Important Irish Art

Transcription

Important Irish Art
Important Irish Art
Auction Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6pm
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Important Irish Art
AUCTION
Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
VENUE
Adam’s Salerooms
26 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2.
Ireland
Viewing Highlights
May 10th - 18th
Full Sale Viewing
May 27th - 30th
At The Ava Gallery, Clandeboye Estate, Bangor, Co. Down BT19 IRN
Monday - Friday11.00am - 5.00pm
Special Saturday opening May 12th 2.00pm - 5.00pm
At Adam’s, 26 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2.
Sunday 27th May 2.00pm - 5.00pm
th
Monday 28 May 9.30am - 5.00pm
Tuesday 29th May 9.30am - 5.00pm
And day of sale 9.30am - 4.00pm
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PURCHASERS
1.
Estimates and Reserves
These are shown below each lot in this sale. All amounts shown are in Euro. The figures shown are provided merely as a guide to prospective purchasers.
They are approximate prices which are expected, are not definitive and are subject to revision. Reserves, if any, will not be any higher than the lower estimate.
2.
Paddle Bidding
All intending purchasers must register for a paddle number before the auction. Please allow time for registration. Potential purchasers are recommended
to register on viewing days.
3.
Payment, Delivery and Purchasers Premium
Thursday 31st May 2012, 10.00am - 1.00pm and 2.00pm -5.00pm. Under no circumstances will delivery of purchases be given whilst the auction is in
progress. All purchases must be paid for and removed from the premises not later than 5pm on Thursday 31st May 2012. Auctioneers commission on
purchases is charged at the rate of 20% (exclusive of VAT). Terms: Strictly cash, bankers draft or cheque vouched to the satisfaction of the auctioneers,
prior to sale. Purchasers wishing to pay by credit card (Visa & Mastercard) may do so, however, it should be noted that such payments will be subject to an
administrative fee of 1.85% on the invoice total. American Express is subject to a charge of 3.65% on the invoice total. Please contact our accounts department prior to sale with your payment queries. Artists Resale Rights (Droit de Suite) is NOT payable by purchasers.
4. VAT Regulations
All lots are sold within the auctioneers VAT margin scheme. Revenue Regulations require that the buyers premium must be invoiced at a rate which is inclusive of VAT. This is not recoverable by any VAT registered buyer.
5. Please note that imperfections are not stated.
6.
Absentee Bids
We are happy to execute absentee or written bids for bidders who are unable to attend and can arrange for bidding to be conducted by telephone. However,
these services are subject to special conditions (see conditions of sale in this catalogue). All arrangements for absentee and telephone bidding must be made
before 5pm on the day prior to sale.
7.
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge, with thanks, the assistance of Dr S.B.Kennedy, Karen Reihill, Dickon Hall, Dr Róisín Kennedy, Dr Denise Ferran, Dr Julien
Campbell, Dr Niamh O’Sullivan, Fiana Griffin, Marianne O’Kane Boal, Prof. Katherine Crouan, Sile Connaughton-Deeny, Claire Dalton
and Ciarán MacGonigal whose help and research were invaluable in compiling many of the catalogue entries.
8.
All lots are being sold under the Conditions of Sale as printed in this catalogue and on display in the salerooms.
Specialists for this auction
James O’Halloran BA FSCSI
Stuart Cole MSCSI
Managing Director
[email protected]
Director
[email protected]
Eamon O’Connor BA
Nick Nicholson
Consultant
[email protected]
Kieran O’Boyle BA Hdip ASCSI
Director
[email protected]
Caroline Kevany BA
Abigail Bernon BA
Karen Regan BA
Brian Coyle FSCSI FRICS
Chairman
Fine Art Department
[email protected]
MRICS
David Britton BBS ACA
Director
[email protected]
Fine Art Department
[email protected]
Fine Art Department
[email protected]
Est 1887
Fine Art Department
[email protected]
FRICS
at Clandeboye
Est 1887
26 St. Stephen’s Green , Dublin 2.
Tel +353 1 6760261 Fax +353 1 6624725
[email protected] www.adams.ie
The AVA Gallery
Clandeboye Estate
Bangor, Co. Down
BT19 IRN
(T) +44 (0)28 91852263
email: [email protected]
1
Robert Ballagh (b.1943)
Homage to le Brocquy
Mixed media with acrylic on board, 43 x 28cm, (17 x 11”)
Provenance: David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, where purchased by Dr & Mrs J.B. Kearney and their sale in these rooms, December 4th
2007, Lot no.1, where purchased by the current owner.
Ballagh’s paintings and screenprints depicting the works modern masters being viewed in the gallery space are well known and widely exhibited.
The works contain an element of reflexivity in that often they depict the work of Pop artists, a label that has been applied to Ballagh himself.
