Jan 2002 Exhibition

Transcription

Jan 2002 Exhibition

Gorry Gallery
15. FRANCIS WILLIAM TOPHAM
FRONT COVER: Samuel Lover R.H.A. 1797 - 1868
Catalogue Number 12. (Detail)
© GORRY GALLERY LTD.
GORRY GALLERY
An Exhibition of
18th, 19th and 20th Century
Irish Paintings
31st January – 8th February, 2002
1. HOWARD HELMICK
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12. SAMUEL LOVER R.H.A. (1797-1868)
‘Procession to “The roiall iusts [jousts] holden in Smithfield, London.” A.D. 1390.’
Oil on canvas, 61 x 92
Signed and dated: ‘S. Lover 1825’
Framed in an Irish 1820s gilt frame.
Illustrated front cover (detail)
Exhibited:
1829, Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition (no.87). Catalogue entry affixed to the frame.
Provenance:
Private Collection, Dublin.
Literature:
Caffrey, P., ‘Samuel Lover’s Achievement as a Painter.’ Irish Arts Review, vol. III, no. 1, pp. 51-54.
Caffrey, P., Treasures to Hold, Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland, pp. 135-139.
Samuel Lover was born in Dublin where he was taught to paint by John Comerford (c.1770-1830). He attended some drawing lessons
at the Dublin Society Schools although his name is not recorded in the lists of pupils educated there. He began exhibiting work at the
Royal Hibernian Academy in 1826 and was elected a full academician in 1828.
Lover worked in a wide range of media, painting full-scale oil pictures, as well as watercolours, drawing caricatures and painting
miniature portraits. During the period 1815-1835 he worked mainly as a painter but throughout his life he wrote poetry, songs, operas,
novels, plays and was a theatrical impresario.
Historical subjects that were inspired by medieval history, literature and the 1820s vogue for the historical novel were the inspiration
for many of Lover’s works. Lover was interested in historic costume, pageantry, armour and the kind of neo-Gothicism associated
with the revived Eglinton tournament.
Lover’s ‘Procession to “The roiall iusts holden in Smithfield, London” A.D. 1370’ was painted in Dublin in 1825. It was inspired by a
description of the procession of knights and their ladies on their way to the royal jousting competition held at Smithfield during the
reign of Richard II (1377-1399). Lover's painting is based on the following passage written by the English historian Raphael Holinshed
(died c. 1580) in his Chronicles, published in 1578:
Courtiers apparelled for the iusts and upon an expier [procession] of honour; riding a soft pace - then come fourth faire
and twentie ladies of honour, - three score saith Froissard - [Jean Froissard (c.1333-1410) the French historian] mounted
on palfries, riding on the one side, richlie apparelled and everie ladie led by a knight with a chain of gold - silver saith
Froissard - these knights being on the King's [Richard II] part, laid their armour and apparell garnished with white
hertys [harts or stag] and crowns of gold about their necks, with a great number of trumpets and other instruments
before them.
Lover paints the procession of romantic knights in armour and ladies in flowing robes as described in Holinshed’s text. The crowded
canvas is filled with figures wearing 1820s versions of medieval dress. The central figure of a lady wearing a pink gown with a fan of
ostrich feathers in her hand is seated side saddle on a richly-caparisoned white Arab mare with flowing mane. The horse is led by a
page and beside her walks her knight who is chained to her with a gold chain. He is an heroic figure in full armour and drawn sword.
The badge of Richard II, a white hart or stag, ‘gorged’ with a crown around its neck and chained, decorates a shield and the apparel of
one of the horses. The central composition is well balanced by attendant soldiers, one with a lance which would later be used in the
jousting, a drummer, banners, flags, a herald mounted on a horse and a figure with two greyhounds.
Dr Paul Caffrey
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11. ROBERT GIBBS fl. 1808-1834
‘The Rattle - A Family Group’
Oil on canvas 30.5 x 25.5
Signed and dated 1834
13. ROBERT GIBBS fl. 1808-1834
‘The Reading Lesson - A Family Group’
W.G. Strickland in his Dictionary of Irish Artist’s published 1913 Vol. 1, page 400 lists Gibbs living in Patrick Street, Cork about 1810
practising as a portrait painter and it is recorded that he exhibited “A Composition” at the Hibernian Society of Artists, Dublin 1814
number 78. The Irish Art Loan Exhibition Ann M Stewart, Manton Publishing 1990 Vol. 1 page 269.
Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin in The Watercolours of Ireland state: “He did numerous pen and watercolour drawings in
grisaille of the Kilkenny area probably for the architect William Robertson. He worked widely in Southern Ireland and stylistically
looks as though he was a pupil of G. Holmes”.
In 1980 the Wellesley Ashe Gallery, Dublin, exhibited a collection of 31 topographical drawings on paper (watermarked 1805 and 1809)
mainly of Kilkenny views but also of Cork, Galway, Tipperary and Waterford. Many of these drawings were engraved.
It is interesting to note that up until now his flourished dates were 1808-1816. The 1808 date is confirmed by the large figure subject
‘Shipwrecked’ signed and dated that year which was exhibited with this Gallery June 2000 number 12.
However, the discovery of this charming pair of conversation pieces dated 1834 expands our knowledge of Gibbs’ work and extends
his flourished dates by a further 18 years.
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3. JAMES ARTHUR O’CONNOR c.1792-1841
‘A Wooded River Scene’
Oil on canvas 45.5 x 61
Provenance:
Christie Manson and Woods, London, February 24th 1912, Lot Number 81.
Private collection, United States of America.
In this finely balanced landscape composition, with trees lining both river banks, the artist seems to be looking upstream from the
vantage point of a boat. There are rain clouds gathering or departing and a clearing in the middle distance gives depth to the view.
Although O’Connor invariably introduced figures to his landscapes they were usually solitary or sparse, their small size emphasising
the scale of the surroundings and the frailty and transience of human life. Unusually, in this picture, we see a greater emphasis and
size in his figures and a clear narrative. A man accompanies two well dressed women, wearing fancy bonnets and carrying full
baskets, probably returning from a market, clearly relaxed and well pleased with their lot. The boatman punts away from the river
bank in dramatic pose, to ferry his passengers safely to the other side of the waterway. There is an overall feeling of calm, of a
moment caught in time, the long shadows cast by the sun and shafts of light through the dense foliage suggesting the approach of
dusk on a summers evening.
The painting is dated 1823 when O’Connor was residing in England but he was exhibiting Irish Landscapes that year at the Royal
Academy, London, ‘Landscape and Figures a scene in the County of Dublin’ number 203 and ‘The Lovers Leap in the Dargle, Co.
Wicklow’. He also exhibited at the British Institution, ‘Landscape and Figures, Evening’, ‘A scene in Wicklow’ number 213 and
‘Landscape with a Mill: A view at Miltown, Dublin’ number 301. Most paintings of the scale of the work in this exhibition were
inspired by, indeed based on the many sketches we know he did on site, so although based in England at this time ‘Irish Paintings’
were being painted and exhibited.
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9. GEORGE BARRET
18. BARTHOLOMEW COLLES WATKINS
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2. WILLIAM MULREADY R.A. 1786-1863
‘River Landscape with Buildings and Figures’
Oil on canvas 36 x 48
This early work, circa 1810, is remarkably similar to ‘The Boat House’ an oil on canvas of identical size (illustrated below) which was
exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1872 number 39 and again in 1886 number 4 (on loan) and their closeness in composition and style
place them together as companion pictures. This painting can also be compared to a work in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
‘Landscape with Cottages’ from the same period.
At this time, Mulready, like his contempories Sir David Wilkie 1785 - 1841 and John Linnell 1792 - 1882 were all strongly influenced by
the work of the earlier Dutch and Flemish Masters whose engravings and paintings they studied and collected.
The buildings and sites portrayed by Mulready were frequently accurate presentations of specific places based on a series of
meticulous drawings. The rapidly changing rural landscape around London at this time was recorded with accuracy but in a
quintessential Mulready fashion.
