Hilary Heron Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Hilary Heron Art Value Price Guide

Mar. 26, 2025
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) Lady of the Rocks (1953) Walnut, 82cm high (32¼) Signed with initials and dated 1953 Provenance: Collection of Sir Basil Goulding, thence by descent Exhibited: Dublin, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Hilary Heron: A R
Est: €10,000 - €15,000
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) Lady of the Rocks (1953) Walnut, 82cm high (32¼) Signed with initials and dated 1953 Provenance: Collection of Sir Basil Goulding, thence by descent Exhibited: Dublin, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Hilary Heron: A Retrospective May - Oct 2024; travelling to Banbridge, Co Down, F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Nov 2024 - Feb 2025 One of the most unique and pioneering artists of her generation, Hilary Heron (1923-1977) was born in Dublin in 1923. The daughter of a banker, the family moved to Derry and later New Ross in Wexford before Hilary returned to Dublin to study in the National College of Art in 1941. After winning a travelling scholarship from the IELA in 1947, Heron lived in Paris for several months after which she returned to Dublin and began exhibiting with Victor Waddington at his gallery in South Anne Street. Lady of the Rocks is one of several large figurative works Heron created in 1953. Carved in walnut wood, the slender head, neck and torso are raised above a series of six coarse, oblong, disc-like carvings which form the bottom half of the sculpture and are reminiscent of the cap stones on Irish Celtic Dolmens. The top half of the figure is more refined and feminine. It has features that recur in her slightly earlier works such as Adam and Eve (1951). The head features two pigtails, a playful motif which can also be seen in Girl with Pigtails (1950) and in a more abstract form in Figurehead dating to 1952. An important piece from the artist’s cannon of work, Lady of the Rocks was one of several of Heron’s sculptures included in the Irish exhibit at the Venice Biennale in 1956. Shown alongside paintings by fellow artist Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012), the tactile nature of Heron’s work is wonderfully offset by the figurative neo-romantic cubism of the paintings. Lady of the Rocks shows the influence of Surrealism and a strong pinch of Giacometti. Although Heron’s work is never derivative in nature, she clearly had a great knowledge of her international contemporaries. The work also features in one of the best-known photographs of Heron, which depicts her sitting outside, with Lady of the Rocks lying against one leg, while the sculptor carves one of the stonelike strata using a chisel and mallet. All the while a lit cigarette is hanging slightly precariously from her mouth. In 1958 Heron would move to London and share a studio with her friend and contemporary Elizabeth Frink, who would have a great influence on her work from 1959-1960. Heron then married David Greene in 1959 and moved to Dalkey in 1961, where she continued to work and exhibit with the IELA. She held her final solo exhibition at the Waddington Gallery, London in 1964 before sadly passing away in 1977 aged just 53. The recent retrospective in IMMA and accompanying publication will without doubt help restore Heron to her deserved prominence amongst Irish artists. Adam Pearson, March 2025
Adam's
Dec. 04, 2024
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) Jezebel Steel, 35cm (h) (including base) (13¾)
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) Jezebel Steel, 35cm (h) (including base) (13¾)
Adam's
Sep. 28, 2022
Hilary Heron (1923 - 1977) Untitled Copper and wood, 49cm high (19¼)
Est: €4,000 - €6,000
Hilary Heron (1923 - 1977) Untitled Copper and wood, 49cm high (19¼)
Adam's
Sep. 28, 2022
Hilary Heron (1923 - 1977) Untitled Copper wire, 129 x 40cm (50¾ x 15¾)
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Hilary Heron (1923 - 1977) Untitled Copper wire, 129 x 40cm (50¾ x 15¾)
Adam's
Mar. 15, 2020
HILARY HERON (Irish, 1923-1977) WOOD SCULPTURE
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
totem, initialed and dated H.H. 72 carved and stained European oak, 59” tall; 7”w, on metal stand
CRN Auctions
Oct. 23, 2019
Hilary Heron (1923-1976)FaceSteel, 19 x 14cm (7½ x 5½)Provenance: Artist's Studio Contents auction.