The best known of these types of works include Andy Warhol’s and Roy Lichtenstein’s, the internationally renowned kings of Pop. In making
the viewing of these works the subject of his own practice, it may be that Ballagh is caught in the act of self-promotion, attempting to - and
perhaps succeeding in - putting his own work on a par with the Americans.
‘Homage to le Brocquy’ is different. Here Ballagh refers to himself only in that the style of the male figure and the composition of the work are
recognisable as his alone. Yet the true subject of this work is le Brocquy’s unparalleled contribution to the Irish art world. Here Ballagh steps
down and allows another to take the limelight. This work is unusual not only in its reference to le Brocquy, but the media used is remarkable.
While other works in this style are screenprints or flat grids of square paintings, this work boasts a real sense of space. The le Brocquy is not
merely represented in paint but is given a great sense of presence as it appears as a real canvas within the tray frame. The apparent difference
between the style of the rendered le Brocquy and the male figure that stands before it on the glass of the picture draws attention to the disparity of the two artist’s styles. More significantly, it demonstrates the way in which artists whose works are perceived as entirely different may
continue to draw influence from, and have masses of respect for, each other.
€10000 - 15000
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Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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2
John B. Vallely (b.1941)
Fiddler and Dancers
Oil on board, 15 x 19cm (6 x 7.5”)
Signed with initials
Exhibited: John Vallely Exhibition, David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, April 1972, No. 14; where purchased and thence by descent to the current owner
Armagh artist John B. Vallely studied at the Belfast College of Art, where he was taught by Tom Carr, and went on to further studies at the
Edinburgh Art College before returning to his home town where he has lived and worked since. An avid supporter of Irish heritage in terms of
both sport and music, Vallely founded the Armagh Piper’s Club in the 1970s. Not only did the club allow him to actively support traditional
Irish music and pass on his own knowledge, but it became the meeting point for his love of music and his art. Musicians and dancers are the
dominant subject of his work.
€1500 - 2500
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3
John B. Vallely (b.1941)
Algerian Dancers
Oil on board, 15 x 22.5cm (5.75 x 9”)
Signed with initials
Exhibited: John Vallely Exhibition, David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, April 1972, Cat. No. 19; where purchased and thence by descent to the current owner .
This is one of four works by Vallely bought by the current owner’s family at this 1972 Exhibition.
€1200 - 1600
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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The following five lots were bought directly from The Dawson Gallery
by the current owner in the late 1960’s
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Gerard Dillon RHA RUA (1916-1971)
The Wonderful Farm Machine
Mixed media, 56 x 76.5cm (22 x 30”)
Signed
Fig. 1 Clowns on a Bog (Adam’s lot 123, 2/6/10)
Exhibited: “Gerard Dillon, New Collages”, The Dawson Gallery, Dublin, 1-17th May 1969, Cat No. 5; where purchased by the current owner.
An admirer of Marc Chagall, the artist’s work from 1967 depicts complex multi-layered images often from the artist’s subconscious,
which are open to interpretation. Anxiety of his mortality following the death of his three brothers may have caused the artist’s interest
in Jungian psychology which led him to a deep psychological preoccupation to search for answers. The artist commented about these
images “I have been able to use my subconscious and yet control it. It’s poetic, and yet more colourful…”(Belfast Newsletter, 21/4/67)
“The Wonderful Farm Machine” exhibited at the artist’s solo show at the Dawson Gallery in 1969 is similar to another work sold in
these salerooms “Clowns on a Bog” (lot 123, 2/6/10, see image) where the appearance of two masked Pierrot appear in a mountainous
landscape with a farm machine. At first glance, the figures appear as farm labourers chasing birds from a wheat field, but the fantastical
farm machine causes us to revisit the scene. The image may depict two worlds, the artist in an imagined or dream world, and living in his
present one. The striped bird, Pierrot and machine may belong to the “poetic colourful world”. The seated Pierrot with mannequin-like
features resembles the artist’s work from the 1950’s, when the local people in the West of Ireland were captured resting against haystacks.
To the left the jumping Pierrot draws the viewer to the shapes in the sky. The shapes may be clouds that represent his three brothers, Joe,
John and Patrick. The Pierrot appears excited by the clouds, but may also be agitated by their proximity. Could the unadorned Pierrot,
bird and clouds reflect the artist’s conscious fear of his mortality? Perhaps in endeavouring to deal with his anxieties, the artist wished to
depict a supernatural place, a landscape drawn from his memories of summers in Connemara, where a wonderful farm machine appears
to be harvesting in a vivid yellow landscape.
Influenced by the avant-garde artist Pablo Picasso, the artist loved to experiment with techniques and different approaches to image
making. The landscape appears momentarily to be naturalistic, but by combing the paint while still wet, the lines accentuate rhythms,
and the various cuts outs add texture and intensity to an otherwise flat image.
