Tony O'Malley Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Tony O'Malley Art Value Price Guide

Sep. 30, 2024
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) UNTITLED, 1975
Est: €1,500 - €2,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) UNTITLED, 1975 mixed media signed and dated with monogram lower right and on left side; with dedication to previous owners lower left and lower right h:8.25 w:15 in. Provenance: Gifted from the artist to the previous owner; Thence by descent
Whyte's
Sep. 25, 2024
Tony O'Malley (1913-2003) Winter Lines with Red (1989) Oil on board, 20 x 13cm (8 x 5_'') Signed with initials; also signed, inscribed and dated 1989 verso Provenance: Gifted to the current owner by the artist
Est: €800 - €1,200
Tony O'Malley (1913-2003) Winter Lines with Red (1989) Oil on board, 20 x 13cm (8 x 5_'') Signed with initials; also signed, inscribed and dated 1989 verso Provenance: Gifted to the current owner by the artist
Adam's
Sep. 25, 2024
Tony O'Malley (1913-2003) Small Painting (1980) Oil on artist's board, 20 x 30cm (8 x 11¾'') Signed with initials and dated 5 (May) (19)'80; also signed, dated and inscribed verso
Est: €1,500 - €2,000
Tony O'Malley (1913-2003) Small Painting (1980) Oil on artist's board, 20 x 30cm (8 x 11¾'') Signed with initials and dated 5 (May) (19)'80; also signed, dated and inscribed verso
Adam's
Jun. 25, 2024
Â§ TONY O'MALLEY (IRISH, 1913-2003)
Est: £700 - £1,000
Â§ TONY O'MALLEY (IRISH, 1913-2003) TONY O'MALLEY (IRISH, 1913-2003) Untitled signed with initials and numbered 'OM 1-77' (lower left) mixed media 24 x 33 cm. (8.5 x 12 in.)
Chiswick Auctions
May. 29, 2024
Tony OMalley HRHA (1913-2003) The Orchard Gouache, 30 x 48.5cm Signed and dated 1954 and inscribed with title Provenance: A Gift from the artist to the previous owner and thence by descent
Est: €1,000 - €2,000
Tony OMalley HRHA (1913-2003) The Orchard Gouache, 30 x 48.5cm Signed and dated 1954 and inscribed with title Provenance: A Gift from the artist to the previous owner and thence by descent
Adam's
May. 29, 2024
Tony O'Malley (1913-2003) La Geria-Lanzarote Oil on board, 122 x 61cm (48 x 24) Signed, inscribed and dated 1999/2000 verso Provenance: With Fenton Gallery, Cork, label verso
Est: €8,000 - €12,000
Tony O'Malley (1913-2003) La Geria-Lanzarote Oil on board, 122 x 61cm (48 x 24) Signed, inscribed and dated 1999/2000 verso Provenance: With Fenton Gallery, Cork, label verso
Adam's
May. 29, 2024
Tony O'Malley (1913-2003) Night Panel Oil on board, 62 x 20cm (24½ x 8) Signed, inscribed and dated 1978 verso
Est: €4,000 - €6,000
Tony O'Malley (1913-2003) Night Panel Oil on board, 62 x 20cm (24½ x 8) Signed, inscribed and dated 1978 verso
Adam's
May. 27, 2024
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SILENT WINTER, 1963
Est: €4,000 - €6,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SILENT WINTER, 1963 mixed media signed, titled and dated lower centre; numbered [2017] on reverse h:24.25 w:17 in. Provenance: Butler Gallery, Kilkenny; Private collection Exhibited: 'O'Malley: Works From the Sixties', Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, 1992, catalogue no. 52
Whyte's
May. 27, 2024
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) CLOHAMON ON THE SLANEY, COUNTY WEXFORD, 1953
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) CLOHAMON ON THE SLANEY, COUNTY WEXFORD, 1953 pastel and gouache signed, titled and dated lower right; with Jorgensen Gallery label on reverse h:9.50 w:13.25 in. Provenance: Jorgensen Gallery, Dublin; Private collection
Whyte's
May. 16, 2024
O'Malley, Tony (1913-2003). (Abstract composition).
Est: €150 - €250
O'Malley, Tony (1913-2003). (Abstract composition). Col. silkscreen, 42x55,7 cm. (leaf size), signed "Tony O'Malley" and "A/P" in pencil. - A few foxed spots in blank margins. = With a SIGNED copy of T. O'Malley, Tony O'Malley, Painter in exile, 1984.
