FOUR very different pieces of art, all depicting horses, go on sale at Whyte’s Important Irish Art Auction on Monday, May 25th.

First up will be a painting by Basil Blackshaw entitled Morning Exercise, and is estimated at between €60,000 and €80,000. The art historian and critic Dickon Hall wrote: “Blackshaw’s most iconic series of equestrian paintings is the extended group of images of racehorses exercising, which he seems to have begun around 1964, and which continued into the mid-1970s.

“While these paintings clearly spring from Blackshaw’s own absorption in the subject, and his familiarity with the racing world, and are distinctly individual, they also place him in a lengthy and distinguished artistic tradition, running from Stubbs and Degas to Munnings, of which he was very aware.”

Peter Curling is represented by two outstanding oils, the larger entitled Frostbite, and shows horses with jockeys up exercising in snowy conditions. It is expected to fetch €20,000 to €30,000. The smaller, but historically significant, work is of Laytown Races, and is valued at €6,000 to €8,000.

Finally, a drawing entitled Horse Study by Paddy Lennon is expected to make €3,000 to €5,000 at the auction.

Web: whytes.ie