Karen Reihill, who is currently researching the life and work of Gerard Dillon
€5000 - 7000
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Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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5
Gerard Dillon RHA RUA (1916-1971)
Ego
Mixed media, 39.5 x 29cm (15.5 x 11.5”)
Signed
Dawson Gallery label verso; where purchased by the current owner.
Dillon’s adoption of the masked pierrot as his alter ego was in homage
to the Harlequin and Pierrot in works by Picasso, Braque and Miró,
but the artist developed this disguise in a time of grief, social conservatism and as a way to express his ‘inner world’ without religious or social
indignation. The artist’s interest in the personality behind the mask
also relates to the psychology of Carl Jung. (see lot 93, ’Clown with
Red Canvas”). Due to the artist’s Catholic Nationalist background,
the artist had grown accustomed in a period of illegality, to keeping his
personal and public personae completely separate.
The masked Pierrot in oversized coat and fur collar may display the
“masquerade” of his ego, and the other faceless figure may manifest the
concealment of his private life. The image of horse and bareback rider
is a subject that features in the artist’s work including in his last series of etchings. Passionate about prehistoric history, the circular lines
may be linked to the megalithic art of spiral designs on the kerbstones
at the eastern and western entrances at the great passages graves of
Knowth in the Boyne Valley, which were discovered in the late 1960’s.
The artist had a habit of finding old frames similar to this one, which
he sometimes hand painted or embellished with small objects to enhance the finished work.
Karen Reihill
€1500 - 2500
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6
Gerard Dillon RHA RUA (1916-1971)
Himself & Cloud
Mixed media, 36.5 x 55cm (14.25 x 21.5”)
Signed
Exhibited: “Gerard Dillon, New Collages”, The Dawson Gallery, 1-17th May 1969, Cat No.9; where purchased by the current owner
From the late 1960s, the artist introduced complex symbolism into his masked Pierrot images to evoke messages that are ambiguous and are open to
interpretation. The depiction of humour deflects from the ‘second and third layers’ of the artist’s intended meaning (see lot 93, ‘Clown with Red Canvas’)
A Pierrot stands by an enormous floating cloud in a barren landscape. The cloud may be a huge palette, and the artist may be dealing with his personal
need of self-identification in face of his preoccupation with his mortality.
The artist had inhabited a ‘twilight world’ for his entire life. Homosexually inclined people were forced to construct their personal and social identities,
build relationships, and discover new ways of life in a situation of illegality, prejudice, ignorance and social hostility.
Karen Reihill
€2000 - 3000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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7
Seán McSweeney HRHA (b.1935)
Brown Trees
Oil on board, 30 x 22.5cm (11.75 x 8.75ӣ)
Signed. Signed again and inscribed with title verso
Provenance: The Dawson Gallery, where purchased by the current owner.
€1200 - 1600
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8
Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901-1980)
Shells and Rusted Wire
Oil on canvas, 40.5 x 56cm (16 x 22”)
Signed
Exhibited: Norah McGuinness Exhibition, The Dawson Gallery, April 1968, where purchased by the current owner.
Derry born artist Norah McGuinness won a three year scholarship to study at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin at the age of 18, where she
was taught by Harry Clarke, Patrick Tuohy and Oswald Reeves before moving to London to study at the Chelsea School of Art. In 1923 she won an
RDS medal and the following year exhibited for the first time at the RHA. During these years McGuinness supported herself by designing sets and
costumes for the Abbey and Peacock theatres and illustrated books. Under the advice of Mainie Jellett she travelled to Paris to study for a period
under Andre Lhote. In 1957 she was elected an Honorary member of the RHA but resigned in 1969. A founding member of the Irish Exhibition of
Living Art, she served as president from 1944 to 1971. McGuinness exhibited regularly at the Dawson and Taylor Galleries as well as in London,
Paris and New York. She also represented Ireland at the 1950 Venice Biennale with Nano Reid. A retrospective of her work was held at Trinity College Dublin in 1968 where she was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1973. Her work can be found in the National Gallery of Ireland, Irish Museum
of Modern Art, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, Ulster Museum and Crawford Gallery.
€4000 - 6000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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9
Nano Reid RHA (1905-1981)
A Summers Day, Port-Na-Blagh, Co. Donegal
Watercolour, 25.5 x 35.5cm (10 x 14”)
Signed. Inscribed with location in pencil verso
€600 - 800
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10
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
Abstract Composition
Gouache, 15 x 11.5cm (6 x 4.5”)
Signed
Provenance: Bought by the current owner’s father circa 1940 and thence by descent, Private Collection, U.K.
€2000 - 4000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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10A
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
Abstract Composition (c.1922)
Gouache, (arch top) 25.5 x 9.5cm (10 x 3.75”)
Provenance: Bruce Arnold Collection and sold through Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin,
where purchased by the current owner
€1500 - 2500
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11
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
Abstract Composition
Gouache, 39 x 18.5cm (15.4 x 7.5”)
Signed and dated 1934
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Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
Abstract Composition
Gouache, 43.75 x 18.5cm (17.25 x 7.5”)
Signed and dated (19) ‘29
Provenance: Bought by the current owner’s father circa
1940 and thence by descent, Private Collection, U.K.