His early landscape paintings were highly saught after and those exhibited at the Royal Academy were warmly received but after 1813
he concentrated on genre subjects developing a minutely detailed and colourful style of painting which was more compatable to the
oncoming Pre-Raphaelite Movement.
Bibliography: William Mulready, Kathryn Moore Heleniak, New
Haven and London 1980
Mulready, Marcia Pointon, Victoria and Albert
Museum 1986
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24. MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE THOMAS COLOMB H.R.H.A. 1787-1874
‘Lake Scenery, Early Morning’
Oil on canvas 76 x 114.5
Signed, and inscribed Dublin on label verso.
It is interesting to note that the inscription is on Ministry of Defence note paper.
This picture relates to the Hudson Valley School of Painters and is possibly a classicised view of the Catskill Mountains in New
York State.
Works by Colomb are rare, seldom appearing on the market, yet he exhibited 59 works at the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1841 to
1868, mainly landscapes in Ireland but also Britian, Europe, Canada and America.
He also exhibited at the Northern Irish Art Union, Belfast in 1842, the Royal Irish Art Union, Dublin, 1843, the Exhibition of Fine and
Ornamental Arts, Dublin, 1861, and the Exhibition of Manufactures, Machinery and Fine Arts, Dublin, 1864.
An entry in Walter George Strickland A Dictionary of Irish Artists states that he:
“Was born in 1787, the son of Philip Colomb. He joined the 96th regiment as Ensign in December,
1808, and served on the staff in America in 1814 and 1815. He was placed on half-pay in 1817;
became Major in 1827, and Lieut.-Colonel in 1841. In the latter year he was living in Dublin, and
exhibited six landscapes and marine subjects at the Royal Hibernian Academy. Thenceforth he was
an exhibitor, almost every year, down to 1868 and was made an Honorary Member of the Academy
in 1854. On the 24th March, 1843, he was appointed Commandant of the Hibernian Military School,
Phoenix Park, a post he held until 31st December, 1858, when, on being promoted Major General, he
vacated the appointment.
He subsequently resided at Dalkey, and died there on 20th March, 1874, in his 87th year. A collection
of forty of his works, views of English, Irish and Swiss scenery, was sold at Littledale’s, Dublin, in
February, 1845. General Colomb married in 1820, Mary, third daughter of Sir Abraham Bradley
King, Bart., and by her, who died 25th February, 1866, had four sons and three daughters. The eldest
son, George Halton Colomb, was a colonel in the Royal Artillary, and when quartered in Cork, as a
captain, in 1859, sent four landscapes to the Royal Hibernian Academy. The second son, Wellington
Colomb, is separately noticed. The third son was Vice-Admiral Philip Howard Colomb, and the
fourth was Sir John Charles Ready Colomb, K.C.M.G., M.P.”
Bibliography: Walter George Strickland A Dictionary of Irish Artists Vol. I p.p. 192/193
Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts: Index of Exhibitors 1826 - 1979, Ann M. Stewart Vol. I p.p. 153/154
Irish Art Loan Exhibitions 1765 - 1927: Index of Artists. Ann M. Stewart Vol. I p.138
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8. JAMES ARTHUR O’CONNOR, c.1792-1841
‘Town of Westport and Clew Bay, Co. Mayo’
Provenance:
Miss Lily Daly (old label verso).
Private collection.
The Westport painted by James Arthur O’Connor around 1818 shows the town at the height of its nineteenth-century development
and prosperity. The view, taken probably from Knockranny, shows the settlement nestling almost in the shadow of the distant coneshaped Croagh Patrick, looking across the island-studded Clew Bay to the mountainous Clare Island in the right background. Most of
the land depicted on the canvas was owned by the Browne family which commissioned the painting. They had settled there in the
seventeenth century, were ennobled as the Lords Altamont in the eighteenth and elevated further as Marquesses of Sligo in the first
year of the nineteenth.
They lived in Westport House (open to the public in Summer) which can be seen beside Clew Bay to the right of centre. Built by
Richard Cassels, and extended with interior decoration by James Wyatt in 1778-81, it had in the grounds a church with tower, the top
of which can be seen just peeping above the trees. On the flat-topped wooded hill to the left of the house lay Cathair na Mart, a stone
ring-fort which gave its name to the old village which was located within the Demesne. But, in 1767, the first Lord Altamont cleared
the land and re-settled the inhabitants in the new town seen in the painting, which he laid out with the assistance of the architect
William Leeson. The urban expansion that followed continued unabated until around the time this picture was painted, when a slump
after the Napoleonic Wars led to a decline in the linen and herring industries which had brought great prosperity to the town. Their
raw materials were stored in the two 6-7 storey warehouses which can be seen here beside the harbour.
The painting was designed to show Westport's latest development, the tree-lined Mall with the Catholic Church and its houses
striding across near the bottom of the canvas. The Mall had only just been completed when O’Connor paid his first visit in 1818. The
Fair Green is highlighted on the left-hand end of it, and the building among the trees on the right is probably the Old Glebe House.
The lay-out of the streets in wooded surroundings on an inlet of the Atlantic made Westport one of the most distinctive landlord
towns in nineteenth-century Ireland - a beauty well exploited by O’Connor in this painting.
Dr. Peter Harbison
O’Connor painted a number of variants of this view, apart from the commissioned work of 1818 in Westport House, and the 1825
version in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the recent discovery of this picture probably completes the series.
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4. ‘A View of the South Wall and Pigeon House Fort’
5. ‘View from Raheny of Dublin Bay’
A set of four topographical Dublin views by William Sadler II, c. 1782-1839
Oil on wood 15 x 20
‘A View of the South Wall and Pigeon House Fort’
William Sadler is well known for his richly detailed paintings of Dublin Bay and the environs of the city, painted in the early years of
the 19th century.
These delightful paintings, so exquisitely coloured and full of topographical fact and architectural information are also records of
social history, with accurate depiction of modes of transport and contemporary dress. His pictures, usually painted in oil on panel
(recycled coach panels with hessian on reverse), must have required great skill in handling very small brushes – so fine are the detail
such as ships rigging, houses and the chimneys of buildings.
In the view of the South Wall, we see a part of what is now Dublin port, and if we were to stand in the same spot today, we would be
looking directly at the twin E.S.B. chimneys, with Hammond Lane’s scrap yard and Dublin Corporation’s sewage treatment plant on
either side of the wall! Part of the small harbour which is shown to the left, is still in existence. It was built in the 1790’s along with the
Pigeon House fort and hotel, seen directly above the group of people, and the harbour served as the terminus for the mail packets
(passenger and mail boats to Holyhead) until the completion of Howth harbour in 1809. A small group of soldiers are walking towards
the entrance to the port, which is secured by a type of timber pallisade; an early 19th century checkpoint.
The South Wall was itself constructed during the 18th century to improve the depth of the channel of the River Liffey by increasing its
scouring action. The approaches to Dublin Port were treacherously shallow, and were the scene of many shipwrecks and much loss of
life.
During the late 18th century the Pigeon House fort was constructed to guard the entrance to the Port, but little now remains of it
except for a few stone walls and some cannon. A small single masted ship which may be a mail packet is shown in the harbour, to the
left of two or three larger British Naval ships. The granite built, three story hotel which has fine views over Dublin Bay, was built to
accommodate passengers awaiting ships, or those waiting to be brought in to the city.
The fact that there are no steam paddle ships shown, may suggest a date prior to 1825.
In each painting, Sadler places a small group of people, usually with their backs to us, in the foreground. They are employed by the
artist to give scale, but they also re-inforce the viewers sense of looking in on the scene, of being there. This becomes all the more real
for us because we know these landscapes today, in some ways little changed except for two centuries of building.
‘View from Raheny of Dublin Bay’
Although highly picturesque this picture is topographically accurate. We see the South wall again, stretching for several miles out into
Dublin Bay from Ringsend. Smoke drifts above the city, and there is the faintest hint of the village of Blackrock and Dunleary in the
distance. Beyond are the two Sugar Loaves and the Dublin mountains.
