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Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012) THE TÁIN. MAGIC CHARIOT, 1991 Aubusson tapestry; Atelier René Duché; (no. 2 from an edition of 9) signed with initials in the weave on reverse by maître-lissier, René Duché and numbered lower right; with certificate of authenticity sewn on reverse, signed, numbered, titled and dated by le Brocquy and Duché 72.5 by 50.7in., 184.15 by 128.778cm. Taylor Galleries, November 2000; Private collection Whyte`s, 29 November 2005, lot 112; Private collection Louis le Brocquy: Aubusson Tapestries, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 2001, unpaginated (illustrated) Woven at the Atelier René Douche, France. One of a series of 22 tapestries based on le Brocquy`s 1969 illustrations to The Táin. Issued in a limited edition of nine plus two artist`s proofs. "I hope that these images from Táin Bó Cuailgne, transmuted into the woven forms of tapestry, may be seen as a tribute to the poet Thomas Kinsella, who inspired them and to the devoted publisher and designer, Liam Miller, who gave them their original coherence" (Louis le Brocquy, op. cit.). Louis le Brocquy was living in France with his young family when he received a life-changing invitation, in December 1966. Publisher Liam Miller wanted him to collaborate with Thomas Kinsella on a new translation of Ireland`s oldest saga. Le Brocquy penned an enthusiastic affirmative that Christmas Eve and spent much of the next three years visualising An Táin Bó Cúailgne. In September 1969, Dolmen Press published it as The Táin. The Táin was born of some eighty stories about the Ulaidh, a prehistoric people who lived in the north and north-western regions of what is now called Ireland. Part epic, part soap opera, the tales were vivid, vicious, inconsistent and often rather rude. Oral versions survived for long enough to be collected by scribes, whose fragmentary manuscripts are now in Trinity College and the Royal Irish Academy. Translators and writers such as Lady Gregory and W.B. Yeats had retold some of the Cúchulainn tales - and Joyce`s Finnegans Wake drew on its meandering style - but Thomas Kinsella`s Táin was the first widely-accessible version, especially when Oxford University Press` 1970 paperback followed the de luxe and limited editions produced by Dolmen Press. The Táin marked a unique cultural moment, for Ireland and the world. The State had just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising and was driving ahead with Seán Lemass` Second Programme for Economic Expansion. By 1969 when it was published, Northern Ireland was in conflict, and global events such as the Prague Spring, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, as well as wars in Vietnam, Angola and elsewhere, underlined its themes of invasion and carnage. Meanwhile, The Beatles sang "All You Need is Love." Its impact was instant. Although characters like Cúchulainn and Ferdia, Medb and Aillil, were local, the collaborators translated them into a crisply contemporaneous style that resonated through the cultural hierarchy. It engaged lovers of art, language, music and Celtic studies, as well as popular culture. The Táin became an Irish Iliad, with Cúchulainn as a Superhero reincarnating to a new age of rock, cartoons and animation. The images le Brocquy called `shadows thrown by the text` became so iconic that it is almost impossible now to imagine The Táin differently. Yet no one had visualised the full saga previously and no artist from Ireland had engaged so thoroughly with pieces of writing in so collaborative a way. Le Brocquy made hundreds of drawings, many of which appear in the de luxe and limited editions, with a handful printed in the paperback and a precious twenty in tapestry. Communication was difficult in those pre-digital days because he was in France and Miller was in Dublin, so that many key design decisions relied on sending letters through the post. Le Brocquy`s innovative, daring approach cast the saga as a virtual alphabet composed of spontaneous, inky letters. This shows immediately in Army Massing, where marks cascade in rivulets that resemble both chain mail and hand-writing, and in the H-shaped Cúchulainn confronting Ferdia. Different ages and cultures whisper through the images - and through the twenty tapestries made during 1998-2000, when le Brocquy collaborated with maître-lissier René Duché, whose firm had recently been awarded the honour Meilleur Ouvrier de France. Cuchulainn`s Warp Spasm, for example, speaks both of calligraphic marks from Sun Tzu`s The Art of War and Yves Klein`s bodily-marked Anthropometries, as well as cave paintings traced by prehistoric peoples. The translation into tapestry, via le Brocquy`s Táin lithographs, crested on the momentum from oral to written traditions, from drama to poetry and from visual culture to music. Duché`s subtly-textured cottons and wools freed le Brocquy`s black-on-white marks into a textured, sensual material that illuminates the sense of a blot or stain without definite edges, which is what he wanted. Here, the statuesque shapes let le Brocquy grow the book`s relatively modest scale into a life-affirming series of interconnected images that speak to each other like letters in a phrase or sentence. Le Brocquy`s hand reaches out through each one. Medb Ruane April 2012 "
