of the previous year), the second half of 2007 was lack lustre by comparison with unsold lots (including famous named artists) at several auctions rising to 30-50 percent. A particularly surprising example was a rare, previously unseen, painting by William Gerard Barry which attracted no buyer. Even the relatively successful Kearney autumn auction at Adams - which generated over €5 million - was down on a comparable event in 2006. Not even major names like William Leech, Louis le Brocquy, Tony O'Malley, Colin Middleton, William Orpen and Gerard Dillon have proved immune to this slippage in demand. Even so, total Irish sales in 2007 were, broadly speaking, some 10 percent up on the previous year - which itself was very significantly up on 2005 - although the number of works shown dropped to 3,500, compared to 4,500 in 2006 and 3,900 in 2005. Given the number of new Irish art galleries, the latter trend is somewhat disappointing. Among the most successful artists were Louis le Brocquy (A Family [1951] sold for €680,000); Jack B Yeats (A Man Doing Accounts, sold for €250,000); William Orpen (The Blue Hat, went for €500,000); while other artists achieved top prices as follows: Leo Whelan (€265,000), William Conor (€192,000), Gerard Dillon (€192,000), Basil Blackshaw (€160,000), Daniel O'Neill (€156,000), to name but a few. |
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