If we were to examine these paintings alongside a contemporary map, say that of Taylor made in 1814, and refer to the street
directions of the day, we would find Sadler to be giving us an honest record of what he saw, in spite of what we see as picturesque
sweetness.
The view from Raheny shows a rural landscape in the foreground with only one or two big houses and nothing else between the
viewpoint and the fisherman’s sheds at Clontarf.
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6. ‘Howth Harbour and Ireland’s Eye’
7. ‘View of Dublin from the Phoenix Park near Island Bridge’
‘Howth Harbour and Ireland’s Eye’
The painting shows the completed east and west piers, with a small fishing fleet moored up against the latter. Out to sea, we discern a
plume of smoke from a steam powered packet ship which suggest that the painting was executed some time in the 1820’s. The
harbour was constructed as a port of refuge for ships entering Dublin, but it lay outside the bay and was dry at low tide. Critics of
Howth claimed that the harbour was built purely to enhance local land values and was useless from day one, on its completion in
1809! A fine lighthouse ornaments the east pier and the Abbey of Howth can be seen above the fishing village of thatched cottages.
Three more cottages are shown on the left, and the impresssion we get from the painting is of a picturesque but poor fishing village. It
is interesting that while he shows the Martello Tower in the extreme right, built circa 1801-4, he does not show the conspicuous
martello tower on Irelands Eye. Apart from this Sadlers painting appears to be topographically accurate, and at the same time highly
picturesque.
‘View of Dublin from the Phoenix Park near Island Bridge’
This picture shows the Liffey calmly flowing towards the city, with the Wellington testimonial standing erect on the left hand side and
the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham on the extreme right. Sarah Bridge, erected in 1794 stands in the centre of the picture, with the various
mills and malt houses of Islandbridge to the right. Some of the mills and warehouses and the bridge are still standing today. The
Wellington monument as it is called, was completed in 1817 and once again the period of the 1820’s seems likely for the date of the
painting. An important looking coach, pulled by four horses is galloping along the Conyngham Road between the Phoenix Park and
the view.
The Poolbeg lighthouse at the end of the South Wall in Dublin was a favourite subject for painters of the late 18th and early 19th
centuries. The South Wall and its granite built lighthouse are as great an engineering achievement today as they were in 1760 when the
beacon was completed. The long slightly kinked walk stretches right out into the middle of Dublin Bay, designed to deepen the
channel of the Liffey and make conditions for shipping safer. Sadler’s picture shows a collection of sailing ships of circa 1820, entering
Dublin port in an easterly storm. The artists arrangement of ships, of which seven are in evidence, has perhaps more to do with
creating a successful composition around the lighthouse than a strict sailor’s knowledge of wind direction, position of sails and
location of relevant vessels.
At the centre of the painting, whose dark green-grey hues
are evocative of a dirty, wintery sea, we have the
lighthouse, whose coursed stonework is quite visible. It
was not then painted red as it is today. The dark choppy
seas at the mouth of the Liffey are not greatly exaggerated
by Sadler, as any mariner who has found himself there
when a strong easterly wind meets the force of the river
and an ebbing tide, will tell you.
In the background, the painting takes in the south shore of
Dublin Bay, with Dalkey behind the lighthouse, and the
Ringsend fort in the distant righthand side.
Peter Pearson
Peter Pearson is a painter and historian, whose pictures of Dublin bay (The
South Wall, The Pigeon house chimnies, The Docks and the city, are well
known). He is author of “Between the Mountains and the Sea“ and “The
Heart of Dublin“, and is planning and exhibition of his paintings in
February.
10. WILLIAM SADLER
‘Shipping in Dublin Bay, near the Poolbeg Lighthouse’.
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27. JOHN FAULKNER
16. JAMES RICHARD MARQUIS
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29. JOHN FAULKNER
17. JAMES RICHARD MARQUIS
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14. HARRY JONES THADDEUS, R.H.A. 1859-1929
‘The Comforter’
Signed and Dated 1900
Exhibited:
Royal Hibernian Academy 1901, number 95
The Comforter is one of a number of evocative interior scenes that Thaddeus painted at the height of his career. These include Christ
before Caiaphas (c.1895; untraced),1 The Cup that Cheers (1898; private collection), and his monumental An Irish Eviction - Co. Galway,
Ireland (1889; private collection).
A badly abraded gilded plaque on the frame, which appears to be original, adds significantly to one’s appreciation of the painting. The
quotation printed on the plaque, which, curiously, is mentioned in neither the relevant RHA exhibition catalogue nor contemporary
newspaper reviews, is taken from Has Sorrow Thy Young Days Shaded, one of Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies.2 The lines in question
feature at the end of the first and final stanzae of the poem, and read
Then, child of misfortune, come hither,
I’ll weep with thee, tear for tear
Though it is possible that Thaddeus appropriated these lines to the painting when he came to exhibit it, it seems more likely that the
poem actually inspired the subject. The painting is not, admittedly, a literal translation of the poem, which deals abstractly with the
transience of youth, and the frequent cruelty of circumstance, but it does communicate pictorially the despair and compassion which
are central to Moore’s poem. These concerns are also communicated through the gloomy shadows and rustic detail of the picture’s
humble cottage setting.
It is also important to note that this was not the only exhibition work by Thaddeus to have been inspired by Moore’s Melodies. In 1890,
Thaddeus painted The Origin of the Harp of Elfin, which allowed him to indulge his interest in literary sources and Irish themes, and at
the same time to acknowledge his Cork artistic heritage, as the painting draws heavily on Daniel Maclise’s painting of the same
subject (1842; City of Manchester Galleries).3 Having been exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1891, The Origin of the Harp of
Elfin remained in the artist’s possession until 1893, when Thaddeus presented it to the Duke and Duchess of York on the occasion of
their marriage.4
Moore’s words echo the tone of The Comforter rather than explain its narrative. In fact, Thaddeus has judiciously avoided clarifying the
story. The presence of an open letter on the floor in the bottom left of the painting, and the way in which the young woman buries her
head in her hands implies that she has received distressing news, but whether this involves the death of a spouse, the infidelity of a
lover or perhaps rejection by a suitor is unknown. The inclusion of a letter was a common and versatile device in Victorian narrative
painting, and The Comforter is reminiscent of a plethora of nineteenth century British scenes, both paintings and illustrations, of
mourning, heartbreak, despair and compassion, such as Alfred Rankley’s Old Schoolfellows (1854), Frank Holl’s No Tidings from the Sea
(1885) and Frank Bramley’s A Hopeless Dawn (1885).
Of the four works Thaddeus showed the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1901, The Obbedienza, Master Harold Maxwell and The Comforter
elicited considerable positive comment from the Irish press.5 The critic for The Irish Daily Independent and Nation asserted that The
Comforter was ‘certainly one of the most brilliant, if not one of the most ambitious works in the exhibition’.6 Such praise was mitigated
only by the fact that the picture was relatively old fashioned by the standards of contemporary art criticism in 1901. However, there
was still a significant appetite for such sombre, sentimental narrative paintings among the public in the early years of the twentieth
century. Significantly, Freeman’s Journal, describing the painting as ‘one of the most important and beautiful canvasses of the year’,
maintained that Thaddeus, in terms of ‘suggestiveness and simple pathos’, had not produced a work of such quality since the feted
Wounded Poacher of 1880/81 (NGI).7
In 1901, a conservative audience would have considered skills of draughtsmanship and the ability to communicate drama of
paramount importance, and with The Comforter, Thaddeus succeeds handsomely in these respects. Typically, he has been meticulous in
his modelling of the face of the old man, which resembles a number of Thaddeus’ craggy-faced characters. In The Comforter, the dark,
featureless background, redolent of Thaddeus’ portraiture, increases the intensity of the scene, and accentuates the contours of the old
man’s features. Thaddeus pays particular attention to the old man’s eyes, which appear weathered and sore, and to the hand which he
rests upon a cane. The man’s features were described appositely by one observer as ‘Irvingesque’, referring to Sir Henry Irving, the
renowned Shakespearian actor.8 The softer modelling and lighting of the young woman is consistent with Thaddeus’ oeuvre (see, for
example, The Wounded Poacher, his portrait of Lily, Lady Elliot and The Origin of the Harp of Elfin), and indeed with late Victorian
academic painting in general. The juxtaposition of youth and age, with its suggestions of transience and the cycle of life, was also a
popular leitmotif in British painting of the period.
