Henry Moore, Three Ideas for Sculpture, 1982.
Estimate £20,000–30,000
“We have lived with these pieces for very many years and will take great pleasure in sharing the joy they have brought us with others.” (Patrick & Antoinette Murphy)
Patrick Murphy knew Henry Moore – perhaps the greatest living British artist of the day – well, and together with his wife Antoinette, visited Moore at his home and studio Perry Green in Hertfordshire. This beautifully worked and accomplished composition from 1982 was acquired directly from Moore, having been shown at his solo exhibition at London’s Fisher Fine Art earlier that year.
Gillian Ayres, Remember This, 2003.
Estimate £7,000–10,000
Gillian Ayres was one of the leading exponents of the radical developments in abstract painting that dominated the British Art scene in the late 1950s and ‘60s. Responding to the work of the Abstract Expressionist painters in America, Ayres and her contemporaries – including artists such as Alan Davie and Albert Irvin, also presented within the Antoinette and Patrick Murphy Collection - eliminated any reference to the outside world in their work, and instead focused directly on the abstract properties of the paint surface, texture, scale and colour, and in doing so reaffirmed the language of abstraction.
Roger Hilton, Nude, 1973.
Estimate £4,000–6,000
The subject of a recent exhibition at Sotheby’s S2 Gallery, Roger Hilton became known in his later life for his colourful gouaches, often of female nudes. Displaying his great skill and understanding of form, Hilton’s bright, colorful palette of gouaches draws the viewer in. The Murphy's collection features work by many artists of the post-war period – capturing the enthusiastic opening up of the British art scene after the war.
Alan Davie, Dogging Around, 1966.
Estimate £8,000–12,000
Alan Davie has often been associated with the New York School and the St Ives School, yet he stood aloof from these groups, his work instead informed as much from European art as American and as much from ancient art as modern trends. It is the synthesis of all these experiences which gives Davie his unique style, seen in Dogging Around from 1966. The physical energy involved in making this work is felt in each sweeping brushstroke, which become the pictorial equivalent of the jazz melodies Davie listened to as he painted, stripped to the waist with canvases laid on the floor.
William Gear, September Landscape, 1951.
Estimate £8,000–12,000
Included in Gear’s 1954 South London Gallery retrospective, September Landscape displays all the hallmarks of a great work by the artist, and it is clear to see what drew Antoinette and Patrick Murphy to this painting. With a palette so evocative of the period, and a stark, brilliant abstract design it is clear to see from this work why Gear was one of the most celebrated and successful artists of the mid-1950s in Britain.
Sir Matthew Smith, Tulips in a White Dish (II), 1928.
Estimate £15,000–25,000
In 1955, Patrick Heron – a leading artist and art critic of the time – wrote of Smith: ‘Easily the most important English painter of his generation … [he] understands, as few other English painters do, the true potentialities of colour’. This beautiful still life composition from 1928 shows Smith at the height of his fame, with a palette every bit as vibrant as that of the great colourist Henri Matisse.
Arthur Boyd, Cockatoos & Hillside Shoalhaven River New South Wales, 1982.
Estimate £7,000–10,000
The passion with which Antoinette and Patrick Murphy collected art was on a truly global scale – from London and Paris, Tokyo and New York to Ghana and Malaysia - as seen through this fantastic 1982 Arthur Boyd, bought from Wagner Gallery in Sydney in 2004. Collecting artists from across the world, paintings, prints and sculptures were displayed lovingly alongside one another in the Murphy’s home.
Breon O’Casey, Jungle Bird, 2004.
Estimate £3,000–5,000
Including a broad range of paintings, works on paper and prints by some of the century’s most sought after and respected names, the Antoinette and Patrick Murphy Collection also includes a diverse range of sculptures including works by David Nash and Breon O’Casey – who had served as a studio assistant to Barbara Hepworth - with his Jungle Bird from 2004 displaying his great aptitude in bronze.
Albert Irvin, Ellington, 2005.
Estimate £10,000–15,000
A sensational colourist and accomplished abstract painter, as Barry Phipps commented ‘Bert was an artist who sought to enhance people’s lives through his paintings. His free, expressive use of colour and abstracted simple forms use traditional pictorial space to create an expanse we can enter, a landscape the mind can play in’. We are delighted to offer two stunning compositions by the artists within September’s Made In Britain sale from the collection of Antoinette and Patrick Murphy.
William Scott, White with Black Predominating, 1973.
Estimate £250,000–350,000
Appearing as a highlight of Sotheby’s 19 November Evening Sale of
Modern & Post-War British Art
, we are delighted to be presenting William Scott’s White with Black Predominating from 1973, also from the collection of Antoinette and Patrick Murphy. The work will appear alongside further important works by some of the most sought-after artists of the 20th Century including Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Peter Blake, Dame Elisabeth Frink, Allen Jones and more.
We are currently accepting submissions for the sale, so for a free and information valuation, without obligation for sale, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our specialists.
In September’s Made In Britain Sotheby's is delighted to be offering a selection of works from the collection of Patrick and Antoinette Murphy.
As a brewer for Guinness, Patrick travelled all over the world – from London and Paris, Tokyo and New York to Ghana and Malaysia – acquiring artworks wherever possible, whilst Antoinette set up the Peppercannister Gallery in Dublin. Patrick also served as a Chairman for the Arts Council Committee in Ireland, advising on purchases which still hang in many State premises. In his role, which saw him meeting and getting to know many of the leading artists of the period, Patrick helped establish the seminal ROSC art exhibitions, seismic events that introduced international artists including works by Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein and Mark Rothko to many Irish audiences for the first time.
Here we take a closer look at some of the highlights from the collection.