The annual weekend when a clutch of Ireland’s top antique dealers assemble at the RDS in Dublin’s Ballsbridge, long known to one and all as “the antique dealers’ fair” has been given a snazzy new moniker: “Timeless”.
According to Irish Antique Dealers’ Association president, Paul Brereton: “We spent a lot of time looking at [the name], and thinking about how to appeal to a wider audience. There’s a misconception among the public that it’s all very traditional – ‘antique furniture’ and so on.
“That puts a lot of young people off. But actually, if you come to the show you’re getting to see an amazing array of stock from different types of dealers. You’ll see vintage dealers and salvage dealers as well as antique dealers.
“If you’re in the middle of a project, whether it’s a house or a shop or an office, make it your business to visit the show. It only happens once a year, and everyone brings their best stock with them – so you’ll see a huge range of items in one place at one time. For people who are working all hours and are time-poor, that’s a big plus.”
One item
Antique dealers, he adds, are pretty clued in. They know that what’s hot at the moment is vintage and art deco furniture; they know that a sideboard made for a vast Georgian dining room isn’t going to fit happily into a bijou new-build townhouse. And they’re happy to advise and make suggestions.
“It’s not that you have to deck your whole house out in antiques so that it will look like your parent’s house,” Paul Brereton says. “It’s about that one item which will make your house stand out from everybody else’s.”
Those items range from cast-iron window mirrors to art-deco cocktail trolleys via vintage brass lamps. The fair also runs a series of free lectures which includes a talk by Julian Radcliffe of the art loss register on how to protect your valuables (Friday, 12pm); a look at Barbies, Bibelots and Brown Furniture by the broadcaster and journalist Emer O'Kelly (Friday, 2pm) and a peek at the Irish country houses you never knew, in Robert O'Byrne's Gone for Good: Unfamiliar Irish Country House Ruins (Friday, 12pm). No advance booking is necessary, but be warned: get there early; the lecture room fills up fast.
Anyone who thinks that traditional “fine art” pieces can’t be funky and fun, however, should make a beeline for Gormleys Fine Art stand, which will feature 14 typically dreamy pieces of art by Salvador Dali.
It’s the first time such a substantial collection of works by Dali has been shown in Ireland, and a taster for the major 2019 exhibition at Russborough House in Blessington, Co Wicklow, with which Gormleys plan to mark the 30th anniversary of Dali’s death.
The Russborough show will feature a number of life-sized sculptures, including a Lady Godiva figure priced at €450,000. The 10 sculptures and four prints which Gormleys will bring to the RDS are on a more modest scale – and more modestly priced.
They all come from the Swiss-based Dali Universe, which has been responsible for Dali’s work since his death in 1989.
"This will be the first chance for many people to experience so much of Dali's work at close hand," says Oliver Gormley. "In addition to meticulously painting fantastic compositions, such as The Accommodations of Desire (1929) and the melting clocks in his famed The Persistence of Memory (1931), Dali was a prolific writer and early filmmaker.
“In 1965 he turned his hand to sculpture, repeating themes from his paintings – a Venus equipped with cupboard drawers, elephants with spiders’ legs and soft watches, worked in bronze or crystal.”
Admiration
The bronze sculptures at Timeless, made from wax casts by Dali, range from one of those delicately tippy-toeing elephants to a dancer with an exuberant whirl of flamenco-style skirts. The piece
Horse Saddled With Time
was originally modelled in wax by Dali at his Spanish home, and the marks made by his fingers on the legs can still be seen.
“We wanted to emphasise the great love that the Irish nation has for horses and combine that love with our own admiration for the art of Salvador Dali,” says Oliver Gormley.
“The horse is one of the most famous Dalininan images. Dali has altered his iconic soft clock to use it in place of the horse’s saddle. The symbolism of this soft clock refers to the idea that man cannot ride or tame this horse, for it is time that is the rider.
“It reminds us that time is always moving, just as this horse appears to be in movement forevermore.” A time piece at Timeless. It doesn’t get much better than that, surely?
Timeless, The Irish Antique Dealers Fair, from 11am, September 28th-30th, RDS Main Hall. Admission €10. For more information timelessantiquesfair.ie