It is important to note that Thaddeus was not averse to taking pictorial shortcuts provided they did not diminish the overall impact of
his work. In formal portraits, for instance, he often hid his sitters’ hands, details that were notoriously challenging and time
consuming for an artist.9 In The Comforter, the manner in which the young woman buries her face in her hands is evocative but also
easier for the artist to depict. It is interesting to note that Thaddeus employs a similar device in The Origin of the Harp of Elfin, in which
the female figure hides her face in the crook of her arm.
Significantly, it was on the strength of The Comforter and the three other works that Thaddeus showed at the Royal Hibernian
Academy that the artist was elected a full member of that institution in 1901 (he had been made an associate in 1893).
Dr. Brendan Rooney
A biography of Harry Jones Thaddeus by Brendan Rooney is due for publication by Four Courts Press in Autumn 2002
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14. HARRY JONES THADDEUS
1 Christ before Caiaphas was illustrated in colour in the rather obscure periodical Masterpieces of Modern Art, no.17, vol.1, undated.
2 See A.D. Godley, ed., The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, (Oxford 1915). Moore’s Irish Melodies were first published in ten volumes and a supplement between 1808 and 1834.
3 Thaddeus appears to have held Maclise in particularly high regard.
4 Thaddeus’ The Origin of the Harp of Elfin remains in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace.
5 The fourth painting was a portrait of the Duke of Cambridge.
6 lrish Daily Independent and Nation (11 March 1901).
7 Freeman’s Journal (11 March 1901).
8 Irish Daily Independent and Nation (11 March 1901).
9 In many works, including The Comforter and The Rev. the Earl of Besshorough, Thaddeus demonstrated that he was very accomplised at painting hands.
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34. SAMUEL MCCLOY
32. JAMES ALFRED AITKEN
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26. SAMUEL MCCLOY
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31. MILDRED ANNE BUTLER
35. JOHN FAULKNER
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22. JOSEPH WILLIAM CAREY
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40. ALOYSIUS O’KELLY (1853 - c.1941)
‘The Market Place, Tangier’
Signed and inscribed lower left Aloys. O’Kelly, Tangier
Exhibited:
according to earlier inscription: Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, nd.;
Re-orientations. Aloysius O’Kelly: Paintings. Politics and Popular Culture. Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern
Art, 1999-2000.
Gorry Gallery, May-June 1990 number 15.
Aloysius O’Kelly’s paintings, based on his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, are characterised by a diversity of styles. From
Dublin to London, from Paris to Manhattan, from Connemara to Cairo, forwards and backwards, he sought to adapt himself to local
styles and conditions - Realist in Ireland, Naturalist in France and Orientalist in North Africa. Although such adaptability is now
bewildering, it was prized as versatility at the time.
From the late eighteenth century, in conjunction with European colonial and commercial expansion, Orientalist painters and writers
flocked to North Africa. Having spent a number of years painting and illustrating in the west of Ireland, O’Kelly went to North Africa
in 1884, the first of many sojourns there. Although he adopts a dissident position in his illustrations of the holy war in the Sudan, in
his paintings he is more conventional. A student of the Orientalist par excellence, Jean-Leon Gérôme, O’Kelly painted many of the
scenes of his master and peers (games of draughts, street and bazaar scenes, desert and mosque paintings) but he tended to avoid
depictions indicative of colonial notions of power - scenes of violence and extremism.
Over and over, O’Kelly celebrated the dynamic street life of these cities. Although modest in size, this painting contains twelve figures
and is teeming with life. The deep shadows and bright sunlight are enchanting. He has also employed a strikingly vibrant palette. The
awnings are pulled back, the fruit market scene is in full swing. Unusually for an Orientalist work, however, there is a strong sense
that he knew these people and moved amongst them. In contrast to traditional Orientalist painting, it is more informal and is treated
in a freer, looser manner.
Dr. Niamh O’Sullivan
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41. STANHOPE ALEXANDER FORBES, RA (1857-1947)
‘Florist and Fruiterer’
Signed and dated lower left Stanhope A Forbes 1923
Exhibited:
London, Royal Academy, 1923 no 38
Shop scenes had featured among Stanhope Forbes’ earliest works when he was still a student in France. Then they provided the ideal
social realist motif, succinctly embodying the idiosyncrasies of the communities they served, and paintings such as Fair Measure, a
Shop in Quimperlé (RA 1884), already displayed Forbes’ characteristic balance between bright, still life passages and figural activity. In
a pre-War canvas, The Vegetable Shop (RA 1909), Forbes developed the subject, this time presenting the shop itself, nestled among
ships’ masts and with a glimpse of the sea, as an integral part of the brilliant colour and bustle of Newlyn.
During the twenties however, his focus shifted increasingly inland and away from Newlyn harbour. Thus, while the structure of The
Vegetable Shop, in which a shop and cart create strong, opposing, diagonal forces, pre-figures the composition of Florist and Fruiterer,
their contrasting settings evidence a complete change of pace and mood. Set against the backdrop of another street, angled to provide
counterweight and recession, Florist and Fruiterer is one of a series of paintings at this time which featured the warren of streets and
busy shops around old Penzance. Indeed the shop itself may well have been Samuel Passmore’s store at 2 Chapel Street and the
bunches of greenery hanging round the door suggest that it may be nearly Christmas. Again in contrast to earlier paintings, the
figures here appear small in relation to the buildings, throwing particular emphasis in this instance onto the shop window whose
brightness is further heightened by the subdued tones of the surrounding stonework.
Unusually, too, for Forbes no glimpse of sky is visible here even as a reflection so that the composition effectively revolves entirely
around the animated spectrum in the shop window. While green and blue each find a balancing echo in the street, the painting is
effectively almost entirely driven by the concentrated interplay of Forbes’ favourite complementary colours within the window, warm
orange with intense blue, deep green with strident red. The boldness of these colours indoors increases the suggestion of bleakness
outdoors, a variation on the indoors/outdoors lighting effects he had employed in previous works.
23
42. SIR JOHN LAVERY R.A., R.H.A., R.S.A. 1856-1941
‘The Beach, Evening, Tangier’
Signed; also signed, inscribed with title and dated 1912 on the reverse
Provenance:
Malcolm Macdonald, British High Commissioner to Canada, 1941 - 1946
The Country Club, Aylmer, Quebec, probably a gift from the above, until 1999
Lavery first visited Tangier in 1891 at the instigation of his friends, the Glasgow artists Arthur Melville and Joseph Crawhall, and
made almost annual visits thereafter. By the turn of the century he had acquired a house, Dar-el-Midfah (the House of the Cannon, for
a half-buried cannon in the garden) and became a regular guest at the British Legation and master of the Tangier Hunt.
The present work was painted in 1912, and is set on the beach that stretches in a long curve to the east of the city, seen from the cliffs
that loom above it. Far below the viewer, local market-goers use the sand as a short cut to avoid the vertiginous climb. Lavery delights
in the tonality that the rays of the sinking sun give to the scene: catching the crests of the surf and the points of the far shore and
outlining them in pink, while the advancing shadow has turned the sand a deep rosy ochre.
Beaches and the sea, whether in Morocco, the South of France or Scotland, were always an abiding love of Lavery’s reflecting the
interest in water and passing weather effects of his supporter Whistler.
24
46. BEATRICE GLENAVY R.H.A. (1883-1970), “NOËL”, c.1946
Oil on canvas, 41 x 30.5 cms., signed with ‘BG’ monogram in bottom r.h. corner, in original white fluted wooden frame; inscribed on
verso with the artist’s name and address - ‘Lady Glenavy R.H.A./Rockbrook House/Rathfarnham/Co. Dublin’ - and title and original
price.
