There is a paucity of quality Irish art coming onto the market right now.
Financial returns in Dublin auction houses we are told, are back by as much as eighty per cent.
Quality generally is not being made available and that is the problem.
The equity, property and art market are all interlinked.
That is a truism. That said - let the market test the serious collector with the equivalent of a ‘Red Rum’ and watch how financially creative the true art aficionado really is.
Bad examples of art coming into the market place are giving art a bad name and is accordingly undermining the market.
Collectors and auctioneers should resist accepting second rate examples.
In the forthcoming De Vere art auction in Dublin regardless of tag prices - There are some good paintings.
‘In the sunshine, Brittany (30/40 thousand euros) by Aloysius O Kelly is very attractive and no matter who painted this work -Scholarship wins out.
The small Blackshaw of an arm chair is a sample par excellence of what a gifted painter can achieve with a few marks on a canvas or board.
The basket of fruit by Shawcross is a fine work.
Traditional collectors should be interested in the small Grace Henry of a girl in an interior.
This is reminiscent of a few early Charles Lamb female portrait paintings which have come to the market over the years.