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012) INTERIOR STUDY OF HEAD, 1972 oil on canvas signed, inscribed ["Lars from Louis"] and dated lower right; signed, titled and dated again on reverse; numbered [306] on reverse; also with Oriel Gallery label on reverse 16 by 19in., 40.64 by 48.26cm. Christie`s, 17 May 2002, lot 103; Private collection; with the Oriel Gallery, Dublin; Private collection `Louis le Brocquy`, St-Paul, Foundation Maeght, 1973, no. 37 (Ed.) Lowry, Bernadette, Faces in Times, Oriel Gallery, Dublin / Nicholson & Bass Ltd., Belfast, 2004, p. 6 (illustrated) A copy of the Oriel Gallery publication accompanies this lot. The head image is recognised as one of the major themes in the work of Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012). The series emerged following a visit, in the winter of 1964, to the anthropological museum in Paris, the Musée de l`Homme, where he came across the collection of Polynesian skulls, partly reconstructed with plaster, decorated with painted marks and with cowrie shells for eyes. Le Brocquy had been experiencing a particularly difficult period as an artist and, dissatisfied with the direction of his work which he felt was facile and aimless, he destroyed much of the year`s output. The heads resonated with him, however, as he responded to their ritualistic symbolism, triggering his own series of profound images addressing a number of related themes within the overall concept. These were initiated with the ancestral heads series that reflected his perspective of Celtic ethnography. He explained: `Like the Celts I tend to regard the head as this magic box containing the spirit. Enter that box, enter behind the billowing curtain of the face, and you have the whole landscape of the spirit`. This comment reveals the artist`s fundamental interpretation of humanity and the role of the heads in his work. He developed his series to include images of famous writers and artists, such as James Joyce, WB Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Francis Bacon. While many of the subjects, whether of posthumous or living individuals, are identifiable from photographs or other artworks, the theme is less about their surface features than the workings of imagination and creativity. Others in the series are not specific individuals and therefore, stripped of their direct references to known personalities, give full focus to the conditions and processes of the mind, as in Interior Study of Head. This was painted in the early 1970s, when this theme was well established in the artist`s oeuvre. It conforms to the general colouration of the series - of muted tones against shades of white - and in terms of composition, with a single head against a plain background, it evinces le Brocquy`s empathy with the poignant isolation of the individual. However, Interior Study of Head represents an unusual approach in that it is more explicitly about the inner person. With facial features reduced to a minimum or obliterated entirely, the viewer is drawn into a sense of human psychology, and its intellectual, emotional, and creative dimensions. While the organic forms and colours across the surface of the bones of the head suggest something of the tissue and nerve structures that support mental activity, the fragmentary nature of the execution is less about materiality than elusive traces. Le Brocquy explained this well in an interview with George Morgan that is particularly apt for this work: Clearly it is not possible to paint the spirit. You cannot paint consciousness. You start with the knowledge we all have that the most significant human reality lies beneath material appearance. So, in order to recognise this, to touch this as a painter, I try to paint the head image from the inside out, as it were, working in layers or planes, implying a certain flickering transparency […] [Pierre le Brocquy (ed) and George Morgan (1986), Louis le Brocquy: The Head Image, Gandon Editions, Cork, p.12. ] Dr Yvonne Scott November 2012 "
An early 20th century tinplate toy magic lantern, with oil burner, detachable chimney, and sliding lens, on wooden base, GC (paintwork scorched); together with a quantity of multi view coloured slides including a set of 6 entitled “Luftschiff Serie”, depicting early airships and aircraft c 1910, in their original carton, the rest being mainly humorous cartoons, in its original carton with coloured label to lid. GC
