RTÉ sale of my father’s art is ‘gut-wrenching’
Louis le Brocquy’s son says that the broadcaster had promised it would never sell artwork
RTÉ promised it would never sell two important art works by acclaimed artist Louis le Brocquy, according to the painter’s son.
Pierre le Brocquy told the Irish Mail on Sunday this weekend that he was ‘deeply saddened’ by the decision of the cashstrapped national broadcaster to put the renowned works up for public auction next month.
‘I don’t want to be over dramatic but when I heard this, well it was gut‘Today, wrenching,’ Pierre told the MoS.
‘I was directly involved in the commissioning process for the second work that Louis did for them in 2000. At that time, we were told that both his pieces would hang in public in RTÉ for as long as the institution was in existence.
‘We were led to understand that they had a noble mission to protect my father’s work as part of Ireland’s cultural heritage.
‘When I heard they were to be just taken down and sold off, my initial reaction was one of deep sadness and I still feel like that.
‘I think this is a mistake. It’s a mistake by the Irish Government to let them go out of Ireland.
‘Could they not have been offered to another public institution?’
The sale of the le Brocquy pieces, and others by renowned Irish artists Tony O’Malley, William Scott and George Campbell, has attracted controversy since it was leaked earlier this month.
Leading Dublin art auctioneer Ian Whyte says the proposed sale, which will take place in Sotheby’s of London next month is an ‘illjudged disaster’.
He says the semi-state company will be lucky to clear between €150,000 and €200,000 after they pay commissions and the art’s coowners, the Arts Council.
The sale of the five art works was also criticised this week by the former director of News at RTÉ, Wesley Boyd, who called for it to be stopped.
Pierre le Brocquy, who lives in Spain and manages his father’s estate since he died seven years ago, says if the work goes out of Ireland, it will be hard to ever get it back.
‘This reminds me of a case when a group of collectors and art critics got together to lobby the Taoiseach of the day to buy a collection of pieces by Eileen Gray [Ireland’s most renowned furniture designer].
‘The government refused and the collection went for £300,000 [punts].
‘It’s a mistake to let them go out of Ireland’
a single chair by Gray can fetch up to €20m – we’ve lost that cultural heritage and the same will happen with Louis’s pieces.’
The two tapestries by le Brocquy are The Táin (1966) and The Massing Of The Armies (2000).
Sotheby’s Ireland is headed by Galway native Arabella Baker, who will oversee the sale in London on November 19.
It put the guide price for The Táin piece at between €81,000 and €115,000, and The Massing Of The Armies at between €120,000 and €180,000.
The catalogue notes that both were designed especially for RTÉ.
Describing the later work, the Sotheby’s catalogue says: ‘In the year 2000, on the suggestion of Dr Ronald Tallon, architect of the award-winning new Television Programmes Building, RTÉ commissioned the present work to hang in their new reception. It was a fitting continuation of Tallon, Scott and Walker’s commission from le Brocquy to design a work for the original RTÉ Television Programmes Building in 1966.’
Asked to comment on Pierre le Brocquy’s assertions, a spokesman for RTÉ said: ‘RTÉ has no further comment to make regarding this matter, only to reiterate that the proceeds raised in November’s auction will be reinvested in arts and cultural projects within RTÉ.’