Est: €300 - €500
Hilary Heron (1923-1976)FaceSteel, 19 x 14cm (7½ x 5½)Provenance: Artist's Studio Contents auction.
Adam's
Oct. 23, 2019
Hilary Heron (1923-1976)DrawingCopper, 85 x 48cm (33½ x 19)Provenance: The Artist's Studio Contents auction.Exhibited: University of Limerick, 'Familiar Faces', 2008.
Est: €800 - €1,200
Hilary Heron (1923-1976)DrawingCopper, 85 x 48cm (33½ x 19)Provenance: The Artist's Studio Contents auction.Exhibited: University of Limerick, 'Familiar Faces', 2008.
Adam's
Oct. 23, 2019
Hilary Heron (1923-1976)Celtic SpiralsCopper wire, 110 x 33cm (43¼ x 13)Provenance: The Artist's Studio Contents auction.Exhibited: University of Limerick, 'Familiar Faces', 2008.
Est: €1,000 - €1,500
Hilary Heron (1923-1976)Celtic SpiralsCopper wire, 110 x 33cm (43¼ x 13)Provenance: The Artist's Studio Contents auction.Exhibited: University of Limerick, 'Familiar Faces', 2008.
Adam's
Mar. 27, 2018
Hilary Heron (1923-1976)Bird Barking (1959)Welded steel, 213cm long, 105cm high (83¾ x 41¼)Provenance: From the Collection of the late John Hunt who is thought to have been bought directly from the artist circa 1965 and thence by descent to the
Est: €5,000 - €7,000
Hilary Heron (1923-1976)Bird Barking (1959)Welded steel, 213cm long, 105cm high (83¾ x 41¼)Provenance: From the Collection of the late John Hunt who is thought to have been bought directly from the artist circa 1965 and thence by descent to the current owner.Exhibited: Hilary Heron, The Waddington Galleries London, 1960. Cat. No. 2 .Ulster Society of Women Artists, Belfast, 1961.Hilary Heron Sculpture, Queens University Belfast, Visual Arts Group. 1963. Cat. No. 2.Literature: Irish Women Artists: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day, National Gallery of Ireland/The Douglas Hyde Gallery. Illustrated Fig. 30. Page 44.Hilary Heron (1923-77) was the pioneering figure in modern sculpture in Ireland in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. She attended the National College of Art in Dublin in the early 1940s and as a student she won the Taylor Art Scholarship Prize in three successive years. Heron exhibited at the first Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943 and continued to show with them for over twenty years. Winning the IELA Mainie Jellett travelling scholarship, she spent most of 1948 in Paris and was influenced by the Post War existentialist art she encountered. She was related by marriage to playwright Samuel Beckett and he accompanied her to galleries and introduced her to the Paris art world. It was here that she became enamoured with welding as a sculptural medium having seen works by Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, and Julio González. The medium of ambitious modern sculpture between 1945 and 1960 was welded iron and Heron was the first Irish artist to exhibit welded sculpture. In doing so she influenced future generations of Irish sculptors. She was also something of a pioneer in two dimensional relief work using lead and other media. When her gallery Waddingtons moved to London in the mid-fifties she and Jack B. Yeats were the only two artists from their Dublin gallery who had London solo shows with them. By this time reviewers and commentators were universally positive, writing that Heron was Irelands only modern and most promising sculptor and in touch with outside influences. Her stature as Irelands foremost sculptor was re-enforced when she was selected with Louis le Brocquy to represent Ireland at the important Venice Biennale in 1956 where she exhibited nine carvings and three welded pieces. In the late 1950s and early 1960s she shared a studio in London with the English sculptor Elisabeth Frink. It was here that Heron completed this current work. It was exhibited in her first London solo show which the review in The Observer newspaper described as bringing something fresh, diverting, and also very genuine to our inbred world of sculpture. Birds were a theme in Herons work and Bird Barking, 1959, in welded steel is one of the largest sculptures she made. This surreal work was prompted by a comment made by a city friend of hers, who couldnt sleep while staying in the countryside, because of the cuckoo barking. Heron is an important sculptor in Irish art history and she is under-represented in Irish public galleries, The Observer review suggested that her work should be bought for a public collection, that opportunity now presents itself again.Billy Shortall March 2018