Bubb > Kuyper: Auctioneers of Books, Fine Arts & Manuscripts
Mar. 16, 2024
IRISH MALE PORTRAIT OIL PAINTING BY TONY O MALLEY
Est: $100 - $150
Tony O Malley, Irish, 1913 to 2003, oil painting on board, The Road To Nowhere, 1964. Signed, titled, and dated, lower right. Framed. An original paper label of W.J. Moffett, on the backside. Tony O Malley was an Irish artist. He was born in Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. O'Malley was a self taught artist, having drawn and painted for pleasure from childhood. In 1955 O Malley holidayed in St Ives, Cornwall, then an important center of abstract art, and home to the artists Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, and Bryan Wynter, who he met and worked with. One of a kind artwork.
Antique Arena Inc
Dec. 04, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) NIGHT PANEL, 1978
Est: €6,000 - €8,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) NIGHT PANEL, 1978 oil on board signed, titled, dated and numbered on reverse h:32 w:16 in.
Whyte's
Dec. 04, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) MARKINGS I, 1985
Est: €2,500 - €3,500
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) MARKINGS I, 1985 watercolour and gouache signed, titled and dated lower right; signed, titled and numbered [7544] on reverse h:11 w:16 in. Provenance: Whyte's, 30 November 2004, lot 134; Private collection
Whyte's
Dec. 04, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) LA GERIA, LANZAROTE, 1999-2000
Est: €12,000 - €18,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) LA GERIA, LANZAROTE, 1999-2000 oil on board signed with initials lower left, titled, dated and numbered [6374] on reverse; also with Fenton Gallery label on reverse h:48 w:24 in. Provenance: Fenton Gallery, Cork; Private collection
Whyte's
Nov. 22, 2023
The Night Painter
Est: £10,000 - £15,000
Tony O'Malley 1913 - 2003 The Night Painter signed Tony O'Malley (in English and Irish), titled and dated Sep 81 (on the reverse) oil on board unframed: 122 by 61cm.; 48 by 24in. framed: 130 by 69.5cm.; 51 by 27¼in. Executed in 1981.
Sotheby's
Nov. 22, 2023
Harvest Light
Est: £15,000 - £25,000
Tony O'Malley 1913 - 2003 Harvest Light signed with initials and dated 4/91 (lower left); also signed (in English and Irish), titled, dated 1991 and inscribed (on the reverse) oil on board unframed: 122 by 91.5cm.; 48 by 36in. framed: 139 by 108cm.; 54¼ by 42½in. Executed in 1991.
Sotheby's
Oct. 02, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SPRING ROOKS, 1986
Est: €25,000 - €35,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SPRING ROOKS, 1986 oil on board signed and dated [5/86] lower left; signed, titled, dated and with alternate titles [Spring with Black of Crow/Tree Music] on reverse h:48 w:36 in. Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist, 1990; Private collection Spring Rooks, 1986 is a celebration of nature and the seasons. Various inscriptions on the reverse of the board provide some insight into the painting's themes and inspiration. "In memory of Boris Pasternak'' is written upper right on the reverse above a numbered listing: 1 Spring Rooks / 2 Spring with Black of Crow / 3 Tree Music. Pasternak, the Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator - best known as the author of Doctor Zhivago (1957) - was similarly concerned with the natural world and with man's place within it. His poetry draws parallels with O'Malley's oeuvre and both men, through their respective disciplines, capture nature with an immediacy that defined both their styles. February by Boris Pasternak Translated by Alex Miller February. Get ink, shed tears. Write of it, sob your heart out, sing, While torrential slush that roars Burns in the blackness of the spring. Go hire a buggy. For six grivnas, Race through the noise of bells and wheels To where the ink and all you grieving Are muffled when the rainshower falls. To where, like pears burnt black as charcoal, A myriad of rooks, plucked from the trees, Fall down into the puddles, hurl Dry sadness deep into the eyes. Below, the wet black earth shows through, With sudden cries the wind is pitted, The more haphazard, the more true The poetry that sobs its heart out. In Spring Rooks the viewer is immersed into a dizzying, frenetic depiction of the springtime. The coolness of the previous months can still be felt through the ice blues, mauves and dots of whites but here the movement of the black rooks cuts through the composition breaking up the colours and sending plumes of yellow, pink, red, green and turquoise flying across the board. There is a typically tribal quality to the patterning and a rhythmic musicality to its placement. The board is also incised and punctured to add further texture and interest to the painting. Spring Rooks was purchased in 1990 by the present owner. It was bought from the artist at his home and studio, which he shared with his late wife, the artist Jane Harris in Physicianstown, Co Kilkenny. Adelle Hughes, September 2023