Provenance: Bought by the current owner’s father circa
1940 and thence by descent, Private Collection, U.K.
€2000 - 4000
€3000 - 5000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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13
Frank Egginton RCA FIAL (1908-1990)
Port-Na-Blagh, Co. Donegal
Watercolour, 38 x 53cm (15 x 20.75”)
Signed
€800 - 1200
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Frank Egginton RCA FIAL (1908-1990)
Castlefreke Strand, Co. Cork
Watercolour, 51 x 74.5cm (20 x 29.25”)
Signed, inscribed with title verso
€1200 - 1600
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15
Frank Egginton RCA FIAL (1908-1990)
Early Morning, Co. Donegal
Watercolour, 38 x 53cm (15 x 20.75”)
Signed
€1000 - 1500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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The following eight lots were all commissioned by John Kelly Ltd and
acquired by the current owner over ten years ago.
Lot 17
Lot 21
Lot 18
“The Kelly Fleet”
The Kelly Boats were a familiar sight in Belfast for over fifty years. Once the biggest coal merchants in Belfast, the company still exists
today as Kelly Fuels but the ships and family connection have gone. A book was published in 2009 by the World Ship Society and authored
by W.J Harvey entitled ‘Kelly’s Navy: John Kelly Ltd., Belfast - A Group Fleet History of John Kelly Ltd of Belfast.’ This gives a detailed
historical overview of the company and provides details of over 200 vessels. The coal business was established in Queens Quay Belfast by
Samuel Kelly in 1840. He first acquired a ship for transporting coal in 1861 - the Brigantine William of 108 gross tonnes. From that time
ntil the 1980’s the “Kelly’s Coal Boats” became a common sight in coastal towns throughout the country. After Samuel Kelly’s death, his
son John took over the business and it became known as John Kelly Ltd in April 1911. An extensive fleet of colliers-general cargo ships
was gradually built up. Six of the earliest steam vessels acquired by the company in 1890 were ‘SV Balmarino,’ ‘SV Argestes,’ ‘SV Kelpie,’
‘SV Gartsherrie,’ ‘SV Agnes C James,’ and ‘SS Susannah Kelly.’ From 1951, it was decided to standardise the names of the fleet by renaming. Although Irish place names continued to be used, from this time they were to begin with ‘BALLY.’ Similar names were allocated to
the new ships on order, replacing their previously allocated names. Vessels after this time included ‘MV Ballyedward,’ ‘SS Ballymoney,’
‘SS Ballymena’ and ‘MV Ballyloran.’
The fleet was impressive and readily identifiable by the ships’ black and red paint. From 1890, the Kelly brand was communicated through
blue, white and red stripes on the funnel accompanied by the letter ‘K’ to signal the company name. They often flew red flags with the
letter ‘K’ also. In terms of a southern counterpart, the steam driven Guinness Liffey Barges that plied the Dublin waterways, remain in the
collective consciousness from a similar period 1873-1931. According to W.J. Harvey ‘Although the name Kelly is still seen around Ireland
in the 21st Century, it is but a distant memory of the family business and ‘Kelly’s Navy’ in the many ports around the country in the 19th
and 20th Century.’ John Kelly commissioned a number of artists to produce paintings of ships from the Kelly Line. They included Frank
McKelvey, J.W. Carey, Charles McAuley, J. Collins, and W.A. Hume. These were often destined for the annual Kelly calendar which had
one representative painting to illustrate the calendar each year.
Marianne O’Kane Boal, May 2012
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16
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
The ‘Ballyloran’ Approaching Bank Quay, Larne
Watercolour, 24 x 33cm (9.5 x 13”)
Signed
Provenance: Commissioned by John Kelly Ltd for their Kelly Calendar, 1960.
This painting by McKelvey is interesting as it is looser than his typical watercolours. The result is a vibrant composition and one of the
few commissioned Kelly works that features a quay, probably due to coal being Bank Quay’s main cargo with figures in black busy at
work. The balance of the ship’s depiction to the left and the quay activity on the opposite side coupled with the unifying elements of
land, sea and sky make this an attractive watercolour. It was used for the Kelly Calendar in 1960. The Bank Quay, situated on the tidal
western shore of Larne Lough, has been closed since 1995. Previously regular coal imports were shipped in through the Bank Quay
along with other dry bulk cargoes such as china clay. It has been under the ownership of various fuel importers through the years and
was a regular calling point for the Kelly collier fleet. The ‘Ballyloran’ was built by A Hall & Co. at Aberdeen in 1958, 1290gt for John
Kelly Ltd, and was the firms first motorship. She and her sister ship ‘Ballylesson’ were driven by six-cylinder British polar engines. The
‘Ballyloran‘ was sold in 1981 to Egyptian interests.
