Buying a piece of art can be a deeply rewarding experience, fuelled by the desire to acquire something that will bring calm, excitement or joy to your surroundings. Of course, purchasing a painting, print or piece of sculpture at auction can also be driven by its investment potential, tinged by the urge to impress others.
Arabella Bishop was the head of Sotheby’s Ireland and Northern Ireland office for 25 years until it closed early last year. Since then, she has set up her own art advisory service to assist people buying and selling art and antiques here.
Speaking in advance of Irish art auctions by Sheppard’s and Morgan O’Driscoll next week, she advises people to buy what they like, within their budget, but before purchasing to research the recent prices of comparable pieces.
“Attention should be paid to condition, especially, as many auctions are now conducted entirely online and opportunities to view works in person can be limited,” says Bishop. She also recommends buying work fresh to the market rather than a piece which has been circulated repeatedly.
“Don’t get carried away. Whenever possible, aim to buy the best works you can afford by a given artist. Buying a piece from a well-known collection is a bonus.”
Arabelle Bishop, former director of Sotheby’s Ireland and Northern Ireland office, has recently set up her own art advisory business
Sheppard’s Auction House in Durrow, Co Laois will have 300 lots of paintings and sculptures in its Important Irish Art auction on Tuesday, February 24th.
“The catalogue spans multiple disciplines from early modernism through mid-century expressionism to significant contemporary practice,” says Michael Sheppard.
The Achill Island painting by Grace Henry (€12,000-€15,000) is one of the highlights. Painted by Henry in about 1915 when she was living on the island with her then husband, Paul Henry, it captures a view of Achill fromacross an inlet. Dr Peter Murray, art critic and former director of the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork, suggests it is one of her finest landscape paintings.
The Sheppard auction also contains works from the studios of the late Dutch-born artist Sonja Landweer (1933-2019), who was based in Ireland, and the late Barrie Cooke (1931-2014), an abstract expressionist painter originally from England.
Nude, Cill Rialaig (€2,000-€3,000) by Barrie Cooke at Sheppard’s Irish art auction
Initially a ceramicist, Landweer later became known for her bronze casting, painting, prints and jewellery. She moved to Ireland in 1965 as part of an international group of artists and craftspeople invited here to revitalise Irish craft and design. She taught ceramics at the newly founded Kilkenny Design Workshops and went on to inspire a generation of younger artists.
Landweer met and lived with Cooke first in The Island (which later became Grennan Mill Art School), in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, and then in Jerpoint House. They had one daughter, Aoine Landweer-Cooke. While the couple separated in the 1980s, they remained friends and supporters of each other’s art.
Landweer had retrospective exhibitions at the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny in 2001 and in Visual Carlow in 2011. Cooke had retrospective exhibitions at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in 1986 and the RHA in 1995. His work was also shown at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2008.
Blistered Ovid, an earthenware sculpture made in about 2010 (€3,000-€5,000), and Irish landscape vessel (€500-€800) are works from Landweer studio that her family is now selling through Sheppard’s. Works by Cooke for auction – similarly being sold by his family – include Cill Rialaig watercolour (€700-€1,000) and Nude, Cill Rialaig (€2,000-€3,000). Cill Rialaig is an artists’ retreat in Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry founded by the publisher and gallerist Noelle Campbell Sharp.
Blistered Ovid (€3,000-€5,000), an earthenware sculpture made in about 2010 by Sonja Landweer, at Sheppard’s auction 
Irish landscape vessel (€500-€800) by Sonja Landweer, also at Sheppard’s 
What Lies Beneath by Gerald Davis (€400-€600), at Sheppard’s Irish art auction
Sheppard’s auction has a wide range of landscape paintings, one eye-catching example of which is What Lies Beneath (€400-€600) by Gerald Davis. Davis (1938-2005), who was one of Ireland’s leading semiabstract artists, was also a gallery owner, art critic and Joycean scholar.
Meanwhile, collectors of art should also have a browse through the online catalogue for Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art auction. An untitled work (€1,500-€2,000) by Irish artist Guggi had already received a bid over its estimate at time of writing. (Bidding ends on Monday, February 23rd.) Those interested in his work should note that a documentary on Guggi will be screened on February 26th as part of the Dublin International Film Festival.
Untitled work (€1,500-€2,000) by Guggi, at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art auction
The O’Driscoll auction also includes works by Grace Henry – Joigny Foire (€400-€600), a watercolour no doubt inspired by her time in France during the 1920s and 1930s, and The Town Steeple (€400-€600), a simple drawing also perhaps sketched during that same period.
Study of Trees in the Park (€2,000-€3,000) by Mainie Jellett, at Morgan O’Driscoll
Study of Trees in the Park (€2,000-€3,000) is a serene gouache on paper by Mainie Jellett, also in the O’Driscoll auction. Jellet was best known for her abstract cubist paintings but in latter years, she was influenced by Chinese art.
Falling Figure in bronze by Rowan Gillespie (€4,000-€6,000)
The O’Driscoll auction also has a good range of sculpture by contemporary sculptors including Falling Figure in bronze (€4,000-€6,000) by Rowan Gillespie.
Finally, collectors of eclectic functional or decorative pieces for homes, restaurants, cafes or design museums should take a few minutes to browse RJ Keighery’s auction catalogue for their forthcoming auction on February 24th in Waterford. “It includes a lifetime collection of silver, mid-century, design, period furniture, fine jewellery, oriental rugs, religious items and collectables,” says Thomas Keighery.
As well as a good range of Waterford crystal, the auction also has everything from copper kettles to Imari style teapots, vintage fountain pens, gilded mirrors and decoy ducks.
Arabellabishop.com, morganodriscoll.com, sheppards.ie, antiquesireland.ie
What did it sell for?
Hot Sauce, Graham Knuttel Hot Sauce, Graham KnuttelEstimate: €1,000-€1,500Hammer price: €3,200Auction house: Adam’s
Big Bird, Aubusson tapestry, Graham Knuttel Big Bird, Aubusson tapestry, Graham KnuttelEstimate: €4,000-€6,000Hammer price: €3,800Auction house: Adam’s
The Sinking of the Titanic, Graham Knuttel The Sinking of the Titanic, Graham KnuttelEstimate: €10,000-€15,000Hammer price: €14,000Auction house: Adam’s
Chateau Latour 1978 Pauillac (magnum) Chateau Latour 1978 Pauillac, (magnum)Estimate: €800-€1,000Hammer: price €700Auction house: Adam’s