Whyte's
May. 31, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) November Morning, Sea Cottage St. Ives (1976) Mixed media on paper, 24.5 x 17cm (10½ x 7) Dated 11/76 Provenance: With Grant Fine Art, Newcastle, Co. Down, where purchased by the present owner
Est: €1,000 - €1,500
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) November Morning, Sea Cottage St. Ives (1976) Mixed media on paper, 24.5 x 17cm (10½ x 7) Dated 11/76 Provenance: With Grant Fine Art, Newcastle, Co. Down, where purchased by the present owner
Adam's
May. 31, 2023
Tony O'Malley RHA (1913-2003) Morning Light Heather Cottage (1974) Mixed media, 19.5 x 24.5cm (7¾ x 9¾) Signed with initials, inscribed and dated 7/74 Provenance: With Grant Fine Art, Newcastle, Co. Down, where purchased by the present owner
Est: €1,000 - €1,500
Tony O'Malley RHA (1913-2003) Morning Light Heather Cottage (1974) Mixed media, 19.5 x 24.5cm (7¾ x 9¾) Signed with initials, inscribed and dated 7/74 Provenance: With Grant Fine Art, Newcastle, Co. Down, where purchased by the present owner
Adam's
May. 29, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SUMMER BREEZE, CALLAN, COUNTY KILKENNY, 1981
Est: €15,000 - €20,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SUMMER BREEZE, CALLAN, COUNTY KILKENNY, 1981 oil on board signed with initials and dated lower left; signed, titled and dated on reverse h:48 w:24 in. Provenance: Dyehouse Gallery, Waterford; Private collection Summer Breeze marries two important components in Tony O'Malley's oeuvre, the influence of his native Callan in County Kilkenny and the light and palette of the Bahamas where he visited with his wife Jane O'Malley from the mid-1970s. O'Malley was a self-taught artist who began painting full-time when a disability pension facilitated his retirement from the bank in 1958. He had visited the artist's hub St Ives in Cornwall first in 1955 and in 1960 he settled there in the company of fellow abstract artists Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon and Bryan Wynter among others. It was here he met his future wife the Canadian artist Jane Harris. At the time Summer Breeze was executed O'Malley had been married for eight years and the fusion of these two aforementioned elements of his practice were well developed. By 1990 the couple had moved back to Ireland and three years later he would be elected a Saoi of Aosdána. The portrait orientation of Summer Breeze coupled with the movement of shape and line evoke a strong sense of flowing water. Dashes of white paint appear to dart across the board like minute river fish with dragonfly-like forms fluttering in the foreground. Depth is created through the use of colour and its layered application while the deliberate punctures and incisions across the board reinforce the organic quality of the subject. King's River - a tributary of the Nore - which passes through the town of Callan, may very well have been a source of inspiration for the present work albeit seen here through a tropical lens. The importance of Callan to the artist and his legacy cannot be underestimated. In 2010 the Royal Hibernian Academy, in collaboration with Jane O'Malley, established The Tony O'Malley Residency in the house where he grew up in Callan. Administered by the RHA School, it is awarded on an annual basis to an artist who wishes to work primarily in the medium of paint. Adelle Hughes, April 2022
Whyte's
May. 29, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) PHYSICIANSTOWN, CALLAN, COUNTY KILKENNY, 1979
Est: €5,000 - €7,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) PHYSICIANSTOWN, CALLAN, COUNTY KILKENNY, 1979 ink, watercolour and gouache signed with initials and dated lower right; titled lower left; with Taylor Galleries label on reverse h:22.25 w:31 in. Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private collection
Whyte's
May. 10, 2023
Long Painting no. 2
Est: €4,000 - €6,000
Tony O'Malley 1913 - 2003 Long Painting no.2 signed and dated 74 (lower centre); also signed, titled, dated 74 and inscribed (on a label attached to the reverse) acrylic on board unframed: 91.5 by 18cm.; 36 by 7in. framed: 101.5 by 24cm.; 40 by 9½in. Executed in 1974. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony O'Malley 1913 - 2003 Long Painting no.2 signé and daté 74 (en bas à centre); aussi signé, titré, daté 74 et inscrit (sur une étiquette attachée au revers) acrylique sur panneau sans cadre: 91.5 by 18cm.; 36 by 7in. avec cadre: 101.5 by 24cm.; 40 by 9½in. Exécuté en 1974.
