Bidding on this item has ended.
Basil Blackshaw
THE BLACK DOOR
Lot 40
Price Realised:
€2,600
Estimate:
€2,000 - €3,000
Basil Blackshaw HRHA, HRUA, 1932-2016
THE BLACK DOOR
Oil and charcoal on wood panel, 12" x 10" (30.5 x 25.4cm), signed and inscribed.
In and around 2000 Blackshaw's oeuvre shook the world of the art critics. The distinguished former Iris...
Read more
Lot 40
Basil Blackshaw
THE BLACK DOOR
Lot 40
Basil Blackshaw
THE BLACK DOOR
Estimate:
€2,000 - €3,000
Basil Blackshaw HRHA, HRUA, 1932-2016
THE BLACK DOOR
Oil and charcoal on wood panel, 12" x 10" (30.5 x 25.4cm), signed and inscribed.
In and around 2000 Blackshaw's oeuvre shook the world of the art critics. The distinguished former Irish Times Art Critic Brian Fallon without any reluctance told me he was baffled when he visited an exhibition of recent works by Blackshaw in the Ulster Museum.
Many of those paintings later travelled to an exhibition in the Royal Hibernian Academy building in Dublin.
Fallon approached me some time later, feeling he had simply got the new Blackshaw output wrong, and he told me he would welcome an opportunity if it arose, to revisit Blackshaw's late output. I readily stepped back when I was invited to write about Blackshaw in the Irish Arts Review and I suggested to the commissioning editor that Mr Fallon should be afforded an opportunity to reassess the late oeuvre of Blackshaw and so it came to pass.
Blackshaw often told me "I could sit in this chair for months and not an idea would enter my head for a picture. I might get up then, walk across the floor and bang into the door and an idea for a painting was born." In other words paintings found Blackshaw. Walking along the street of a Donegal town he hit upon an old window deeply embedded in a thick wall, covered in a world of plaster which had been whitewashed over and over again. He was fascinated with that old window. He felt compelled to paint that window.
When I look at 'The Black Door, 'White Door' works, I think of that old sunken ageing window in Donegal which Blackshaw described to me. These two door paintings are very ordinary but what is extraordinary is that Blackshaw thought of painting them. They are openings to somewhere, to a home, to a world of mystery. We are left with that mystery. How many of the people who knocked these doors are still alive? Did these doors ever exist? Only Blackshaw knew and he is not with us in life but lives with us in death.
Eamonn Mallie, 2021
THE BLACK DOOR
Oil and charcoal on wood panel, 12" x 10" (30.5 x 25.4cm), signed and inscribed.
In and around 2000 Blackshaw's oeuvre shook the world of the art critics. The distinguished former Irish Times Art Critic Brian Fallon without any reluctance told me he was baffled when he visited an exhibition of recent works by Blackshaw in the Ulster Museum.
Many of those paintings later travelled to an exhibition in the Royal Hibernian Academy building in Dublin.
Fallon approached me some time later, feeling he had simply got the new Blackshaw output wrong, and he told me he would welcome an opportunity if it arose, to revisit Blackshaw's late output. I readily stepped back when I was invited to write about Blackshaw in the Irish Arts Review and I suggested to the commissioning editor that Mr Fallon should be afforded an opportunity to reassess the late oeuvre of Blackshaw and so it came to pass.
Blackshaw often told me "I could sit in this chair for months and not an idea would enter my head for a picture. I might get up then, walk across the floor and bang into the door and an idea for a painting was born." In other words paintings found Blackshaw. Walking along the street of a Donegal town he hit upon an old window deeply embedded in a thick wall, covered in a world of plaster which had been whitewashed over and over again. He was fascinated with that old window. He felt compelled to paint that window.
When I look at 'The Black Door, 'White Door' works, I think of that old sunken ageing window in Donegal which Blackshaw described to me. These two door paintings are very ordinary but what is extraordinary is that Blackshaw thought of painting them. They are openings to somewhere, to a home, to a world of mystery. We are left with that mystery. How many of the people who knocked these doors are still alive? Did these doors ever exist? Only Blackshaw knew and he is not with us in life but lives with us in death.
Eamonn Mallie, 2021
- Enquire
- View all lots by this artist
- How bidding works
Please note: You will require a deVeres account in order to bid. Please register via the website. Each lot will close numerically. If there is late bidding the time may be extended which could delay subsequent lots. The lots will start to close from 2.00pm on auction day, closing at 45 second intervals.
PLEASE BID EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.
In order to allow rival bidders the opportunity to respond to a late bid the following extensions will apply:
IF A BID IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE FINAL 45 SECONDS OF THE COUNTDOWN THE CLOCK WILL RESET TO 60 SECONDS.
At any point you can leave a maximum bid, representing the highest price you are prepared to pay for a particular lot. Bidding only advances when there is competition from a rival bidder. In that case the system bids on your behalf, only up to the maximum if required. All bids are relayed to you be email, along with notification if you have been outbid.
All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat), with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
PLEASE BID EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.
In order to allow rival bidders the opportunity to respond to a late bid the following extensions will apply:
IF A BID IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE FINAL 45 SECONDS OF THE COUNTDOWN THE CLOCK WILL RESET TO 60 SECONDS.
At any point you can leave a maximum bid, representing the highest price you are prepared to pay for a particular lot. Bidding only advances when there is competition from a rival bidder. In that case the system bids on your behalf, only up to the maximum if required. All bids are relayed to you be email, along with notification if you have been outbid.
All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat), with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
Sign-up to our auction alert
Signup for personalised Irish art recommendations, invitations to viewings and auctions, articles and more.