Auction introduction: Christie’s is honoured to be entrusted with the sale of The Private Collection of Mary and Alan Hobart: Pioneers of Modern British and Irish Art in London this November. Their extraordinary personal collection — at Farm Street, Mayfair and Cap Ferrat — bears witness to the Hobarts’ highly renowned expertise and discerning taste. The Hobarts, founders of Pyms Gallery in 1974, were international tastemakers, advising institutions such as the National Gallery of Ireland alongside numerous, notable private collectors. They used their sharp and instinctive eye to establish a new canon of modern Irish art, while also championing the work of many other great modern and contemporary artists. Sir William Orpen was the artist with whom the Hobarts were most associated and their collection includes prime examples from every period of the artist’s career. Works by other key Irish artists are at the heart of the collection, including Jack Butler Yeats, Grace Henry, Mary Swanzy, William Scott and Sean Scully. The Hobarts were renowned for trailblazing female artists from relative obscurity and at their Mayfair home, works by Bridget Riley and Prunella Clough hung alongside paintings by Rita Duffy and Eileen Agar. The artistic dialogue between Modern British and Irish artists engaged the Hobarts and their collection includes excellent examples of many leading 20th-century British artists, including Augustus John, Patrick Heron, Christopher Wood, John Tunnard and many others. The collection also comprises the Hobarts’ furniture, decorative arts and design, including works by Line Vautrin, René Lalique and Pierre Chareau.