Sotheby's
Apr. 18, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Inscape (1977)
Est: €15,000 - €25,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Inscape (1977) oil on board signed, titled and dated 1977 verso with artist's archive no. R198 h:92 w:122.10 cm. Provenance: Bank of Ireland Collection; Their sale, Adam's, 24 November 2010, lot 90; Whyte's, Dublin, 7th December 2020 lot 80; Private Collection Exhibited: The Arts Council, Dublin, 'Tony O'Malley Retrospective' 1984 Cat No. 94 (label verso) During the last quarter of the twentieth century, the Bank of Ireland assembled an outstanding collection of contemporary Irish art; the collection was dispersed in recent years, resulting in one of Tony O'Malley's finest works, Inscape coming on the market. Painted in oil on board, Inscape is a confident and striking abstract composition. Hovering at its center is a white oval shape, connected to the edges by thin white lines. On either side of the central oval are areas of grey and black; a similar area also frames the top of the painting. While there is the suggestion perhaps of a pool of water, the oval remains an enigmatic feature, bounded by areas where sgraffito cuts through, to expose earlier areas of brushwork. These half-seen elements relate to aspects of the Irish landscape, as remembered by O'Malley, even when he was in Cornwall, working at Porthmeor Studios in St. Ives. In a series of paintings done at Porthmeor he evokes memories of the fields, hedges and boundaries of his native Callan, in Co. Kilkenny. Although there is an instinctive balance and command of line, surface and colour in the way O'Malley completed this work, it contains few visual clues and is one of his most successful abstract compositions, eloquent and classical in its symmetry and clarity. The term 'inscape' derives from the poetry of Gerald Manley Hopkins, and ultimately from the medieval Irish philosopher Duns Scotus; it was used also in the 1960's by Brian Boydell, as titles for music compositions. Peter Murray, March 2023
Morgan O'Driscoll
Apr. 18, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Callan Painting (1980)
Est: €12,000 - €18,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Callan Painting (1980) oil on board signed with initials'O M' on the left, titled and dated 1980 verso with artist's archive no. R235 verso h:122.20 w:60.80 cm. Provenance: These Rooms, 27th October 2020 lot 79; Private Collection A large oil on board, Callan Painting represents a work from what was perhaps Tony O'Malley's most productive period, when he was based at Porthmeor Studios in St. Ives. Inspired by the art, artists and landscape of Cornwall, but also fondly remembering the Irish countryside of his youth, he painted several works named after the village in Kilkenny where he had been born and raised. Although an abstract painting, this work can also be read as a map, with flat areas of grey, brown and white divided into different fields by inscribed boundaries. Within these areas, O'Malley has made further incisions and pock-marks, suggesting ancient ringforts and burial sites beneath the present-day fields of Kilkenny. In its scratched and scraffitoed surface, and expressive use of colour, Callan Painting represents an artist's visual expression of an intense love of place. Although he became one of Ireland's best-known artists in the late twentieth century, O'Malley was largely self-taught. His initial career, working at the Munster and Leinster Bank (now part of AIB), was interrupted through illness, when tuberculosis led him to spend periods in hospital. However, interested in art from the outset, and even while working at a bank in Wexford, he would go on painting expeditions with a friend, Richard Kingston. O'Malley decided in 1959 to retire and become a fulltime painter, but was frustrated at what he felt was an atmosphere of polite disregard towards modern art in Ireland. In the early 1960s he visited St Ives several times, and as soon as he was retired, moved to Cornwall. In St. Ives, he embraced an abstraction based on natural forms, one that had inspired the progressive art community there during the war years. O'Malley worked within a milieu in which Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron, and Peter Lanyon were well-established, and his success lay in his ability to absorb aesthetic strands of European and British art, whilst remaining faithful to his own inner vision-he liked to title his paintings 'inscapes'. In O'Malley's work, visual description is secondary to an attempt to capture the underlying experience of somewhere he loved, whether it be Callan or Clare Island in Ireland, St. Ives in Cornwall, or, later in his career, the Caribbean. In Cornwall, he met the painter Jane Harris, and they married in 1974. Over the years that followed, they spent many winters working in the Bahamas, the effect of bright colours filtering through to his paintings. They also spent winters in the Canary Islands. Elected a saoi of Aosdána, from 1990 onwards Tony and Jane O'Malley lived in a cottage in his native village of Callan. Peter Murray, March 2023
Morgan O'Driscoll
Apr. 18, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) April (1984)
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) April (1984) oil and collage on wood signed, titled and dated April 1984 verso with artist's archive No. 1403 h:43.20 w:25 cm. Provenance: deVere's, Dublin, 6th March 2001 lot no 138; Private Collection Tony O'Malley's main medium was paint in the conventional sense of oil paint or watercolour on canvas, wood panel or paper, but he was also an habitual bricoleur, who would turn to whatever was at hand to make art. More, he was fond of found objects and materials with a history. In this fine mixed media painted construction, redolent of the shore and the rhythms of the sea, he collages strips of hardboard onto wood panel, forming the basis for a fine, lyrical arrangement of shapes, colours, textures and tone. Aidan Dunne, March 2023