Exhibited:
Provenance:
RHA 1947, no.73, for sale at £14-00
RHA 1970 (artist’s memorial exhibition), no.6
James Adam Auction, March 26 1987, lot 118
Mrs. Eileen Percival (purportedly)
Private collection
This small painting is one of a number of canvasses which feature plaster plaques made by the artist in the mid 1940’s. Usually signed,
and dated c.1945, these relatively high relief cast plaster plaques range in size, shape and theme. They frequently feature fanciful
versions of women as Mother, Lover, Mistress, Wife or Mermaid and, more especially, the Virgin Mary and Child - images the artist
had depicted ever since her outstandingly successful student years when she worked in plaster, print, stained glass and silver. This
particular plaque, depicting the veiled and haloed yet notably buxom Virgin kneeling enraptured at her tiny kicking baby, is set in a
sinuously delineated low enclosure and is embossed with a large symbolic star and flowerheads.
In this painting, a pale blue background and gold halo enhance the otherwise uncoloured principal features of the plaque and echo the
blue sky which fills the canvas. The plaque is nailed to a simply made driftwood cross encircled with an open coil of barbed wire and
hung with a pink satin ribbon bow - a device the artist favoured. Below it a holly branch rests on a scored wooden shelf, a bare
seashore visible in the distance behind. This bleak juxtaposition of the joyful Nativity and a cut coil of barbed wire against an empty
landscape devoid of life or colour, but for the expertly painted red berries and deep green stiff foreground leaves, is unusual in the
artist’s work. Could it refer to the tragic death of her only daughter, killed by a flying-bomb in 1944 with her newly-married husband
just as the end of the War seemed finally in sight?
In other paintings of the period, the same plaque (which was for sale at £2.00 through the RHA in 1948) appears creamy white,
untinted, set against a neutral background, bedecked with a large blue ribbon, bunches of primroses and a trail of ivy. Other plaques,
irregularly shaped, show the Virgin half length, tenderly playing with her Child, adorned with flowery still-lifes in pastel shades.
Limerick Municipal Art Gallery has a similarly sized, dated and framed version of Noël, in oil on linen, with a full-length crowned
Virgin, elegantly swaying with her Child. She is portrayed as a white statuette beside a Christmas advent candle, silver bunting, a
shining star and a large holly wreath swag that nearly fills the frame, tiny figures of a man and woman dimly discernible on the beach
behind, walking their dog. Whatever the composition, Glenavys treatment is unwaveringly painterly and assured.
Dr. Nicola Gordon Bowe 2001
25
44. JAMES HUMBERT CRAIG, R.H.A., R.U.A. 1877-1944
‘Near Dungloe, County Donegal’, c. 1935-8
Oil on board 38 x 51
Signed:
‘J H CRAIG’ br
Exhibited:
(?) Memorial Exhibition: Paintings and Sketches by J Humbert Craig, R.H.A. 1877-1944, Belfast Museum & Art
Gallery, 4 July - 11 August 1944 (45, as ‘Evening near Dungloe, Donegal’)
Label of John Magee, Belfast, on reverse with title and reference number ‘1937’. Dated c. 1935-8 on stylistic grounds. A good example
of Craig’s later manner.
Humbert Craig was a regular contributor to the annual exhibitions of the R.H.A. where he usually included recent works. As the titles
of the pictures he submitted each year show, from about 1917 he painted regularly in County Donegal, usually in the area around
Glenveigh, Port-na-Blagh and Dunfanaghy. In the mid-1930s, however, he turned his attention further westwards, to the area known
as ‘The Rosses’, where he took particular delight painting the lake-strewn landscape with its scattered hills and mountains. The Crolly
river in its various moods also gave him much delight. Amongst the compositions he painted in the area immediately to the south of
the town of Dungloe is The Rosses, Road to Doocharry, c. 1933 (exhibited Gorry Gallery November 2000, catalogue No.59), a composition
with similar topography to that seen here. If this location is correct, the road depicted here must lead north eastwards by way of the
Owenwee river with the Derryveagh and Glendowan Mountains to the left and right respectively in the background. As the Road to
Doocharry and this work illustrate, Craig, like some of his contemporaries – Paul Henry and Frank McKelvey come to mind – was
more precise in his depiction of the landscape than is usually thought to have been the case. The degree of realism that these painters
brought to their renderings of the Irish scene, therefore, went beyond their treatment of mere micro issues such as texture, mood and
atmosphere.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy
26
Measurements in centimetres, height precedes width.
GALLERY I
HOWARD HELMICK 1845-1907
1.
‘A Quiet Pipe’
Oil on wood 25.5 x 20
Signed and dated 1878 also signed and inscribed on reverse.
Illustrated page 4
WILLIAM MULREADY R.A. 1786-1863
2.
‘River Landscape with buildings and figures’
Illustration and text page 9
5.
‘View from Raheny of Dublin Bay’
Oil on wood 15 x 20
6.
‘Howth Harbour and Ireland’s Eye’
Oil on wood 15 x 20
Illustration on text page 13
7.
‘View of Dublin from the Phoenix Park near Island Bridge’
Oil on wood 15 x 20
JAMES ARTHUR O’CONNOR c.1792-1841
8.
‘Town of Westport and Clew Bay, Co. Mayo’
GEORGE BARRET R.A. 1728-1784
9.
‘River Landscape with figures’
Gouache on paper 18.5 x 24
Illustrated page 8
WILLIAM SADLER II c.1782-1839
10.
‘Shipping in Dublin Bay, near the Poolbeg Lighthouse’
Oil on wood 26.5 x 41
23. WILLIAM BINGHAM Mc GUINNESS
JAMES ARTHUR O’CONNOR c.1792-1841
3.
‘A Wooded River Scene’
WILLIAM SADLER II c.1782-1839
4.
‘A View of the South Wall and Pigeon House Fort’
Oil on wood 15 x 20
43. FRANK MCKELVEY
27
ROBERT GIBBS fl. 1808-1834
11
‘The Rattle, a Family Group’
SAMUEL LOVER R.H.A. 1797-1868
12.
‘Procession to the roiall iusts [jousts] holden in Smithfield,
London A.D. 1390’
Illustrated: Front cover (detail)
Illustration and text page 5.
ROBERT GIBBS fl. 1808-1834
13.
‘The Reading Lesson - A Family Group’
HARRY JONES THADDEUS R.H.A. 1859-1929
14.
‘The Comforter’
Illustration and text p.p. 16/17
FRANCIS WILLIAM TOPHAM O.W.S. 1808-1877
15.
‘Ruins of Clon Marnow’
Watercolour on paper diameter 56
Signed
Illustrated inside front cover
Topham, like several of his English contempories painted
Irish and Spanish peasant and gypsy subjects. He is recorded
as having visited Ireland in 1844, 1860 and 1862 and this
watercolour would not have been painted with architectural
accuracy in mind but rather to create a pretty picture of Irish
life for the home market. The inscription ‘Ruins of Clon
Marnow’ could conceivably refer to Clonmacnoise where
there is a window of similar design to that portrayed on the
right of this picture.
JAMES RICHARD MARQUIS R.H.A fl. 1853-1885
16.
‘Fishing Boats, Sunset’
Exhibited: Possibly Royal Hibernian Academy 1861 number
13 as ‘The Approach To Christiana - Sunrise’
Illustrated page 14
17.
36. MAURICE MacGONIGAL
GALLERY II
RICHARD HENRY ALBERT WILLIS 1853-1905
19.
‘Illustrated Scene from the ‘Deserted Village’ Oliver
Goldsmith’s poem’
Pencil on paper 20 x 25.5
Signed, inscribed Cork and dated 1873
20.