"Magic Lantern slides, ten depicting George Tinworth panels by Doulton & Co. (Lambeth) - The Release of Barabbas; Jesus appeareth to Mary; The power of Faith; The Holy Women at the Sepulchre; Preparing for the Crucifixion; Christ`s entry into Jerusalem; The Last Supper; The Ascension; Christ`s charge to Peter; The power of Darkness; and 21 others (32)"
A COLLECTION OF MYTH AND MAGIC FIGURES BY TUDOR MINT INCLUDING MM3167 `PLEASE LET THE FUTURE BE GOOD`, MM3050 `THE DRAGON OF WISDOM`, MM3143 `THE WRONG SPELL, MM3801 `THE SCRIBE`, MM3909 `CATCHING THE RAINDROPS`, N001 `WIZARDS SPELL`(SINGLE CAST STUDY), MM3168 `I WISH I COULD REMEMBER THEM ALL`. (7)
A COLLECTION OF MYTH AND MAGIC FIGURES BY TUDOR MINT INCLUDING MM1053, `THE PATERNAL DRAGON` (EGG) MOULD 1 VERSION, MM1049, `THE PROTECTOR` (EGG) MOULD 1 VERSION, MM1050 `THE SUPREME DRAGON` (EGG) MOULD 1 VERSION, MM1051 `THE FAMILY OF DRAGONS` (EGG) MOULD 1 VERSION, MM1052 `THE DRAGON OF JUSTICE (EGG) MOULD 1 VERSION. (5)
1894 The Magic City: A Massive Portfolio of Original Photographic Views of the Great World`s Fair, with descriptions by J.W. Bell and published by The Historical Publishing Company in 1894, relates to the World`s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Ill., in 1893 and includes about 300 photos with descriptions of the events, scenes and people of the fair, intact except for the last page which has come loose, some small tears on a few pages and small cover nicks, otherwise fine and an incredibly interesting read. View Terms & Conditions
Ernst Plank ‘Laterna Magica’ toy magic lantern, circa 1900, together with twelve slides and in original box together with two boxes of Primus slides and two boxes of Walt Disney slides - Mickey Mouse and The Big Bad Wolf Box has back edge of lid missing, one side of the interior of box where the slides slot in is damaged, the remainder of the box although intact is very tired - General condition consistent with age **
PAVEL TCHELITCHEW(Russian 1898-1957)Study for Fata Morgana- 1939Watercolor on paperSigned and dated lower right "P. Tchelitchew 39"13.75 inches x 16.75 inches (35 x 42.5 cm)Provenance:The offered lot, according to labels on verso, has passed through a number of interesting hands. According to one such label (Figure 1), the offered lot was acquired from Julien Levy Gallery, New York by Mrs. John E. Abbott of New York, circa 1940. Julien Levy Gallery was in operation at 602 Madison Avenue, New York from 1931-1949. During that time, Mrs. John E. Abbott (Iris Barry) worked as Curator of the Museum of Modern Art’s Film Library while her husband, Mr. John E. Abbott functioned as Director of the Film Library. A label on verso cites a loan to the Museum of Modern Art under the name Abbott and numbered 42.1219 (Figure 2). Presumably, this loan of the offered lot by Mr. and Mrs. John E. Abbott was made to the Museum of Modern Art’s Tchelitchew: Paintings, Drawings exhibition in 1942. An additional label connects the offered lot with Durlacher Bros., New York and numbers the painting 39-88 (Figure 3). Durlacher Bros. and particularly, the gallery’s owner Kirk Askew worked closely with Tchelitchew, indeed, the artist painted a portrait of Kirk Askew’s wife Constance in 1938. It is uncertain when the offered lot was acquired by Mr. Robert H. Holmes, a New York collector who had other Tchelitchew works in his care such as The Seer (Christie’s, New York, Interiors, August 2012, Lot 53). According to a label on verso (Figure 4), Holmes presumably loaned the offered lot to the Gallery of Modern Art, New York for their exhibition Pavel Tchelitchew in 1964. The label references Holmes and numbers the piece 198 c.1964.Literature:James Thrall Soby, Tchelitchew: Paintings, Drawings, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art), page 94 (unillustrated). Gene Downs, “Major Artists You Might Not Have Heard Of”, a newspaper article for the Savannah Morning News, October 4, 1998, page 8E and 15E (illustrated). Exhibited:New York, Museum of Modern Art, Tchelitchew: Paintings, Drawings, 1942 as #160. Also, presumably at New York, Museum of Modern Art, Modern Drawings, February-May 1944 and presumably at New York, Gallery of Modern Art, Pavel Tchelitchew, March-April 1964.Also Savannah, Georgia, Bohemia Gallery. Works by Tchelitchew and Emanuel Romaro, October –November 1998. The lot is accompanied with an exhibition catalog written by James Thrall Soby from the Museum of Modern Art’s 1942 “Tchelitchew: Paintings, Drawings” and a Savannah Morning News newspaper article from October 4, 1998 regarding the opening of the Bohemia Gallery, Savannah, Georgia that illustrates and discusses the offered lot which was exhibited then.Pavel Tchelitchew (Russian 1898-1957) was born into the Russian aristocracy and lived with his family on a large estate outside of Moscow where Tchelitchew’s interest in art and dance developed at a young age and was cultivated through private tutoring and formal education at the University of Moscow. During the Revolution of 1918, Tchelitchew and his family