Morgan O'Driscoll
Mar. 06, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) ABSTRACT FORMS
Est: €6,000 - €8,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) ABSTRACT FORMS oil on board signed with initials lower right h:33.25 w:7.50 in. Provenance: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, late 1990s; Private collection; Morgan O'Driscoll, 12 November 2018, lot 71; Private collection
Whyte's
Mar. 01, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Autumn Harp (1991) Acrylic and collage on wood, 56 x 10cm (22 x 4) Provenance: With Taylor Galleries, Dublin
Est: €1,500 - €2,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Autumn Harp (1991) Acrylic and collage on wood, 56 x 10cm (22 x 4) Provenance: With Taylor Galleries, Dublin
Adam's
Mar. 01, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) The Hawk Owl Oil on board, 82 x 121cm (32 x 47.6) Signed, inscribed and dated 'Summer 1964' verso Provenance: From the Collection of Patrick MacEntee SC
Est: €4,000 - €6,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) The Hawk Owl Oil on board, 82 x 121cm (32 x 47.6) Signed, inscribed and dated 'Summer 1964' verso Provenance: From the Collection of Patrick MacEntee SC
Adam's
Mar. 01, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) Flowers and spring tide, (1972), (no.1920) Mixed media on card, 35 x 56cm (13¾ x 22) Signed with initials
Est: €700 - €1,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) Flowers and spring tide, (1972), (no.1920) Mixed media on card, 35 x 56cm (13¾ x 22) Signed with initials
Adam's
Mar. 01, 2023
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) A Blur of Distance Music, Summer Oil and mixed media on board, 60 x 23cm (23½ x 9) Signed, inscribed and dated 1991 verso
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) A Blur of Distance Music, Summer Oil and mixed media on board, 60 x 23cm (23½ x 9) Signed, inscribed and dated 1991 verso
Adam's
Dec. 07, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) Valley Wind, Jemisa Oil on board, 121 x 90cm (47½ x 35½'') Signed with incised initials; signed, inscribed and dated July 1995 and no. 3222 verso From 1988 Tony and Jane O'Malley spent time on Lanzarote. As with
Est: €15,000 - €25,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) Valley Wind, Jemisa Oil on board, 121 x 90cm (47½ x 35½'') Signed with incised initials; signed, inscribed and dated July 1995 and no. 3222 verso From 1988 Tony and Jane O'Malley spent time on Lanzarote. As with their prior sojourns in the Bahamas, where Jane's sister lived until about 1986, they went because the warm, dry climate was kinder, if not essential, for Tony's health (he had come through TB when he was young, and was prone to angina). They moved from St Ives to Physicianstown, near his birthplace Callan in Co. Kilkenny, around 1990, and their practice of travelling annually continued, O'Malley was not at all averse to bright colour and tonality prior to visiting the Bahamas, but the experience allowed a warm, bright, high-keyed palette to dominate his compositions in a way that was new, and vibrantly attractive. He was acutely responsive to his surroundings, but generally O'Malley did not paint representations of things in the conventional sense. He borrowed the term inscape from the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to describe his approach. That approach entailed a response to everything around him: the temperature, the forms, colours, patterns and sounds. The music of birdsong and a glimpse of plumage were just as likely to inspire him as any geographical feature. His eyes and ears were drawn to details. This buoyantly lyrical painting was inspired by the Valley of Jemisa on Lanzarote, a rural location close to the coast with topography that recalls the rugged uplands of the north of Gran Canaria, though more fertile and richly vegetated. The terraced hillsides were once intensively farmed with crops of barilla. Now euphorbias and wildflowers proliferate and the valley is rich in butterflies and birdlife - including kestrels, Barbary partridge, hoopoes and many more. O'Malley delights in the vibrant warmth of the atmosphere and, one sense, is grateful for the wind mentioned in the title, a breath of air that seems to infuse the entire picture surface with movement. Aidan Dunne, February 2022
Adam's
Nov. 28, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SAMHAIN, 1977
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SAMHAIN, 1977 gouache with collage on card signed with initials and dated [31/10/1977] upper right; titled upper left; signed with initials and dated lower centre h:20.50 w:10.50 in. Provenance: Collection of George and Maura McClelland; Whyte's, 26 September 2016, lot 70; Private collection
Whyte's
Sep. 26, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) BIRD, BRIGHT MORNING, TREVAYLOR, 1962
Est: €1,200 - €1,500
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) BIRD, BRIGHT MORNING, TREVAYLOR, 1962 ink and watercolour signed with initials lower centre; titled and dated [July] lower left h:13.50 w:18.75 in. Provenance: de Veres, 30 November 2005, lot 131; Private collection
Whyte's
Sep. 26, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SELF-PORTRAIT, 1961
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SELF-PORTRAIT, 1961 oil on wood panel signed with initials and dated left centre h:13 w:6 in. Provenance: Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, c.1990; Private collection
Whyte's
Jun. 06, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) STUDIO TABLE
