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CHRISTIE’S SALE OF IRISH ART
LONDON, THURSDAY 17TH MARCH 2016
‘FIGURE’, (verso) FRANCIS BACON (1909-1992)
A LOST FRANCIS BACON NUDE FETCHES
€550,000
Lot 66 in the Christie’s sale offered a pair of paintings by Tony O’Malley H.R.H.A (1913-2003)
Lot 66 – The pair of paintings by Irish artist Tony O’Malley when revealed and joined up showed a lost, unfinished painting by fellow-artist Francis Bacon. The paintings sold on the day far exceeding the top estimate of £30,000.
They sold to an unnamed buyer in Christie’s South Kensington saleroom. Announcing the lot as a “pair of O’Malley’s with, of course the Bacon on the back” the auctioneer quipped: “It being St Patrick’s Day, the stars could not be more aligned.” Bidding opened at £26,000 and then jumped quickly. When the hammer fell there was loud applause in the saleroom
‘Currach, Clare Island’ and ‘Evening Landscape, Tedihy Hospital’ were consigned to the auction by separate owners. Christie’s did not name the vendors but the first painting had been gifted to the Irish poet Padraic Fallon who died in 1974 and the second is understood to have been in the collection of O’Malley’s widow Jane.
Illustrated: O’Malley’s paintings
‘Currach, Clare Island’ (recto) by Tony O’Malley H.R.H.A (1913-2003)
‘Evening Landscape, Tedihy Hospital’ (recto) By Tony O’Malley H.R.H.A (1913-2003)
O’Malley had met Bacon in the English seaside resort of St Ives in Cornwall in 1959. When Bacon left his rented studio there the landlady gave his discarded boards and canvases to other artists – one of whom used one to roof a chicken shed. O’Malley cut his board in half and used both pieces to paint these two pictures. –‘Currach, Clare Island’ and ‘Evening Landscape, Tedihy Hospital.” However, the board had an almost life-size unfinished image of a male nude by Bacon which O’Malley seems to have accorded no value.
Before the auction Christie’s had said “for years these works by O’Malley were separated, residing in the collections of two different owners. Now these paintings and the lost Bacon Study will be reunited and viewed together for the first time in almost 60 years”.
Claire Moore BA(Hons)
GALLERY MANAGER
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