were forced to leave their home and moved to Kiev. Soon thereafter, Tchelitchew with the full support of his parents, moved to Berlin to further his development as a professional artist. Two years later, Tchelitchew moved to Paris and met Gertrude Stein who purchased a few of his still life paintings and introduced him to other members of the modern art community. At the beginning of World War II, the artist immigrated to New York City. He would continue to move frequently throughout his life and travel extensively through Europe while he created figural drawings and paintings as well as dramatic stage designs.Tchelitchew is well-regarded for his figurative works that employ illusionary effects like the offered lot. He began creating dual images or what he termed “laconic compositions” in the mid-1920s and continued exploring this visual device throughout his artistic career. According to the art critic and arts administrator, James Thrall Soby, the artist was particularly fascinated by double image postcards that he saw when he was a child. This early viewing experience led to Tchelitchew’s use of layering perspective and dual imagery found in his surrealist and metamorphic works. The oil painting Fata Morgana-1940 sold at Sotheby’s Paris, June 3, 2010, Lot 60 for $765,156. The offered lot, Study for Fata Morgana, as indicated by the labels on verso and exhibition titles, is a preparatory watercolor for the later oil painting and as such, closely parallels the work in terms of palette and composition. The term Fata Morgana refers to a mirage that appears in a narrow strip immediately above a horizon line due to atmospheric conditions. The Fata Morgana mirage is complex and involves the simultaneous projection of multiple images that are stacked on top of one another. Given Tchelitchew’s investigation of dual imagery and layering of different perspectives, the title Fata Morgana and the optical effects therein are particularly fitting. At first glance Study for Fata Morgana depicts a lush and expansive mountainous landscape. However, upon closer examination, two reclining female forms appear in the mountain peaks. Dramatic rolling hills and valleys set against the horizon line mimic the human form, both complimenting one another visually and ideologically and adding complexity to the work. In his works, Tchelitchew often embedded nature and the human form with the hope of elevating representation, as Soby writes the artist wanted to “contribute to the fixed structure, that it must be used as a kind of interior magic, created its own mystery and awe but never becoming a dominant illusion.” Iris Barry (Mrs. John E. Abbott 1895-1969) served as the first Curator of the Museum of Modern Art’s Film Library. Barry’s commitment to the relatively new study of film as art led her to salvage film prints from production studios that intended to destroy such materials. In doing so, she preserved a considerable amount of archival materials on the history of American film. In 1946, she became Director and Curator of the Film Library until she retired five years later. Her husband John E. Abbott also worked for the Museum of Modern Art as the Director of the Film Library and Executive Vice President in addition to sitting on the Board of Trustees in the 1940s. The offered lot, Study for Fata Morgana shows, not only Tchelitchew’s method of painting dual images, but also Barry and Abbott’s interest in modern art and the significance of understanding particular artistic processes.
SALVADOR DALI (Spanish 1904-1989)Apparition of the Rose, from the series Magic Butterfly and the Dream- 1977Color lithograph on Arches paperPencil signed lower right, numbered lower left 174/250, blind stamped DALART Copyright 1977 lower leftImage size 23 inches x 17 inches (58.4 x 43.2 cm)Not Illustrated
A quantity of books, mainly relating to philosophy and sex including History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, Sexual Life in Ancient India by Meyer, The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia by Bronislaw Malinowski, Giacomo Casanova History of My Life in six volumes, a leatherbound copy of Goette Gallery, an 1890 edition of More Magic by Professor Hoffmann and others (approx 20).
STEPHENSON BROS. LTD. Snow White Magic Mirror & The Story of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, by Walt Disney, Dean & son, nd. Oblong cl. Magic spectacles present. hinges weak. pict. bds. in box. Tog.with McCulloch, Derek, Hank a Dog`s Life, Pitman, 1937, Ill. Helen MacGregor, 4to. in price clipped d/w. worn. 2
A CARPENTER & WESTLEY, REGENT ST., LONDON MAGIC LANTERN, black painted with set of brass cased lenses in wooden box with quantity of humorous coloured slides, together with TWO HAND HELD VIEWERS, seven natural history slides and the booklet A Compa nion to the Improved Phantasmagoria Lantern 1845 third edition.
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26510 item(s)/page