NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00EUR+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2004 Apr 27 @ 17:00UTC+00:00 : GMT
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (b.1916)
RECONSTRUCTED HEAD
signed and dated [1967] lower left; typed exhibition label and a Bourlet & Sons
label on reverse; opus no.183
oil on canvas
150 by 150cm., 59 by 59in.
Provenance:
Gimpel Fils, London;
Taylor Galleries, Dublin;
Private collection, Dublin;
Private collection, France
Exhibited:
‘Louis le Brocquy: Recent Paintings’, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, 1-26 October
1968, and Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, Zurich, catalogue no.1 as Head of a Man
Reconstructed Head (1967) [Opus no.183] is a particularly haunting example of
the extensive series of images of the human head that preoccupied Louis le
Brocquy more or less exclusively from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, and which
has remained a characteristic subject to this day. It is large by le Brocquy’s
standards and square in format1. Isolated and centrally positioned within a
textured light grey ground, this veiled, inchoate head is rendered in delicate
flicks and smears of red, blue, white and dark grey. Ghostly and unknowable, it
is caught in that double movement of emergence from and recession into a bright,
unfathomable ground that has characterised le Brocquy’s depiction of the
isolated human being ever since the mid-1950s.
Le Brocquy’s head images were originally inspired by the chance discovery in
1964 in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris of a display of ornamental Polynesian
skulls. This followed a period of profound dissatisfaction with his work that
had led him to destroy around forty paintings of human torsos, his preferred
subject matter for much of the previous decade. That a number of the paintings
produced in the wake of this discovery are called ‘ancestral heads’ also
reflects his subsequent realisation of the importance of head imagery in the art
of the Celts throughout the ages. Anne Crookshank has noted of the earliest of
these paintings from 1964-1965 that "the heads are nearly abstract, more skull
than head, beings which lack the emotive quality of recognition". The anonymous
Reconstructed Head of 1967 retains something of this generalised, totemic
nature. It might also be compared with Reconstructed Head of Wolfe Tone from
1964, the original title of which, Head of a Martyr, suggests a concern with
human types rather than recognisable individuals. As early as 1965, however, le
Brocquy embarked on studies of specific individuals, mostly celebrated cultural
heroes such as James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. Seamus Heaney has remarked of le
Brocquy’s heads in general that they are "quotations from bodies, from lives
even. We have no sense of them orphaned from their supporting frames or times.
They take hold of the air, they probe it with a deep pure stare".
Reconstructed Head was first exhibited in Gimpel Fils Gallery in London in
October 1968 (it was titled Head of a Man in the accompanying catalogue) in a
solo exhibition that also included a number of smaller ‘reconstructed heads’ of
some of le Brocquy’s friends and contemporary creative artists, including
Patrick Heron, John Montague, Thomas Kinsella, Michael Scott and Antonio Saura.
It was subsequently sold through the Taylor Galleries to a private collector in
Dublin.
Dr Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith
Berlin, March 2004
1 Auctioneer’s note: A second similar work of the same dimensions (59 by 59
inches) exists and is in a private collection in Dublin. Only one known work
exceeds these dimensions, and that is le Brocquy’s early masterpiece, The
Family, 1950-51 (58 by 73 inches, sold through Agnew’s for €2.75 million to
Lochlann Quinn and donated to the National Gallery of Ireland). Other works
painted on a scale approaching this include Lazarus, 1959 (69 by 47 inches,
Smurfit collection, sold through Sotheby’s, 18 May 2000, £234,000 sterling),
Reconstructed Head of James Joyce, 1967 (58.5 by 58.5 inches, Hirshhorn Museum,
Washington), and Northern Image, 1971 (57.5 by 57.5 inches, collection Per
Gimpel, London).
€100,000-€150,000 (£67,000-£100,500 sterling approx.)
Auction Location:
Ireland
Previewing Details:
Saturday & Sunday, April 24 & 25, 10am-6pm; Monday April 26, 10am to 9pm; Tuesday April 27 (day of sale) 10am to 2pm.
Additional Fees:
Shipping Details:
No Info Available
Payment Details:
No Info Available
Whyte & Sons Auctioneers Limited, trading as Whyte's, hereinafter called "the auctioneer" exercises all reasonable care to ensure that all descriptions are reliable and accurate, and that each item is genuine unless the contrary is indicated. However, the descriptions are not intended to be, are not and are not to be taken to be, statements of fact or representations of fact in relation to the lot. They are statements of the opinion of the auctioneers, and attention is particularly drawn to clause 5 set out below. Comments and opinions, which may be found in or on lots as labels, notes, lists, catalogue prices, or any other means of expression, do not constitute part of lot descriptions and are not to be taken as such unless they are made or specifically verified by the auctioneers.
<p>Clause 1 (a) Each lot is put up subject to any reserve price imposed by the vendor
(b) Subject to sub-clause (a) of this clause, the highest bidder for each lot shall be the purchaser thereof
(c) If any dispute arises as to the highest bidder the auctioneer shall have absolute discretion to determine the dispute and may put up again and re-sell the lot in respect of which the dispute arises
Clause 2 (a) The bidding and advances shall be regulated by and at the absolute discretion of the auctioneer and he shall have the right to refuse any bid or bids. NOTE: Where an agent bids, even on behalf of a disclosed client, the auctioneer nevertheless has the right at his discretion to refuse any such bid.
