Irish Arts Review A Century of Experience and Service Author(s): Brian Coyle Source: Irish Arts Review (1984-1987), Vol. 4, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 60-62 Published by: Irish Arts Review Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20492007 . Accessed: 18/06/2014 17:49 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Irish Arts Review is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Irish Arts Review (1984-1987). http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 62.122.76.54 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 17:49:02 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Transcript
Irish Arts Review
A Century of Experience and ServiceAuthor(s): Brian CoyleSource: Irish Arts Review (1984-1987), Vol. 4, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 60-62Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20492007 .
Accessed: 18/06/2014 17:49
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Irish Arts Review is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Irish Arts Review(1984-1987).
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 62.122.76.54 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 17:49:02 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
On the 6th of December, 1973, at The Adam Salerooms, St.
Stephen's Green, Dublin, the auction eer's hammer fell at Ir?15,500 on Jack Butler Yeats's impressionist oil painting on canvas 'A Palace' (24" x 36"). This painting had hung for many years in the famous jammets' restaurant, on Dublin's
Nassau Street. It was purchased by an Irish collector, and not only establish ed a record price for the artist's work, but ushered in a new era of appreciat ion of Irish art and art in general in Ireland. Nostalgia may well have played its part in creating such value, but in fact it was part of a worldwide re appraisal of works of art as investment. The oil crises of the early 1970s were having as wides'pread an effect on economic stability as the First World
War had on a previous generation. In the hot July of 1887 it was a more
stable world which saw the Marquess of Salisbury, the Prime Minister of Eng land, Arthur Balfour, the Chief Secre tary for Ireland, and a reclusive Queen
Victoria at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight celebrating her jubilee. In The Irish Times on the 25th of July of that year, an advertisement appeared stating that Mr. James Adam (late of Messrs.
Arthur Jones & Sons) "desires to announce that he has commenced busi ness as Auctioneer, Valuer, Insurance and House Property and General Agent at 17, Merrion Row". He goes on to say that he is greatly encouraged by influ ential promises of support in recognit ion of the experience, capacity and fidelity which he invariably brought to the advancement and discharge of business. This was to prove true; his advancement was phenomenal in esta blishing the firm which still flourishes under its founder's principles.
James Adam, the firm's founder, was born in Scotland in 1849. Bearing a dis tinguished Scottish name, he was like some of his namesakes before him, destined for success. He came to Ireland and took up an apprenticeship with Arthur Jones and Sons of 135, St. Stephen's Green. Messrs. Jones & Sons were Auctioneers, Valuers, House and Land Agents and also well-known House Furnishers, Cabinet Makers, Carpet and Chintz Merchants, and even Undertakers. The idea of a complete client service is apparently not new. The firm of Jones made notable contribut
This year the distinguished Fine Art and Property
Auctioneers, James Adam & Sons of St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, celebrates its centenary. Brian Coyle, F.R.I.C.S., F.S.V.A., F.I.A.V.I.,
Senior Director, reviews the history of the firm and its role in the successful promotion of Irish
art as well as the increasing interest in works of art as an investment.
James Adam, founder of the firm.
ions to the Great Exhibition at the
Crystal Palace in London in 1851. Several ambitious pieces of their carved
bog oak or yew wood are illustrated in the catalogue for the Exhibition, also
Killarney ware - an Irish form of marquetry based on arbutus and other native timbers - was produced as tables, davenport desks and smaller items such as stationery and writing boxes and
trays. The bright young James Adam pro
gressed on the valuation and auction
eering side of the successful Jones firm.
Eventually, in 1887, he decided to estab lish his own business. At this time he is recorded as living with his family at
136, St. Stephen's Green. His new business prospered and his "exper
ofie 4erst1, ero Rwwhr
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the firm remained until 1968 when the spacious premises at the corner of St. Stephen's Green and Kildare Street were acquired and renovated to accom modate all of the business under one roof. From the early days there was a specialization in sales of fine art, period funiture, books, porcelain etc. Interest ing early sales are recorded and cata logues survive of sales of orchids, perambulators and even old army boots (at the end of the First World War).
All these show a remarkable variety of interests, apart from fine art. The "regular sales", usually held on premises, gathered momentum and included coins, medals, old silver, plate and jewellery, painted fans, work in artists' studios, apart from the contents of large houses. The valuation side of the busi ness also expanded. Elizabeth Bowen, in her History of the Shelbourne Hotel records that Mr. James Adam prepared an inventory and valuation of the contents of the hotel in the late 1880s. In the 1980s the contents of Aras an
Uachtaraiin and the residence of the Ambassador of the United States of America have been added to the distin guished list.