Marianne O’Kane Boal, May 2012
€1500 - 2500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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17
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
The ‘Ballyrush’ at Warrenpoint Harbour
Oil on canvas, 44.5 x 60cm (17.5 x 23.5”)
Signed
In McKelvey’s paintings, each work is carefully composed to adequately represent the scene to its advantage aesthetically. This
painting focuses on the object of the commission - the ‘Ballyrush’ motorship, one of John Kelly Ltd’s vessels. On the funnel, the
blue, white and red stripes and letter ‘K’ are visible to denote the company name. The ship is moored adjacent to the harbour and as
the only large vessel depicted, asserts its importance. Beyond the ‘Ballyrush’, a bustling quayside is evident with a high pile of coal
and cranes surrounding.The commercial fishing village of Warrenpoint is highlighted by a
blanket cast of sunlight that lends the entire a picturesque character. Warrenpoint is strategically located at the head of Carlingford
Lough on the east coast of Ireland on the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Mourne Mountains are
indicated behind the village and the sky is sparsely but effectively treated. Typical of McKelvey the composition is enlivened by
foreground activity, here an open rowing boat with three fishermen is depicted and a small group of gulls above. McKelvey’s palette
is perfectly suited to its maritime setting. His use of colour and range of tones is carefully orchestrated to represent the scene with
fidelity.
There are affinities in treatment of sea and sky and composition with ‘The Queens Bridge, Belfast’ 1963, by McKelvey in the Belfast
Harbour Collection. In this work there is a similar composition with light falling on the city in the centre, a small rowing boat and
gulls alongside the ship in the foreground. The ‘Ballyrush’ motorship was painted on at least three occasions by Frank McKelvey. It
was built in 1962 in Aberdeen, weighing 1575 tons and was owned by John Kelly td 1962-1985, then subsequently sold.
Marianne O’Kane Boal, May 2012
€10000 - 20000
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Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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18
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
The ‘Ballyedward’ at Carrickfergus Castle
Oil on canvas, 43 x 59cm (17 x 23.25)
Signed
McKelvey organises his compositions with regularity but also allows the subject its narrative space. The foreground is generally mid
tones, it contrasts with the sunlit middle ground of the composition and is finally complemented by the grey almost translucent quality
of the background. He employs this characteristic layering that is effective and appealing. Brushstrokes are evident but soft, controlled
and carefully placed.
This painting depicting the ‘Ballyedward’ entering the harbour at Carrickfergus sees a somewhat darker palette than McKelvey typically
employs. It is an atmospheric composition where the careful rendering of the motorship on the middle right is balanced by an intimate,
and slightly looser depiction of Carrickfergus Castle and harbour walls on the middle left. On the funnel, the blue, white and red stripes
and letter ‘K’ are visible to denote the company name. The ‘Ballyedward’ of 552 tons was built in Faversham in 1950, and owned by John
Kelly Ltd 1953-1970, It was subsequently sold to Zodiac Shipping Co., and eventually scrapped in 1974. Although ship portraiture was
primarily practised a century earlier, there are affinities with this branch of maritime and the commissioned paintings of the Kelly Boats.
This practise saw the artist commissioned to execute a painting of a given ship, recording it on passage and providing a technically accurate representation of the vessel. These works, however, by artists such as Joseph Semple, tended to be more limited in the depiction
of the boat in profile at sea with little surrounding detail.
Marianne O’Kane Boal, May 2012
€8000 - 12000
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Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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19
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
Queen’s Quay, Belfast
Watercolour, 26 x 38cm (10.25 x 15”)
Signed
In 1920, Frank McKelvey was commissioned by Thomas McGowan of McGowan and Ingrams to produce a number of paintings of buildings that would
make up the series ‘Old Belfast.’ This work was carried out by McKelvey over the following two decades and features buildings in Bank Street, Ann
Street, Church Lane, William Street South and Smithfield Market. The very illustrative quality of these scenes is complemented by their topographical
and historical importance. S.B. Kennedy has commented that ‘the streets appear at times unconvincingly empty of people.’ Yet the overall objective of the
commission is to represent the architecture with fidelity and this is carefully achieved. The quiet streets also give a sense of early morning, perhaps, and
this adds to their intimacy and appeal. This watercolour by McKelvey of John Kelly’s Offices in Queens Quay, is executed in a similar vein. Again figures
are few but there are enough to add interest to the composition along with the feeding birds in the left foreground.
The focus is the architecture of the terraced businesses with their names carefully reproduced above the relative premises. The main producers of John
Kelly and Hugh Craig are featured on the larger adjacent premises, with the horse drawn coal cart before it. Presumably, this painting is designed to
highlight the success of Kellys’ who were using their fleet to bring coal to Northern Ireland for the largest merchants such as Barkley and Craig as well
as for their own distribution.