(b) The purchaser of each lot shall immediately on its sale, if required by the auctioneer, give him the name and address of the purchaser and pay to the auctioneer at his discretion the whole or part of the purchase money. If the purchaser of any lot fails to comply with any such requirement the auctioneer may put up again and re-sell the lot; if upon such re-sale a lower price is obtained than was obtained on the first sale the purchaser in default on the first sale shall make good the difference in price and expenses of re-sale which shall become a debt due from him.
(c) Where an agent purchases on behalf of an undisclosed client such agent shall be personally liable for payment of the purchase money to the auctioneer and for safe delivery of the lot to the said client.
Clause 3 (a) The auctioneer reserves the rights to bid on behalf of clients including vendors, but shall not be liable for errors or omissions in executing instructions to bid.
(b) The auctioneer reserves the rights, before or during a sale, to group together lots belonging to the same vendor, to split up and to withdraw any lot or lots at the auctioneer's absolute discretion and without giving any reason in any case.
(c) The auctioneer acts as agent only, and therefore shall not be liable for any default of the purchaser or vendor.
Clause 4 (a) Each lot shall be at the purchaser's risk from the fall of the hammer and shall be paid for in full before delivery and taken away at his expense within one day of the sale. The buyer will be responsible for all removal, storage and insurance charges in respect of any lot which has not been collected within one day of the date of sale. (b) If any purchaser fails to pay in full for any lot within 21 days of the date of sale such lot may at any time thereafter at the auctioneer's discretion be put up for sale by auction again or sold privately; if upon such re-sale a lower price is obtained than was obtained on the first sale the purchaser in default on the first sale shall make good the difference in price and the expenses of re-sale which shall become debt due from him. (c) Interest at 2 per cent per month and legal costs (if any) for recovery of monies due shall be payable by the purchaser on any overdue account.
Clause 5 (a) All lots are made available for inspection before each sale and each buyer, by making a bid, acknowledges that he has satisfied himself as to the physical condition, age and catalogue description of each lot (including but not restricted to whether the lot is damaged or has been repaired or restored).
(b) All lots are sold with all faults and imperfections and errors of description and the Auctioneer and its employees, servants or agents shall not be responsible for any error of description or for the condition or authenticity of any lot, save for Clause 5 (c) below. Written or verbal condition reports may be supplied by the Auctioneer on request but these are merely statements of opinion, and any error or omission in these reports may not be taken as grounds for a cancellation of sale or refund of any part of the purchase price or the cost of any repairs to the lot or lots reported on
(c) A purchaser shall be at liberty to reject any lot if he - (i) gives the auctioneer written notice of intention to question the genuineness of the lot within seven days from the date of sale; AND (ii) proves that the lot is a deliberate forgery and (iii) returns to the auctioneer within 20 days from the date of sale the lot in the same condition as it was at the time of sale; provided that the auctioneer may, at his discretion, on receiving a request in writing from the purchaser, extend for a reasonable period the time for return of the lot to enable it to be submitted to expertisation. NOTE: The onus of proving a lot to be a deliberate forgery is on the purchaser.
(d) Where a lot has been submitted to expertisation, all costs of such expertisation shall be paid by the person who retains the certificate of expertisation and item or items to which the certificate relates.
(e) Where the purchaser of a lot discharges the onus and acts in accordance with sub-clause (b) of this clause, the auctioneer shall rescind the sale and repay to the purchaser the purchase money paid by him in respect of the lot.
(f) No lot shall be rejected if, subsequent to the sale, it has been marked by an expert committee or treated by any other process unless the auctioneer's permission to subject the lot to such treatment has first been obtained in writing.
(g) Any lot listed as a "collection, range, portfolio etc." or stated to comprise or contain a collection or range of items which are not described shall be put up for sale not subject to rejection and shall be taken by the purchaser with all (if any) faults, lack of genuineness and errors of description and numbers of items in the lot, and the purchaser shall have no right to reject the lot; except that, notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this sub-clause, where before a sale a person intending to bid at the sale gives notice in writing to, and satisfies the auctioneer that any such lot contains any item or items undescribed in the sale catalogue and that person specifically describes that item or those items in that notice, then that item or those items shall, as between the auctioneer and that person, to be taken to form part of the description of the lot. Clause 6 The respective rights and obligations of the parties shall be governed and interpreted by Irish law, and the buyer hereby submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish Courts.
<p>SPECIAL CONDITIONS
(a) The buyer shall pay the Auctioneer a commission at the rate of 15% (which includes VAT at 21% under The Margin Scheme and which is not reclaimable) of the purchase price of the first €40,000 of any one lot and 12.5% (which includes VAT at 21% under The Margin Scheme and which is not reclaimable) of the excess above €40,000.
(b) The Auctioneer or its employees, servants or agents may, on request organise packing and shipping of lots purchased or may order on the buyer's behalf third parties to pack or ship purchases. Under no circumstances does the Auctioneer accept any liability whatsoever for any loss or damage howsoever occasioned in the course of such service.
(c) The buyer authorises the Auctioneer to use any photographs or illustrations of any lot purchased for any or all purposes as the Auctioneer may require. The placing of a bid will be taken as full agreement to all the above conditions.
<p>
WHYTE & SONS AUCTIONEERS LIMITED 38 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2