By the 1890s it was obvious that a permanent salesroom was required and James Adam expanded and took a lease of 19, St. Stephen's Green for a term of one hundred and fifty years at an annual rent of ?99, inclusive. Here, in a spacious premises, formerly a perambu lator shop, he established a Fine Art Salesroom which supplied fine period furniture etc. to Dublin's increasingly prosperous business and professional classes. The firm remained there until the amalgamation of premises at 26, St. Stephen's Green in 1968.
By the turn of the century James Adam was a distinguished and substant ial citizen of Dublin. In the interesting
Contemporary Biographies edited by W.T. Pyke and published in 1908, which also describes properties in the city and environs, he is noted as "son of the late John Adam of Paisley, Scotland." He was, in fact, born at Johnstone on 3rd July 1849 and was then (1908) living at Orwell Bank, Orwell Park, Rathgar. James Adam died in 1932, followed by his son in 1934, leaving his grandson to carry on the business.
Over the years, apart from the successful salesrooms where regular
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C.I1 Off 17 E...=daa .0. CtLCyt1ui-tgD uB ?a4ln - _d- tl A.cti. _ . . ld* A p...-.................tI. sA' SW -.-Isd O OT EPHE.< f&1 GREE _. U.tllo DOW _4 * , *{i . STEPH;t-- S Gs E,.
A Palace, Jack 13. Yeats.
auction sales are held, a series of important contents sales on premises have been conducted. Such interesting collections as those at Killiney Castle, Dunadea Castle, St. Mary's Abbey, Cabra Castle, Co. Cavan, were dispers ed. Crowded attendances were reported and "enormous prices" in their day such as ?33 for a pair of George II
carved giltwood mirrors, ?60 for a pair of painted satinwood tables and ?95 for a silver salver, Dublin, 1788, made headlines.
With continued specialization, the firm introduced Irish art sales in the early 1970s. Previously, paintings by Irish artists had been included in regular sales of fine art, period furniture etc. and were little regarded. Whether financial appreciation or sentiment sent the price of 'A Palace' soaring in
December 1973, it was the commence ment of a great purchasing spiral based to a large extent on investment. The
work of other Irish artists of quality was soon to follow. This trend was itself following a dramatic increase inter nationally in the value of period furniture, silver, porcelain and almost everything with quality and age to recommend it. This came as a result, to a great extent, of expansion of the English auction houses worldwide, with the resultant promotion and increase in the sale of art. Traditional forms of investment were less popular due to the oil crisis. Increased activity on the part of well-endowed museums, particularly in the United States, coincided with in
creased private collector and investment interest. At the start of the investment purchasing spiral it was the well-known painters whose works most purchasers were seeking. Curiously enough, there had always been recognition and fair value paid for some Irish artists, particularly those of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, such as
William Ashford and the Roberts. Perhaps because the work of these artists was more international and immediately appealed to the then current taste for Neo-Classical and Romantic works, they succeeded and sold. Irish landscapes, both Classical and Modern, were familiar to purchasers by the early twentieth century. Taste in paintings in the nineteenth century veered towards the genre and the romantic, with scenes of good children, dogs and deer at bay becoming the rage. Graphic art also developed and fine engravings, lithographs etc. were pro duced from popular works at a fraction of the cost of the originals. The signing of many of these prints by the artists was reasonably common and increases their value today.
A distinctive modern Irish School began to emerge at the end of the
nineteenth century. The great portrait painters, such as Sir John Lavery and Sir
William Orpen, who catered for the wealthy and fashionable, also painted landscape and other subjects. Another post-impressionist group included Wal ter Frederick Osborne and Nathaniel
Hone. As a result, an Irish taste for Irish
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landscapes and figurative subjects in particular developed among a new generation of buyers. In the post rebellion period of the 1920s a new society sought roots and reassurance in the beauty of the Irish landscape and heroic portraits. Such artists as Paul Henry, William Conor, Patrick Tuohy, James Sleator, James Humbert Craig and Frank McKelvey worked for com paratively poor returns at giving the public what they wanted between the
Wars. Some of this work was good, some only mediocre and some brilliant.
Allied to the subject matter of these western landscape painters was the genius of the prolific Jack Butler Yeats in figurative and other studies recording events in the lives of West of Ireland people and their great poverty and pride. In this field we also find Sean Keating, Sean O'Sullivan, Maurice MacGonigal, Charles Lamb and others recording traditional Irish customs, costume and people. Such work was not the best selling in its time but it now
represents a very important part of our
heritage and is increasingly appreciated and rising in value.
Irish artists became very busy and productive to satisfy the native market which emerged after the settling down of affairs of the new State in the early 1930s.