The listed companies include a number of other coal merchants - Hugh Craig (coal merchant, owner of steamships/colliers at Queens Quay and Royal
Avenue.) [Company also recorded in the Belfast Street Directory of 1877. Hugh Craig & Co. Ltd (1891-1975) 8 Queens Quay John Kelly, (coal
merchant and owner of steamships, 10 Queens Quay) John Neill, (coal merchant, 4 Queens Quay) Alexander King Ltd, (coal merchant and steamship
owners, 21 Queens Quay) James Kingsberry (coal and fuel merchants continue to operate, now based in Sydenham Road). The painting is of historical
importance in providing details of architectural fabric that has since vanished.
Marianne O’Kane Boal, May 2012
€3000 - 5000
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Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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20
Joseph William Carey RUA (1859-1937)
The ‘Crossgar’ passing Fanad Lighthouse
Watercolour, 34 x 50cm (13.5 x 19.75”)
Signed
Joseph William Carey was a prolific landscape and seascape painter. This fine watercolour allows the ‘Crossgar,’ to dominate.
Shown here rounding Fanad Head, the renowned lighthouse highlights the setting. Carey’s distinctive handling of the medium
captures subtleties of sea and sky in this well constructed composition. The ‘Crossgar’ was renamed ‘Ballygrainey’ in 1952. It was
built in 1936 in Glasgow. It weighed 780 tons, and was owned by John Kelly Ltd 1936-1962, after which it was subsequently sold
and broken up.
Marianne O’Kane Boal, May 2012
€1000 - 1500
31
21
Joseph William Carey RUA (1859-1937)
The ‘Montalto’ off the Northern Entrance to Carlingford Lough
Watercolour, 30 x 48cm (11.75 x 19”)
Signed and dated 1935
Painted in a similar vein to ‘The ‘Crossgar’ passing Fanad Lighthouse,’ this comparative composition affords the Montalto primacy. The cottages
and slipways are bathed in sunlight and the Mourne Mountains are captured in translucent greys in the background. Carey typically achieves a
masterful portrayal of the sea. The ‘Montalto’ was built in 1904 in Paisley. It weighed 790 dead weight tons, and was owned by John Kelly Ltd
1929-1940, after which it was subsequently damaged by air attack near Rochester in 1941.
Marianne O’Kane Boal, May 2012
€1000 - 1500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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22
Joseph William Carey RUA (1859-1937)
Unloading Coal at Harbour
Watercolour, 26 x 34.5cm (10.25 x 13.75”)
Signed and dated 1931
€500 - 700
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23
Charles McAuley RUA ARCA (1910-1999)
Kelly’s Coal Boat, Red Bay Harbour
Oil on canvas, 48 x 62cm (18.75 x 24.25”)
Signed
Charles McAuley (1910 - 1999) produced landscapes and seascapes sourced from his surroundings in the Glens of Antrim. His practice was
inspired by James Humbert Craig. In this work, the subject is kept intentionally generic, no name is identifiable on the vessel and the Kelly
colours on the funnel are barely discernible. The painting focuses on setting and atmosphere. The muted palette and handling of oils suggests
an earlier era and it lends the composition a timeless quality. This small harbour is at the north side of Red Bay overlooking Waterfoot Beach
in Co. Antrim.
Marianne O’Kane Boal, May 2012
€2000 - 4000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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24
Patrick Leonard HRHA (1918-2005)
Unloading the Catch, Loughshinny Harbour
Oil on canvas, 77.5 x 89cms (30.5 x 35”)
Signed
Born the son of a Master Mariner, growing up and living in sight of the sea at Rush it was inevitable that marine subjects would form an important part
of Leonard’s œuvre.The shoreline of Fingal including Skerries, Rush, Donabate and Loughshinny has always been an important fishing area particularly
for crustaceans and the Seine fishermen have for centuries supplied the local and Dublin markets with these.
In this work the Seine boats and their crews are being visited by the Fish Buying Agent, seen in a suit in the foreground with the skipper as an onlooker,
and the various kinds of fish on offer will form part of the haul for the major fishmarkets.