‘Illustrated Scene from the ‘Deserted Village’ Oliver
Goldsmith’s poem’
Pencil on paper 20 x 25.5
Signed, inscribed Cork and dated 1873
Although he was born in county Kerry, Willis was brought
up in Cork. At an early age he was appreciated to an
architect and later studied at the Cork School of Art. He won
a scholarship to the National Art Training School in South
Kensington, London and in 1882 was appointed headmaster
of the Manchester School of Art where he taught for ten
years.
He exhibited at the R.H.A. between 1880 and 1905 also at the
R.A. London. In 1904 he was appointed headmaster of the
Dublin Metropolitan School of Art.
‘Moonlit Lake Scene’
Exhibited: Possibly Royal Hibernian Academy 1861 number
224 as ‘Mid-night on Graven Lake Norway’ ‘The
Moon is up, yet Twilight Lingers’
Illustrated page 15
BARTHOLOMEW COLLES WATKINS R.H.A. 1833-1891
18.
‘The Stepping Stones of Ben Coona, Lough Fee, Connemara’
Signed with initials also signed inscribed and dated 1889 on
reverse
Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy 1889 number 243
Illustrated page 8
39. ALOYSIUS O’KELLY
28
DANIEL MACLISE R.A. R.H.A. 1806-1870
21.
‘Set of 6 sketches of Irish Characters’
Pen and ink on paper each 12 x 9.5
Inscribed on reverse “6 sketches of Irish Characters by Daniel
Maclise, drawn in the year 1827 for a bazzar in Bath. The
property of Mr. John Y.R. White”.
These Maclise drawings are similar to a set of Cork
illustrations he did in 1826, for example see: Crofton Croker’s
Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. These
were engraved from line drawings. By July 1827 Maclise was
in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum have a line
drawing in pencil Popularity and The Catholic Association
c.1828 which has similar caricature figures in it.
JOSEPH WILLIAM CAREY 1859-1937
22.
‘Donaghadee, County Down’
Watercolour heightened with white on paper 18 x 52.5
Signed, inscribed and dated 1923.
Illustrated page 21.
25. FRANCIS GOLDING
WILLIAM BINGHAM McGUINNESS R.H.A. 1849-1928
23.
‘Abbeville, Normandy’
Watercolour heightened with white on paper 51 x 34
Signed, also inscribed on reverse.
SAMUEL McCLOY 1831-1904
26.
Exhibited: Cynthia O’Connor Gallery, Spring Exhibition
March/April 1990 Catalogue Number 24.
(Illustrated).
MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE THOMAS COLOMB H.R.H.A.
1787-1874
24.
‘Lake Scenery, Early Morning’
Signed and inscribed Dublin on label verso.
Illustrated Page 19
JOHN FAULKNER R.H.A. c.1830-1880
27.
FRANCIS GOLDING, late 19th century
25.
‘Laddie’ (from life)
Signed and dated 1889.
Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy 1889 Number 390.
‘By the Sea’
Watercolour on paper 53.5 x 37
Signed with monogram.
‘A Cottage near Roundwood, Co. Wicklow’
Watercolour on paper 42.5 x 72.5
Signed and inscribed.
28.
Dublin painter with an address at 51 Upper Gardiner Street.
R.H.A. exhibitor.
‘Glencree Valley, Co. Wicklow’
Watercolour on paper 44 x 72
This landscape in Co. Wicklow was painted by John Faulkner
and the cattle were added by John MacPherson R.I. fl. 1865-84
Illustrated above right
Illustrated on exhibition invitation
29.
‘A Mountain Home, Co. Wicklow’
30.
‘Outside the Cottage Door’
Illustrated left
MILDRED ANNE BUTLER R.W.S. 1858-1941
31.
‘Golden Daffodils’
Signed, also signed inscribed and dated March 1913 on
reverse.
Exhibited: Watercolour Society of Ireland 1914 Number 276.
Provenance: The Shore Family (Lord Teignmouth)
Brownbarn, Kilkenny, friends and neighbours of
the artist at Kilmurry.
30. SAMUEL MCCLOY
29
JAMES ALFRED AITKEN R.H.A. R.S.W. 1846-1897
32.
‘The Path by the Stream - A Summer Landscape’
Signed.
Provenance: The Bourne Gallery Ltd., Surrey.
Aitken was born in Edinburgh but moved to Dublin in his
youth where he studied at the Royal Dublin Society’s School
under Henry MacManus R.H.A. and exhibited 63 works at
the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1865 to 1891. He
returned to Scotland in 1872 exhibiting regularly at the Royal
Scottish Academy and the Glasgow Institute. The National
Gallery of Ireland have a landscape by him, catalogue
number 627.
33.
‘Garden Path, Kilmurry’
Watercolour on paper 37 x 26.5
Signed and dated September 1915.
Provenance: As number 30
38. GEORGE CAMPBELL
WILLIAM SCOTT R.A. 1913-1989
GALLERY III (DOWNSTAIRS)
37.
34.
‘White Pan and Black Pot’ on Beige
Gouache on paper 21.5 x 26.5 signed and dated ‘74.
Provenance: Anderson Gallery, New York.
This picture is one of a series produced by William Scott for
the Anderson Gallery in 1974. The Anderson Gallery is
owned by David Anderson son of Martha Jackson who was
one of the main promoters of the work of William Scott in
New York from the mid 1950’s.
‘Interior with Children’
Watercolour on paper 33 x 48.5
Signed.
Illustrated inside back cover.
JOHN FAULKNER R.H.A. c.1830-1880
35.
‘View of Bray, County Wicklow from the Dargle c.1858’
Signed.
GEORGE CAMPBELL R.H.A. 1917-1979
38.
Faulkner’s watercolour shows Bray as viewed from the north
side of the Dargle estuary, with Great Sugar Loaf rising at the
left and the Wicklow Mountains in the distance. The
prominent bell tower of the Catholic Church (now the Holy
Redeemer) is depicted as it was rebuilt in 1850 - 54, and the
bridge appears to be the new one of 1856. At the same time,
the view must have been taken before the construction of
Ravenswell Road along the north side of the Dargle River
and the consequent straightening of the river bank in 1860.
Illustrated above.
ALOYSIUS O’KELLY 1853-c.1941
39.
This lively painting is typical of the extensive series, set in
the fishing village and art colony of Cancarneau, executed in
the early years of the twentieth century, and later exhibited in
the US. The clusters of figures bustle about their business as
they pass though the village square. The summer scene is
deftly executed, enlivened with touches of red and orange,
and further animated by the skillful use of the palette knife.
The distinctive peak of Great Sugar Loaf has been softened
and the pinnacles on the bell tower exaggerated, which
suggests that the painting may have been completed from
memory.
Dr. Niamh O’Sullivan.
ALOYSIUS O’KELLY 1853-c.1941
40.
MAURICE MacGONIGAL P.R.H.A. 1900-1979
36.
‘Desmond Stephenson A.R.H.A. Coming Home In
Connemara’
Oil on canvas laid down on wood 36.5 x 27.5
Signed, also signed and inscribed on reverse.
Exhibited: Gorry Gallery May/June 1990 number 1.
This picture was painted in the summer of 1953 at the artist’s
house, in Derrahowna townland, Errisbeg, Roundstone,
Connemara. The weather had been particularly good for
several weeks, and the artist had gone out to paint a very
large canvas, accompanied by his friend, and his future
assistant, the painter Desmond Stephenson (1922 - 1963).
30
‘Street Scene, Concarneau’
Oil on wood 23 x 33
Signed lower left: A. O’Kelly
Titled, in artist’s hand, verso: ‘14 Street Scene, Concarneau’
This view of Bray, with St Paul’s Church and the old barracks
on high ground overlooking the bridge, was a popular one for
nineteenth-century artists; it was not greatly affected by the
construction in 1854 of the railway line along the coast. Some
of Faulkner’s buildings, particularly those along the river
bank, are easily identifiable, others are more problematic.
Mary Davies.
‘Malaga, Winter’
Oil on board 50.5 x 61
Signed.
‘The Market Place, Tangier’
Signed and inscribed lower left Aloys. O’Kelly, Tangier.
STANHOPE ALEXANDER FORBES R.A. 1857-1947
41.
