Nama to sell Quinlan art through Christie's

THE NATIONAL Asset Management Agency has confirmed it has “instructed Christie’s to offer 14 works of art from the private collection of a Nama debtor at international auctions in London and New York in November 2011”.

The agency declined to name the owner of the paintings, Derek Quinlan, and simply said “the debtor has co-operated in the disposal”.

In a statement, Christie’s also declined to name Mr Quinlan and referred instead to the auction of a “selection of works from a private collector . . . being offered on instruction of the National Asset Management Agency in Ireland.”

Nama seized 16 paintings from Mr Quinlan, a property developer and resident of Shrewsbury Road, Dublin 4, who fled to Switzerland in 2009 owing huge sums to Irish banks. Two of the paintings have been acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland. The proceeds from the sale of the other 14 will be used to pay off some of Mr Quinlan’s debts to the banks, which have been taken over by Nama.

Christie’s will auction three of the paintings – by American artists including Andy Warhol – at its New York auction of post-war and contemporary art on November 9th. The remaining 11 paintings, which include works by Irish artists Jack B Yeats, Roderic O’Conor and Paul Henry, will be sold in London on November 17th in a sale of 20th-century British and Irish Art.

The prices for work by some Irish artists has dropped by 50 per cent since the peak of the boom when Mr Quinlan went on an art- buying spree and assembled his private collection.

In May 2007, at the Christie’s Irish sale in London, Mr Quinlan paid £300,000 for A Man Doing Accounts, a 1929 oil on canvas by Jack B Yeats. It has now an estimate of £120,000-180,000.

Some Irish art auctioneers have expressed anger that the paintings are to be auctioned overseas and say they did not get an opportunity to tender for the contract.

Ray Gordon, a spokesman for Nama, said Christie’s had been selected following “a competitive tender process”.