Traditional Seine boats are seventeen feet long and clinker built with elm bottoms and larch topsides. They were propelled by oars or sails and were
usually named after the owner’s mother or wife. These boats have been used in estuaries for hundreds of years working salmon seines. A salmon seine is
a net that is two hundred yards long and over half a ton in weight. A Seine boat carries the net and a four-man crew and is rowed by two fourteen-foot
oars,the sail is the option for leaving and returning to port. The boats must be able to carry a ton of shellfish and still float in less than eighteen inches
of water. In the past the Seine boats were also used in the winter months for catching herring and sprats. The conditions would be hazardous when
working over the bar entrance to Loughshinny and Rush. Seine boats tend to be very safe and thus popular. They also figure in the trackless wastes of
the storylines of East and West Cork as captured so amusingly and tellingly by the “Irish RM” stories and the law suits which figured in the Courthouse
of Skebawn presided over by Major Yates RM, where the mysteries of dividing up the catch between the crew and the boats share would, as Major
Yates observed, defy the arithmetic of Colenso. This vivid and sparkling work uses many of the visual syntactical approaches essayed by Seán Keating
and Charles Lamb in their Western imagery, but made more immediate by the comparative modernity of the fishing craft and the attire of the figures
in the foreground. The agelessness of the activity of fishing and selling the produce gives this work its timeless appeal and is a seamless restatement of
and by artists who either live on islands or whose local economy is virtually entirely dependent on the sea for a living. The sandy soil of the area, which
also supports a large horticulture industry gives a particular quality of light, and which Patrick Leonard used to such vivid effect in so many of his finest
works amongst which this work must rank very highly.
By the repeated use of some colour notes like chrome yellow and reds creating internal dynamics of triangulation the artist stresses the visual appeal of
the work by concentrating the eye of the viewer in several narrow bands of compositional interest and giving the work its “bounce” as a vivid and energetic
pictorial statement of the life led in harvesting the sea.
Ciarán MacGonigal, May 2012
€10000 - 15000
35
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36
24A
Norman J. McCaig (1929-2001)
North Pier, Bangor
Oil on board, 25 x 39cm (9.75 x 15.4”)
Signed
€1000 - 2000
37
25
William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968)
The Riveters
Wax crayon on paper, 43 x 33cm (17 x 13”)
Signed
The following two lots come from a Co. Wicklow collector and both give a sense of the atmosphere at the famous Harland and Wolff
shipyards in Belfast, the hard graft and the background noise drowning out the sound of any conversation. This work is thought to date
from the late 1930’s / early 1940’s, around the time of “The Riveters” a related work in the Ulster Museum Collection.
€8000 - 12000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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26
William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968)
The Launch
Wax crayon on paper, 48 x 36cm (19 x 14”)
Signed
Provenance: The Bell Gallery, Belfast, December 1964 (label verso)
This work is thought to date from around 1923 when the artist exhibited an oil called “The Launch” (Private Collection) at the Goupil Gallery in
London and features on the front cover of the book by Judith Wilson on the artist. In the review of that exhibition in the magazine “Colour” the
reviewer indicates a sympathy with, and understanding of Conor’s approach to painting :“The reaction of the life struggle in a manufacturing community upon the individual is nearly always the basis on which his art is founded.This
idea pervades the fine painting “The Launch” one of his most recent achievements. Here the interest does not center on the spectacle of the great
ship sliding magnificently down the slip, but on the figures of the shipyard workers who watch intently the seal of final success set upon their
labours …..”
In some ways we think that this current version of “The Launch” is even more atmospheric with a greater number of shipbuilders involved, the
emphasis is on them and not on those up top. This work is very choreographic and has a striking sensual movement... the men at the base of the
huge liner which is seen in semi-profile having a diagonal space in the work... the shipyard cranes... an incredible, perfect and daring composition
- the workers wave good-bye to their long toil. Two other works that are very similar in composition to this one are also both called “The Launch”,
one in the collection of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, the other in the UTV art collection.
This work was included in his one man show in the new Bell Gallery - the exhibition spanned 60 years of work and in an interview with the Belfast
Telegraph (9/12/64) Conor said “Most of these have never been seen in public before”. Nearly all the people he has used are intensely real and vital
and his representations of them are social history as much as distinctive works of art. Conor said “I loved the working men in their dungarees and
the factory girls in their shawls, I knew them well as I was one of them”
€15000 - 20000
39
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40
27
William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968)
The Jaunting Car
Crayon, 50 x 60cm (19.5 x 23.5”)
Signed
Provenance: The Bell Gallery, Belfast (label verso)
William Conor was born in Belfast and studied graphic design at the Government School of Design and was then
apprenticed to a poster designer. He exhibited at the RHA for the first time in 1918 and continued to do so until the
year before his death. During both World Wars Conor was commissioned by the British Government to produce
records of soldiers in the form of sketches, some of which were included in an exhibition of war artists at the National
Gallery, London in 1941.
He spent a number of years in London in the 1920s where he met John Lavery and Augustus John, and in 1926
travelled to America to undertake various portrait commissions. Conor was elected a member of the RHA in 1946
and later was president of the Academy. His works can be found in major collections including the Ulster Museum,
Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Imperial War Museum in London, The Victoria
& Albert Museum in London and the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
Conor is seen in a photograph from 1958 sitting in front of a near identical work to this. Jaunting cars featured in
Conor’s work throughout his career, the most famous being ‘The Jaunting Car’ (1933) which is in The Ulster
Museum’s collection and this is hardly surprising being one of the main forms of transport during his lifetime. So
synonymous was the jaunting car with Conor, that fellow artist Rowel Friers depicted one in his memorial portrait
of Conor, ‘The End of an Era’, published in the Belfast Telegraph in February 1968.