Est: €4,000 - €6,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) STUDIO TABLE oil on board signed lower left; titled and numbered [612] on reverse h:24 w:36 in. Provenance: de Veres, 26 November 2019, lot 53; Private collection
Whyte's
Jun. 06, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) PAINTING, ST. LUCIA, WEST INDIES, 1992
Est: €15,000 - €20,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) PAINTING, ST. LUCIA, WEST INDIES, 1992 oil on board signed with initials lower left; signed, titled, dated and numbered [2150] on reverse h:48 w:23.50 in. Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist by the present owner Until the late 1950s Tony O'Malley was a part-time artist, working from 1934-1958 with the Munster and Leinster Bank. In 1960 he moved to Cornwall, to the artist colony in St Ives and settled there for nearly thirty years. An injection of colour entered his oeuvre after his marriage to fellow artist Jane Harris in 1973. This led to winters in the Bahamas, where he began painting outdoors on canvas. In 1977 they bought a cottage at Physicanstown in Co. Kilkenny, which became their permanent home in 1990. The first exhibition of O'Malley's work at the Irish Museum of Modern Art took place in 1992 and in 1993 he was elected Saoi of Aosdána. Painting St Lucia West Indies was executed in the important and prolific decade in O'Malley's career that was the 1990s. While the title indicates where the work was executed, it only hints at the possibilities of the subject: landscape, light, reflections, the natural world and/or all of these things at once. The board is characteristically marked with a variety of textures, incisions and insertions giving the work a delightfully tactile quality. It is alive with movement brought about through expert flicks of colour and bold dashes of paint in bright and vibrant colours one would associate with warmer climes. Painting. St Lucia, West Indies was purchased directly from the artist by the present owner from his home studio in Kilkenny, a provenance that would be attractive to many collectors of his work. Adelle Hughes, November 2021
Whyte's
Jun. 06, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) UNTITLED, 1978
Est: €1,000 - €1,500
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) UNTITLED, 1978 watercolour and gouache with collage element signed and dated [29/6/1978] lower right h:10 w:7 in. Provenance: Collection of George and Maura McClelland; Whyte's, 25 July 2016, lot 41; Private collection
Whyte's
Jun. 01, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Arrieta-Orzola (Lanzarote) Oil on board, 91.5 x 122cm (36 x 48'') Signed and dated (19)'88; also signed, inscribed and dated 1988 Provenance: With Taylor Galleries, label verso. Literature: Brian Lynch 'Tony O'
Est: €25,000 - €35,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Arrieta-Orzola (Lanzarote) Oil on board, 91.5 x 122cm (36 x 48'') Signed and dated (19)'88; also signed, inscribed and dated 1988 Provenance: With Taylor Galleries, label verso. Literature: Brian Lynch 'Tony O'Malley', published by Scholar Press in association with Butler Gallery, 1996, p.235. The image was used to illustrate an Irish 44p stamp as part of the Europa Contemporary Art Series of stamps, 1993. As a self-taught artist Tony OMalleys work did not fit with the prevailing and more traditional styles of Ireland in the 1950s. His initial training and then subsequent relocation to St Ives provided him with an important artistic community with whom he could share ideas and draw inspiration. Much is already known about OMalleys ill health and need for a warmer climate which provided the subject matter number of works of the Canary Islands and the Bahamas. While rejecting the term abstract in order to describe his works, he recognised his paintings as non-figurative, devoid of objects or people. They were instead reflections of his experiences in nature, observations of what he had witnessed and felt at the time. They are deeply emotive, lyrical and energetic expressions of the world around us. OMalley used a range of visual signifiers that often appear across different works, repeated symbols and marks made on the canvas. As in this instance, he is using the end of the brush to scratch lines into the red paint. They draw the eye to the texture of the painted surface but also may suggest the wings of a large bird soaring in the sky overhead. This potential viewpoint looking down on the dark red sands of the island, the distinctive red ochre colour caused by various volcanic eruptions, changes our perspective of the composition. We can see how he uses colour and shape to delineate the different sections of the landscape. The pinks and greens on the edges of the canvas, as flowers and foliage, the dark blue at the bottom, possibly a small rock pool on the beach. This darker colour palette creates a greater depth of tone and exudes a warmth that is often absent in his other works. Throughout his career he made a series of works based on Lanzarote, a place he often visited with his wife Jane in the winter months of the year. This example takes inspiration from the small costal village of Arrieta located in the northern most townland of the Island. Its verdant sub-tropical climate is populated by Canary Island date palms, ferns and wild olive trees. There is vibrancy and warmth coming from the painting. Gestural shifts in the composition, introducing small sections of colour, varying shapes and lines make the work vibrate with movement. Something is taking flight soaring above us or swimming just beneath the surface of the water. There is a liveliness to his Lanzarote works with his depictions of the landscape here evoking a magical atmosphere by which we get swept up in. Niamh Corcoran, May 2022
Adam's
Apr. 26, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Bahamas Collage (1986)