Adam's
Jul. 17, 2017
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) COLLECTION OF PRINTS, CATALOGUES AND EPHEMERA
Est: €600 - €800
lithographs including The wiseman/ Ascetic saint (5), Rooster riding a bull (1) all signed lower right with initial as well as pen sketches of figures and scenes, most signed with initials(10), and photographs and ephemera relating to Heron (26); (66). Largest
Whyte's
May. 29, 2017
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) CAESAR, 1949
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
signed with initials and dated
Whyte's
Nov. 28, 2016
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) A LEVEL HEADED MAN, c.1965
Est: €8,000 - €12,000
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) A LEVEL HEADED MAN, c.1965
Whyte's
Feb. 27, 2016
Heron, Girl with Pigtails, Wood
Est: $250 - $350
Hilary Heron (Irish, 1923-1977), girl with pigtails, carved wood, initialed HH, 14" h x 7" w x 6" d. Provenance: From the estate of Purdon Smith Hall, mother of Emily Hall Tremaine, by descent to their legal heiress.
Kaminski Auctions
May. 01, 2014
HILARY HERON, Irish (1923-1977), "Idol", walnut, initialed and dated 1951., 15 3/4" H, 20"W
Est: $2,500 - $3,500
HILARY HERON Irish (1923-1977) "Idol" walnut, initialed and dated 1951. 15 3/4" H, 20"W Provenance: Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin, Ireland; Private collection, California. Exhibitions: Biennale, Venice "Mostra dei Premiatialla XXVIII Biennale, Messina", 1956, n. 79.
Shannon's
Mar. 28, 2012
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Icarus IV Cast lead panel mounted on wood panel
Est: €600 - €800
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Icarus IV Cast lead panel mounted on wood panel, 33 x 18cms (13 x 7.25") Signed with monogram verso and inscribed with title Exhibited: Hilary Heron Exhibition, Waddington Galleries London, Cat. No. 26
Adam's
Sep. 28, 2011
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Ideogram II Cast lead
Est: €600 - €1,000
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Ideogram II Cast lead panel mounted on wood panel, 26.5 x 19cms (10.5 x 7.5) Signed with monogram verso (unique) Exhibited: Hilary Heron Exhibition, Waddington Galleries London, March-April 1960, Cat. No. 32
Adam's
Sep. 28, 2011
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Icarus I Cast lead panel
Est: €700 - €1,000
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Icarus I Cast lead panel mounted on wood panel, 30.5 x 17cms (12 x 6.75") Signed with monogram verso (unique) Exhibited: Hilary Heron Exhibition, Waddington Galleries London, March-April 1960, Cat. No. 23
Adam's
Sep. 28, 2011
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Chain Frame (1960) Brass,
Est: €600 - €1,000
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Chain Frame (1960) Brass, 25 x 33cms (10 x 13") We thank Johnnie Heron for his help in cataloguing this lot.
Adam's
Sep. 28, 2011
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Star Fish (1961) Brass,
Est: €500 - €700
HILARY HERON (1923-1977) Star Fish (1961) Brass, 36 x 25.5cms (13.25 x 10") We thank Johnnie Heron for his help in cataloguing this lot.
Adam's
Dec. 11, 2007
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) Drift Stones
Est: €500 - €700
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) Drift Stones (1963)details Bronze plaque with verdigris patination with found stones and nails, 38 x 61cms approx
Adam's
Dec. 11, 2007
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) Crown of Thornsdetails
Est: €1,000 - €2,000
Hilary Heron (1923-1977) Crown of Thornsdetails Found pebble and bronze with verdigris patination, 77.5cms high Signed with monogram and dated '63
Adam's