‘Florist and Fruiterer’
Illustration and text 23
SIR JOHN LAVERY R.A. R.H.A. R.S.A. 1856-1941
FRANCES KELLY fl. from 1929
42.
45.
‘The Beach, Evening Tangier’
Signed, also signed, inscribed and dated 1912 on reverse.
‘Mother and Child’
Oil on wood 20.5 x 25.5
Signed.
BEATRICE GLENAVY R.H.A. 1883-1970
46.
FRANK McKELVEY R.H.A. R.U.A. 1895-1974
43.
‘On the Shores of Strangford Lough’ c. early-mid 1960’s
Signed: Frank McKelvey, b.l.
Exhibited: (?) RHA, 1963 (90, as ‘Shores of Strangford’)
A scene on the north-west corner of Strangford Lough just a
short distance from the town of Comber in County Down.
The brisk and fluid handling of the paint and the light palette
suggest that the picture dates from the 1960’s, and this too
points to the likelihood of its having been exhibited at the
RHA in 1963. The view looks north towards Newtownards
with Scrabo Hill in the background surmounted by Scrabo
Tower, a distinctive landmark for miles around, which was
erected in 1851 in memory of the third Marquis of
Londonderry. Almost certainly painted in McKelvey’s studio
in Howard Street, Belfast, where he had worked since the
1930s.
47.
CLAUDE HAYES R.I. 1852-1922
48.
‘Near Dungloe, County Donegal’ c. 1935/8
Signed.
‘Landscape with Windmill’
Signed.
JAMES HUMBERT CRAIG R.H.A. R.U.A. 1877-1944
44.
‘Cattle under Trees’
Signed.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy.
‘Noël’ c.1946
Signed with monogram.
49.
‘On The Strand’, Tramore.
Exhibited: Watercolour Society of Ireland 1922 number 138.
Gorry Gallery, Nov. 1985 number 40.
F.E. McWILLIAM 1909-1992
50. F.E. McWILLIAM
51. F.E. McWILLIAM
52. F.E. McWILLIAM
50. ‘Affectionate Legs’, 1978
(from the ‘Legs’ series 1977-1987)
Black Bronze 31.5 H.
Signed with initials and numbered 1/5.
51. ‘Women of Belfast’, 1972, no. 17
Bronze 60 H.
52. ‘Help’, 1976 (From the ‘Banners’ series)
Bronze 41.7 H
Provenance: The Shambles Art Gallery,
Hillsborough,
Co. Down.
Private Collection.
Exhibited: McClelland Galleries
International, Belfast, 1973,
Women of Belfast: New bronzes
by F.E. McWilliam 1972-73.
Provenance: Private Collection.
Exhibited: Bell Gallery, Belfast 1977
(F.E. McWilliam: Recent Work)
Provenance: The Shambles Art Gallery
Hillsborough,
Co. Down.
Private Collection
31
56. ‘Prismatic Causeway’
HARRY AARON KERNOFF R.H.A. (1900-1974)
(A collection of 25 works purchased from the artist's sister in 1978)
This collection of abstract paintings by Harry Aaron Kernoff (1900-1974) will undoubtedly engender further debate about the scope of
an artist whose oeuvre, until now, has been widely perceived to consist of genre paintings, landscapes, portraiture and woodcuts.
Born in London to Jewish parents, of mixed Spanish and Russian descent, he moved in 1914 with his family to Dublin, where his father,
Isaac, established himself as a bespoke furniture-maker. In 1919 Harry Kernoff began attending night classes at the Dublin Metropolitan
School of Art and, in 1923, became the first night student to win the Taylor Scholarship in Oil and Watercolour Painting. Jack B Yeats was
a judge that year. The £50 prize money was used to visit Paris. In 1925 he held his first one-man show at the Arts and Crafts Society of
Ireland. The following year he began an association with the Royal Hibernian Academy which was to last until his death. Thomas Ryan
PPRHA recalls Maurice MacGonigal describing Kernoff as "a little genius".
In his studio in Stamer Street, Dublin, he painted hundreds of portraits, many of them of leading literary or theatrical figures, including
Brendan Behan, Oliver Gogarty, Hilton Edwards and Michael MacLiammoir. His depiction of urban and rural scenes was notable for its
sense of social realism, wry humour and inherent optimism. His woodcuts appeared in a series of limited edition books, the first
published in 1942. His illustrations featured in numerous publications. He also designed the stage sets for theatrical productions.
Until now it has been widely, and incorrectly assumed, that Kernoff had conclusively dismissed what was regarded early in the 20th
century as the radical innovation of abstraction. Indeed, he wrote, published and distributed in pamphlet form a stinging attack on the
genre in one hundred and ten lines of verse.
32
66. ‘Cyclotron’
After An Exhibition Of Abstract And Subjective Art.
“…A bloke in Paris, because he was broke
Painted a joke, with the tail of a moke
This was awarded a medal of gold
Alleged picture then was speedily sold.
That’s why elaborate cliches profound,
With abstract absurdities all around
No realism at all to be found…
…All these abstract and ridiculous daubs
Destroys any talent, drowns and absorbs.
All art standards completely ignoring,
All utterly, abysmally boring.
He is so advanced that he’s reduced to
Nihilistic nothingness or zero.
This abstract fiddling like Nero.
Burning aesthetic beliefs to ashes…”
33
While the angry declamatory tone of this considered outburst appears to confirm his disgust at the concept of abstraction, it is more a
vitriolic riposte to those he considered charlatans and less a denial of the philosophies which motivated the explorations.
From 1932, when he exhibited a work titled The Fourth Dimension, until the year before his death, 1973, when he showed a painting
called Time-space is Curved, Harry Kernoff consistently exhibited abstract paintings. Extension In Time-space in 1941. Metropolis a three
dimensional abstract, its full title, in 1961. A watercolour, Highway 2000 AD in 1970. Apart from Time-space Is Curved, other paintings
were exhibited which bore the same title as some of the works shown here. Floating Cubes and Big Brother Is Watching You in ’62.
Cyclotron in ’66.
In an introduction in the 1942 collection Woodcuts, critic Edward Sheehy wrote, “Harry Kernoff is one of the most distinguished of our
young painters. Fifteen years ago, working in a milieu dominated by the powerful orthodoxy of Orpen, he was looked on with halfcomprehending eyes as an eccentric innovator… Today his individuality as a painter is as strongly marked as ever; while his work, in oils
and watercolours, is well known and highly valued. Kernoff’s innovations as a painter are largely as a result of the emphasis he placed on
form. His work was a definitive reaction from the romantic twilight of the dreamily conceived or emotionally conceived painting of the
majority of his predecessors and contemporaries… Clarity of vision, the refusal to poeticise, a sanity expressed through a careful and
untemperamental craftsmanship, these are to me the predominant qualities of Kernoff's best work.”
He also noted, “He is an Acadamician without being academic; an experimenter in many medias without letting the experiment run away
with him. He is earnest; and yet is capable of the most elaborate jokes, as witness his Extension In Time-space, which kept the fashionable
promenade at last year’s Academy in a welter of judicial indecision."
However it would be a mistake to assume that Kernoff’s long, though unheralded, history of abstract painting was an exercise in satiric
comedy. While this intriguing area of the artist’s output undoubtedly warrants further study, there exists already sufficient evidence to
indicate the lingering influence on his thinking of the Russian Futurists.
In 1930 Kernoff visited the Soviet Union as part of an Irish delegation from the Friends of Soviet Russia lead by Hannah SheehySkeffington. Having sailed from London to Leningrad, the party spent six weeks on a cultural and fact-finding mission which covered over
five and a half thousand miles. The delegates were impressed by what Sheehy-Skeffington described as “the vitality of the people”. “All
the arts are in a flourishing and growing condition,” Kernoff wrote on his return. “From what I saw while I was in the Soviet Union, I think
that they are moving ahead with great strides and, providing they are not attacked by hostile powers within the next few years, will attain
all their aims and will show and are showing the workers of the world the way to self-expression and to freedom.” (Harry Kernoff papers
NLI).