Nostalgia has formed a large part of the criteria of the new generation of buyers. Adventure into contemporary art in Ireland has been slower although it is now advancing at a more satisfact
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ory level. The very recognizable fine styles of Walter Frederick Osborne,
Yeats, Orpen, Lavery, Henry, McKelvey, Craig, Leech, Swanzy and, amongst the Post-Impressionists and modern painters, Roderic O'Conor and Louis le Brocquy need no introduction. Even those not particularly interested in art have seen reproductions of many of these works and are aware of the artists' names. It is the works of the less well-known Irish artists, not so less talented in many cases, which has perhaps seen the great est rise in real values over the past decade. For instance Letitia Mary Hamilton and her sister Eva, Mildred Anne Butler (an almost unknown name a decade ago), Rose Barton, Sarah Purser, Richard \ T. Moynan, Patrick Tuohy, Leo Whelan, Nora McGuinness, Nano Reid, James Malachy Kavanagh, Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett and others who are amongst a group of highly talented and interesting painters most of whom lived during the last hundred years.
Early on, some had shown appeal above the ordinary and their values responded upwards accordingly. George Russell "A.E.", with his romantic misty Irish land and seascapes, peopled by faery figures, and William Percy French, the most prolific of Irish bog landscape painters, are examples of those whose value now depends on quality. When paintings by some artists edge beyond the average buyer's means, a new inter est is taken in other artists, less well known and sometimes less prolific. Retrospective exhibitions and other promotions have brought to the atten tion of the public the talent of many
who deserve to be better known. The splendid work of The National Gallery of Ireland in recent years in arranging exhibitions of Irish artists such as Orpen, Lavery and Osborne has helped to increase public interest generally in Irish painters and stimulate potential buyers and investors. Taste is directed to a great extent by supply and value depends on both. The stylish work of Sir John Lavery, at present so fashion able and expensive, recreates an exclus ive sense of, Edwardian privilege and
glamour to reassure the wealthy in a world which may seem to them to be increasingly egalitarian and hostile.
Other talents in Irish art which are still somewhat neglected include those
Country Bridge in Summer by Walter Osbome RHA.
Sold for ?48,000 at the Adam Salesrooms on July 2nd 1982.
of Gerard Dillon, Daniel O'Neill, Patrick Hennessy, Beatrice Glenavy, Grace Henry, Harry Kernoff and Harry Robertson Craig. The falling back of values of less-than-top quality works has had a healthy effect on a market which generally remains buoyant. Values are nowadays more often based on merit rather than merely upon estab lished reputations. Demand in Ireland has also expanded into contemporary art, albeit, as yet, mainly of a conservat ive nature. The average Irish collector or investor, whether corporate or priv ate, remains cautious. Institutional buying has given a new dimension to art markets; apart from investment, the good public relations attached to the hard-nosed corporate image supporting the humanities in the purchase of art is fully recognized. This has led to much appreciated and important support, indeed to the survival of contemporary artists.
The problem for the smaller collector is that the recognition of the value of
art as an investment has closed off much of the top quality to the less
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affluent. Today we have, for instance, pension funds making considerable in vestments in art. As the supply of fine paintings and sculpture diminishes, the value of other forms of decorative art, including period furniture, porcelain etc. has increased. Many of the most successful "investors" in art over the past few decades were not purposefully investors at all. Prices were so keen up to about ten years ago that one needed only to be acquisitive. Increased know ledge and promotion has led to shrewd informed buying and fast appreciation in value. Appreciation backed up by knowledge and an eye for quality are the real ingredients for success. The advancement in the quality of modern auction catalogues and knowledge in cluding provenance has encouraged collectors and increased values.
Quality at all levels of art is now the only guarantee of value with potential for increase in the future. This is illu strated daily by reports of records being broken at sales for the works of out standing artists. One must bear in mind however that most artists develop their work over a lifetime. The early and middle period are often more desirable and valuable than the later work. Most artists also develop a distinctive style which is apparent throughout their oeuvre. It is this very mark of distinct ion which helps to identify an artist's
work upon which very often confid ence of patronage is based and value assured. Artists, like politicians, who constantly change style or direction often tend to confuse their supporters and, unless particularly talented, lose popularity.
It is true to say that investment in art, and Irish art in particular, has proved a very sound policy. The increase in values over the last fifteen years well outpaced inflation and although buyers are now more selective, there is no reason to believe that the purchase of good work by Irish artists or indeed of other artists should prove anything but a good decision.
Let us hope that the renewed apprec iation will also ensure the preservation
of our heritage of art in Ireland which has been so sadly neglected by the ruth less ravages of unnecessary export in recent years.
Brian Coyle
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