Scheduled to open next weekend is the An Túr Gloine exhibition at the National Gallery, in tandem with plans to set up a museum on Parnell Square specifically for the works of renowned stained glass artist, Harry Clarke. Stained glass artistry has indeed taken the spotlight, with An Túr Gloine, established in 1903 by Sarah Purser, being home to trailblazing artists such as Wilhelmina Geddes, Catherine O’Brien, Alfred E Child, Hubert McGoldrick, Evie Hone, and Michael Healy, the latter being the focus of a remarkable book by David Caron which was published the previous year by Four Courts Press.
Evie Hone, a Dublin native, was mentored by Walter Sickert in London where she befriended Mainie Jellett. Both went to Paris, where they were influenced by André Lhote and Albert Gleizes becoming pioneers of Cubism in Ireland. Hone’s work included a notable assignment – the east window of Eton College’s chapel. However, if seeing her work doesn’t require enrolling your children in elite education, you can view her stained-glass creation at the visitor centre in St Patrick’s Church, at the Hill of Tara in County Meath. Named ‘The Descent of the Holy Spirit’, this piece, commissioned in 1936, has a stunning initial watercolour sketch for the window now listed in Adam’s Important Irish Art Sale, which concludes on March 27th, priced between €3,000 and €5,000.
Another offering in the Adam’s sale is the ‘Wooded River Landscape with Waterfall and Ruin’, priced between €6,000 and €10,000, from the enigmatic artist Thomas Sautelle Roberts, originally just Sautelle Roberts. His elder brother, Thomas Roberts from County Waterford, was known as one of the best landscape painters in Britain and Ireland before his premature death due to tuberculosis in 1778. Possibly as tribute or perhaps in aspiration, the younger Sautelle appended “Thomas” to his name, shifted his career from architecture to art and subsequently witnessed success. He was among the inaugural members of the RHA when it was founded in 1823.
Previously a common sight in lounges all over, artworks depicting 18th-century landscapes have recently become less popular. Nevertheless, their capacity to take one to perfect, peaceful and picturesque rural settings remains unaffected by changing trends, and in the right setting, these paintings can still project profundity and exemplify enduring aesthetic sensibility. For shrewd art enthusiasts, the works by Roberts-the-younger set to auction, along with others by approximate contemporaries, such as John Henry Campbell’s View of Lough Erne, with Devenish Island and Round Tower (£3,000-£5,000); as well as James Arthur O’Connor, who has three pieces up for bidding, including Mountain River Landscape with Figures “Near Waterford” (£6,000-£8,000), may be of particular interest.
Irish painters have always been gifted in depicting landscapes, inspired by the rich abundance of their surroundings, and it’s intriguing to observe how their methods have evolved through the ages. On offer at Adam’s is a striking piece by Paul Henry from 1911 which is different in tone compared to his typical representations of Ireland’s blue-tinted lakes, mountains and cottages. The Bog (£60,000-£80,000) is believed to be based on a scene from Achill, which Henry had visited for the first time the previous year. Fast forward fifty years, you come across Patrick Collins, who ironically was born in the same year as The Bog was painted. His Spring Morning (£30,000-£50,000) encapsulates a clearer, more concentrated expression of the senses.
Several artistic works by Mainie Jellett, a close confidante and contemporary of Evie Hone, can be found on the block at the deVeres’ Irish Art Auction, set to finalise bids on March 26th. The collection of artwork on paper originates from journalist, critic, and writer Bruce Arnold, who has published literature on Jellett and modernist Ireland as well. The Abstract Composition (Blue) (€3,500-€5,000) bears a light and spontaneous looseness, showcasing the fun element in her highly polished output. Her pencil-rendered Abstract Composition (Crucifixion) (€1,500-€2,500), on the other hand, illuminates the structured intensity integral to this work stage. Realising her formal skills and finesse of line, Jellett relocated to Paris in 1921. Her Studio Interior with Seated Nude (€700-€1,000), signed and dated 1918, illustrates how keen she was to revamp these skills into abstract modernism, bringing her recognition.
Also gracing the deVeres auction is Patrick Collins, whose Menhirs on the Plain (€10,000-€15,000) presents a tantalising sense of eternity, marrying unapologetic abstraction with perpetual presence. Letitia Hamilton’s Wind Blown Tree Killary (€4,000-€6,000) asserts its raw energy while barely being restrained by classic landscape terminology. In contrast, Sean McSweeney’s lush representation of Conway’s Bog (€3,000-€5,000) tempts one further into its evocative waters and reeds.
The forthcoming Irish Art Sale at Sotheby’s will be exhibited in Paris from the 26th to the 30th of April, with final online bids closing on the 2nd of May. However, key pieces from the collection can be previewed at Sotheby’s Dublin location on Molesworth Street, between the 26th and 28th of March. Esteemed works set to feature in the auction include William Leech’s ‘A Shining Palace’, valued at €40,000-€60,000; ‘Image of Samuel Beckett’ by Louis le Brocquy, priced at the same range; Barrie Cooke’s ‘Summer Knot Study’, estimated at €4,000-€6,000; and ‘Parterre of Renewal’ by Melissa O’Donnell, expected to fetch between €6,000-€10,000.
Apart from these, An Túr Gloine exhibit is set to run from the 30th of March through to January 12th, 2025 at the National Gallery, with entry being gratis. For more information visit the websites adams.ie; deveres.ie; sothebys.com; or nationalgallery.ie.