Est: €4,000 - €6,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Bahamas Collage (1986) acrylic and collage on paper signed, titled and dated '86 lower centre h:35.60 w:56 cm. Provenance: Porthmeor Gallery, St. Ives (label verso); James Adams & Bonham's, Dublin, 3rd December 2008, lot 170; Private Collection
Morgan O'Driscoll
Apr. 26, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Calvary No.1 (1983)
Est: €20,000 - €30,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Calvary No.1 (1983) oil on board signed with monogram lower right, titled and dated 1983 with artist's archive no. 340 verso h:122.30 w:91.70 cm. Provenance: From the Estate of the late Charlie Hennessy, Cork; James Adams & Bonham's, Dublin, 3rd December 2008, lot 23; Private Collection Exhibited: The Arts Council, Dublin - Tony O'Malley Retrospective 1984, Catalogue no. 126, The Ulster Museum, Belfast; The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin; The Crawford Gallery, Cork. Tony O'Malley's two Calvary paintings of 1983 are understandably regarded by Brian Fallon as among his most important works. He clearly put a great deal of thought and feeling into them. He was also precise and detailed in labelling them. Calvary No.1 bears the inscription "After Picasso - Grunewald and O'Tunney", outlining a complicated lineage. It is a dark though very lively work, close to monochrome in its dense grey tonality (with flashes of blue). The effect recalls sculptural relief, and the O'Tunney referred to is in all probability the great 16th century Irish memorial sculptor Rory O'Tunney, the best-known of a sculptural family from Callan, O'Malley's own birthplace. A keen observer of antiquities, the painter was familiar with high regarded tomb sculptures at sites relatively nearby including Jerpoint in Thomastown (and St Canice's in Kilkenny) , attributed to O'Tunney. His monochromatic palette echoes the dark limestone used by the sculpture. In addition, he alludes to Picasso, who he revered. Picasso generally avoided religious subjects, but he painted a crucifixion in 1930, garishly and not entirely successfully and, a couple of years later, made a series of monochrome drawings inspired by Grünewald's celebrated, exceptionally stark Insenheim altarpiece, which he may have visited at the time. His drawings, which also suggest the influence on him of Catalan Gothic, paved the way for what many consider to be his finest work ever, Guernica. O'Malley acknowledges all these sources and influences, and, incidentally, notes his own indebtedness to his Irish predecessors, in this exceptionally fine, deeply considered painting with its beautifully orchestrated, angular forms. Aidan Dunne, March 2022
Morgan O'Driscoll
Apr. 26, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Hawks Searching Corn (1968)
Est: €5,000 - €7,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Hawks Searching Corn (1968) gouache on paper signed, titled and dated 1968 h:79 w:56 cm. Provenance: Collection of George and Maura McClelland; Sotheby's, London, 13th September 2016, lot 37; Private Collection Literature: 'The Hunter Gatherer' The Collection of George and Maura McClelland at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (illustrated on page 92). Dublin, Irish Museum of Modern Art, 1998-2004, (illustrated on page 41 of the catalogue). In 1962, after several working visits, Tony O'Malley moved to Cornwall. In many ways, his move to this unorthodox centre of arts activity, following on from the pioneering presence of such major figures as Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, marked the beginning of his life as a full-time artist. He thrived in Cornwall. Following a visit to Ireland in 1967 he moved into the Shop Studio in St Ives, living and working there for two years. Cornwall, and St Ives, had by then become intrinsic to his work and sensibility. Earlier in the decade, the painter Peter Lanyon had been a dominant, charismatic presence and friend. When he was killed in a gliding accident in 1964 O'Malley painted a beautiful tribute in which a hawk - Lanyon - is seen suspended in flight above a gaping dark quarry. O'Malley was throughout his life attuned to birds, to their flight and song. Birds featured in his paintings right from the beginning. In Cornwall, he worked on several series of paintings centred on birds, including the Windhover - or kestrel - works. Hawks and owls were also important. He used dense concentric patterns in descriptions of birdsong and, around the mid-1960s, was taken with the patterns sculpted in fields of corn by the wind, moving on to focus on the shadow of a watchful hawk cast on a cornfield. All these elements come together in this painting, a marvellously intense, energised evocation of the circular movement of hawks scanning a ripe cornfield far below for suitable prey. Aidan Dunne, March 2022
Morgan O'Driscoll
Mar. 30, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) My Work Table Mixed media on paper, 24 x 15.5cm (9½ x 6'') Signed, inscribed and dated(19)'78 Provenance: With Tom Caldwell Galleries, label verso.
Est: €600 - €800
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) My Work Table Mixed media on paper, 24 x 15.5cm (9½ x 6'') Signed, inscribed and dated(19)'78 Provenance: With Tom Caldwell Galleries, label verso.
Adam's
Mar. 30, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Silent Garden Oil on board, 91 x 62cm Signed with initials; signed, inscribed and dated 1985 verso
Est: €15,000 - €20,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Silent Garden Oil on board, 91 x 62cm Signed with initials; signed, inscribed and dated 1985 verso
Adam's
Mar. 30, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Garden Path - Paradise Island, Bahamas Oil and mixed media on board, 34.5 x 55cm (13½ x 21¾'') Signed with initials and dated (19)'86 Provenance: With Grants Fine Art Gallery, label verso.