Particularly impressed by the visual arts and theatre, he noted, while remarking on an exhibition in Moscow that included works by
Picasso, Lhote, Archipenko, Leger, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Signac, Monet and Matisse, “I can say I never saw modern French art so
wonderfully represented as I saw it in Moscow.” He was equally impressed by an Exhibition of Modern Russian Art which he visited in
Leningrad. “I managed to collect about 130 examples of modern art in the Soviet Union while I was there and have made an album with
them," he wrote in an essay, Art In The U.S.S.R. (Harry Kernoff papers NLI).
In Moscow he met members of the influential AKhR, the Association of Revolutionary Artists, who believed artists should be “the
spokesmen of the people’s spiritual life”. In the November issue of their periodical, Iskusstvo v massy (Art To The Masses), despite their
declared aim to depict the everyday life of the proletariat and peasantry and “not abstract concoctions discrediting our Revolution,” AKhR
reproduced Kernoff's avant-garde mural painting Vortex, together with six other pictures by him including A Labour Meeting, which was
first shown in the last exhibition of the New Irish Salon in 1928, and a drawing of Liam O'Flaherty.
Kernoff enjoyed an advantage unavailable to other members of the delegation visiting the Soviet Union. “I remember Paddy (Trench)
saying that Kernoff told him that when travelling in Central Europe and the USSR the only language he needed, to get around anywhere,
was Yiddish,” writes Chalmers Trench in his memoir Nearly Ninety (The Hannon Press 1996).
As well as his personal portfolio of Russian modern art, Kernoff also brought back some books on Russian theatre set design. He
remarked of a ballet, The Footballer, at the Bolshoi in Moscow, “The settings were in the most part constructivist and expressionist and
the production of the whole perfect.” (Harry Kernoff papers NLI). Among the artists whose work “greatly impressed” him in the Tretiakov
Gallery in Leningrad were Boris Grigorev (1886-1939) as well as Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin, both of whom had taught many
of the greatest names of the future avant-garde including Mikhail Larionov, Vladimir Tatlin, Natalia Goncharova and Marios Sarian. Leader
of the avant-garde in Moscow prior to the 1914 war, Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964) had been a spearhead for artists and writers attempting
to develop a modern Russian style to rival Cubism and Futurism in Western Europe. He also designed for theatre. The simple shapes and
bright palette of Armenian artist Martiros Satyan, another artist listed by Kernoff, reflect the influence of European modernism.
Kernoff visited the Soviet Union after a period of immense social and political upheaval and just two years before Stalin's decree of ’32
abolished artistic groups. “Changes in Russia from the last years of the Tsarist empire to the harshly repressive Stalinist 1930s and the
trauma of the Second World War are reflected in art.” (Andrew Causey, Tradition and Revolution In Russian Art, Cornerhouse Publications
34
74. ‘Time-space is curved’
35
67. ‘Floating Cubes’
1990). Rayonism, cubo-futurism, suprematism… all these developments informed the work of the Constructivists. “Internationalist and
open to Cubism and other progressive trends, members of Jack of Diamonds and like-minded artists such as Grigorev and Shevchenko
were only outstripped in their radicalism by the more anarchic practices of the Russian Futurists, who were engaged in looking for new
social contexts for art, taking theatre, poetry and painting out onto the streets.” (Causey).
While some credence may or may not be given to anecdotal evidence that Kernoff, an Irish Jew, was concerned about the possibility of
global holocaust through nuclear warfare, the titles of many of his abstract paintings indicate an empathy with the rudiments of Russian
Futurist thinking in both painting and poetry. “Forms move and are born, and we are forever making new discoveries,” wrote Kasimir
Malevich in From Cubism And Futurism to Suprematism: The New Painterly Realism. (1915). Many of his paintings at the 0.10, the last
Futurist exhibition of paintings, held in Petrograd (St Petersburg), could be connected to diagrams in C. Howard Hinton’s The Fourth
Dimension (New York & London 1904). Mikhail Matyushin (1861-1934) is perhaps better known as the author of the text on the mystical
Fourth Dimension than as a painter.
Dublin painter Gerald Davis noted in an article in the Sunday Business Post (April 15 1990) that “such an intellectual approach (as the
Vorticists’ who had formalised painting into mechanical forms) seemed to appeal to Kernoff.” Many of the works included in this show
echo the Russian Futurists’ geometric studies of optimal relations between form and colour. Some share a similar exploration of the
dynamic tensions of masses of colour within a formal geometric framework. Renaissance theories of mathematical proportion and
perspective remained relevant in relation to the artistic interpretations of the Fourth Dimension and the hypercube, something which
would have appealed to Kernoff’s appreciation of the antique.
In the year before his death Kernoff discussed his work with broadcaster Liam Nolan on Radio Eireann. “I’m also doing some..eh..some
people would call them abstract but I’d call them fantastic, you see, with such titles as Floating Cubes. There’s one I’m working on at the
moment called An Essay In Superrealism.” Questioned by Nolan, he denied that his painting Floating Cubes was abstract. “If you see the
picture you’ll see what I meant, that it could be nothing else but floating cubes. If it was abstract you couldn't tell what it was. It’s not
abstract. It’s fantastic, if you like.”
Eamon Carr
36
Measurements in centimetres, height precedes width.
All mixed media on board (except number 74)
53.
‘Untitled’
40.5 x 30.5
Signed.
54.
‘Overlapping Circles’
21 x 16
Inscribed on reverse.
55.
‘Untitled’
30.5 x 41
Signed.
56.
‘Prismatic Causeway’
30.5 x 39.5
57.
57. ‘Untitled’
63.
‘Untitled’
16 x 15.5
‘Untitled’
23 x 32.5
Signed.
64.
‘Galaxy’
15 x 20.5
Illustrated above right.
Illustrated below.
58.
59.
‘Sputnik’
20.5 x 15.5
65.
‘Mountainy Pathway’
15.5 x 20.5
‘Spiral Nebula’
20.5 x 15.5
66.
‘Cyclotron’
50 x 55.5
Signed
60.
‘Untitled’
61 x 50
Signed.
(The message signalled by
the code flags in this painting read
“Up The Workers Republic, Ireland”.)
61.
‘Electrons In Orbit’
40.5 x 30.5
Signed, also signed and inscribed
on reverse.
62.
‘Spiral Kaleidoscope’
15.5 x 15
64. ‘Galaxy’
37
67.
‘Floating Cubes’
14.5 x 20
68.
‘Untitled’
33 x 25
70.
‘Untitled’
15.5 x 15.5
71.
‘Big Brother Is Watching You’
35.5 x 30.5
Signed.
72.
‘Through The Sound-Barrier or Flying Objects’
15.5 x 20
68. ‘Galactian Bird’
38
‘Reflection’
15.25 x 20.25
74.
‘Time-space Is Curved’
‘Galalctian Bird’
15.5 x 20.5
Illustrated below.
69.
73.
75.
Celestial Pattern ‘Sidereal Universe’
15 x 20.5
76.
‘Untitled’
15.5 x 21
Signed.
77.
‘Mogerley or Time-Space Is Curved’
Chain Reaction or Molecules
40 x 30
37. WILLIAM SCOTT
We are grateful to the following for their kind assistance in the preparation of this catalogue:
Christopher Ashe
Dr. Nicola Gordon Bowe
Dr. Paul Caffrey
Eamon Carr
Mary Davies
Dr. Peter Harbison H.R.H.A.
John Hutchinson
Dr. S.B. Kennedy
Dr. Niamh O’Sullivan
Peter Pearson
Dr. Brendan Rooney
GORRY GALLERY LTD., 20 MOLESWORTH STREET, DUBLIN 2. TELEPHONE and FAX 6795319
The Gallery is open Monday – Friday 11.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.
Saturday (during Exhibition only) 11.00 a.m. – 2.00 p.m.
www.gorrygallery.ie
Origination and Printing by Brunswick Press Ltd.

Jan 2002 Exhibition

Transcription

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