Est: €3,000 - €5,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Garden Path - Paradise Island, Bahamas Oil and mixed media on board, 34.5 x 55cm (13½ x 21¾'') Signed with initials and dated (19)'86 Provenance: With Grants Fine Art Gallery, label verso.
Adam's
Mar. 30, 2022
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) Valley Wind, Jemisa Oil on board, 121 x 90cm (47½ x 35½'') Signed with incised initials; signed, inscribed and dated July 1995 and no. 3222 verso From 1988 Tony and Jane O'Malley spent time on Lanzarote. As with
Est: €30,000 - €40,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913 - 2003) Valley Wind, Jemisa Oil on board, 121 x 90cm (47½ x 35½'') Signed with incised initials; signed, inscribed and dated July 1995 and no. 3222 verso From 1988 Tony and Jane O'Malley spent time on Lanzarote. As with their prior sojourns in the Bahamas, where Jane's sister lived until about 1986, they went because the warm, dry climate was kinder, if not essential, for Tony's health (he had come through TB when he was young, and was prone to angina). They moved from St Ives to Physicianstown, near his birthplace Callan in Co. Kilkenny, around 1990, and their practice of travelling annually continued, O'Malley was not at all averse to bright colour and tonality prior to visiting the Bahamas, but the experience allowed a warm, bright, high-keyed palette to dominate his compositions in a way that was new, and vibrantly attractive. He was acutely responsive to his surroundings, but generally O'Malley did not paint representations of things in the conventional sense. He borrowed the term inscape from the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to describe his approach. That approach entailed a response to everything around him: the temperature, the forms, colours, patterns and sounds. The music of birdsong and a glimpse of plumage were just as likely to inspire him as any geographical feature. His eyes and ears were drawn to details. This buoyantly lyrical painting was inspired by the Valley of Temisa on Lanzarote, a rural location close to the coast with topography that recalls the rugged uplands of the north of Gran Canaria, though more fertile and richly vegetated. The terraced hillsides were once intensively farmed with crops of barilla. Now euphorbias and wildflowers proliferate and the valley is rich in butterflies and birdlife - including kestrels, Barbary partridge, hoopoes and many more. O'Malley delights in the vibrant warmth of the atmosphere and, one sense, is grateful for the wind mentioned in the title, a breath of air that seems to infuse the entire picture surface with movement. Aidan Dunne, February 2022
Adam's
Dec. 08, 2021
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Bahamas Painting with White Shape, Oct/Nov 1987 Oil on board, 64 x 76cm (25 x 30'') Signed with initials and dated; also signed, inscribed with title and dated verso and numbered 1908 in the artist's oeuvre.
Est: €15,000 - €25,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) Bahamas Painting with White Shape, Oct/Nov 1987 Oil on board, 64 x 76cm (25 x 30'') Signed with initials and dated; also signed, inscribed with title and dated verso and numbered 1908 in the artist's oeuvre. When Tony O’Malley and Jane Harris married in 1973, they settled into their home at Seal Cottage, St Ives, Cornwall and their communal studio, where they worked side by side. While they were happy and productive, Jane was always conscious that living permanently in a cool, damp climate was less than ideal for Tony, because he has survived TB and was prone to angina. At the same time, he drew inspiration from his environment and was especially attuned to the historical texture of place. At a family gathering following the death of her mother in 1974, Jane’s sister Clarice, who was living on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, suggested that they should all visit her there. It was beyond Tony and Janes financial means but here father generously paid for their flights (and for the following twelve winters, until her sister moved to Florida). The balmy environment was hugely beneficial to Tonys health. Less predictably, it proved to be profoundly inspiring for his work. With scant traces of the legacy of ancient history (just the remains of one monastery), and working in an outdoor studio set up in the idyllic garden, he became intensely alert to the living fabric of the place. Birds in flight, birdcalls, birdsong, fish darting in the water, breezes, currents, luminous flushes of colour, a pervasive brightness: all these things and more fed into a series of lively, lyrical evocations of a magical place. The Bahamas provided him with a whole new high-keyed palette. Even the warmth and light of the Scilly Isles had not provided a comparable sense of warmth and well-being. The paintings were a revelation when they were exhibited back in Ireland. Aidan Dunne
Adam's
Nov. 29, 2021
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) STUDIO TABLE
Est: €5,000 - €7,000
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) STUDIO TABLE oil on board signed lower left; titled and numbered [612] on reverse h:24 w:36 in. Provenance: de Veres, 26 November 2019, lot 53; Private collection
Whyte's
Nov. 29, 2021
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SUMMER GOUACHE, 1972
Est: €800 - €1,200
Tony O'Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SUMMER GOUACHE, 1972 gouache signed lower left; dated lower right; signed, titled and dated on reverse h:7.75 w:9.50 in.
Whyte's