When people criticized the type of scenes and people Conor painted he replied :- “it was only these humble people
I was interested in.” (Belfast Telegraph 9/12/64). “I was once asked to judge a beauty competition but I refused, I
knew the people I would choose as the most attractive would not please anyone else”.
€10000 - 15000
41
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42
28
Frank McKelvey RHA (1895-1974)
Shepherding in the Glens of Antrim
Watercolour, 26 x 37cm (10.4 x 14.6”)
Signed
€1200 - 1300
43
29
Maurice C. Wilks RHA (1910-1984)
Cottage at Rockport, Cushendun
Oil on board, 30 x 40cm (12 x 15.57”)
Signed, inscribed with title verso in the artist’s hand
€1500 - 2000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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30
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
The Gypsy Caravan
Oil on canvas board, 28 x 40cm (11 x 15.75”)
Signed
Belfast born, the son of a painter and decorator the artist trained as a poster designer, which gave him, like his fellow Belfast man William Conor
a terrific skill in giving a thin picture plane to which he grafted some very dense passages of impastoed pigment, which in turn gives McKelvey’s
early works their particular charge. By counter poising a thin almost translucent watercolour like medium as the background and the addition of
vigorous action and movement as in this case of clothes on a washing line he could give great vigour to the static forms even of a large shape like
the Caravan of the works’ title. The form of the caravan is more Romany than it is Irish Traveller and that could be accounted for by the number
of Gypsies who travelled through Northern Ireland for horse fairs and as peddlers of fancy and soft goods.
The foreground composition is typical of the artists handling of a meandering river through the composition, with its soft edges and young
alders growing up along the riverbank. The soft brushing of the foreground forms and the translucent background throws the caravan and the
washing line into prominence which is of course the real aim of the artist. McKelvey has learned lots of lessons in pictorial composition from
Walter Brangwyn and Sir Alfred Munnings but McKelvey makes this subject very much his own, with its startling colour and shape in an Irish
landscape.
In his day he was considered the equal of Paul Henry and James Humbert Craig in his treatment of light and colour and one can quite see
why. His early and middle period œuvre are his most important and whilst full of charm and whimsy are also very well crafted and constructed
compositions, which appear almost effortless in their making. By using his signature on the foreground left, as a practice out of French “plein
air” painting and the creation of triangular compositions using the blue of the shirt hanging on the washing line, the blue on the pole and the
blue touches of cobalt in the foreground stream he contains the composition in a narrow band almost like a stage set, and the cerulean and green
of the sky and the caravan all given little touches of red like the red headed child in the encampment, he enlivens the minds eye with this very
charming work.
Ciarán MacGonigal
€10000 - 15000
45
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31
Cecil Maguire RHA RUA (b.1930)
Mending the Nets, Claddagh Quay
Oil on board, 31 x 25.5cm (12.25 x 10”)
Signed
€2500 - 3500
47
32
Cecil Maguire RHA RUA (b.1930)
Púcán, Gaff Rigged, Kinvara
Oil on canvas, 39.5 x 29.5cm (15.5 x 11.6”)
Signed. Signed and inscribed verso
€3000 - 5000
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The following eleven lots come from a private Dublin collection built
up over the last eighty years by two gener ations of the same family.
33
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871 - 1957)
A Hooker and a Nobbie (by Roundstone Quay) (1911)
Oil on panel, 23 x 35.5cm (9 x 14”)
Signed
This was painted on Yeats’ first visit to Roundstone, Connemara, in the Summer of 1911.
Provenance: Purchased from The Victor Waddington Galleries 1942 by the current owner’s father and thence by descent.
Exhibited: 1912 The Walker Art Gallery, London “Jack B. Yeats: Pictures of Life in The West of Ireland” Cat. No. 15;
1914 Mills Hall, Dublin “Jack B. Yeats: Pictures of life in The West of Ireland” Cat. No. 4;
1942 Munster Fine Art Club, 20th Annual Exhibition, Cork (Group Show);
1977 Wexford Arts Centre, “Irish Art from Private Collections 1870 - 1930” Cat No. 41
Literature: “Jack B. Yeats - A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings” Vol. 1, Cat. No. 24, P 24. Illustrated again Vol III P12.
This early oil depicts a scene in Roundstone Harbour, the setting of another work by Yeats of the same year. It depicts two traditional West of
Ireland vessels, a Galway hooker and a nobbie, which was used for carrying turf, tied together at the quayside. Yeats who was passionate about
boats and sailing has managed to let aesthetic concerns stand over any technical presentation of the boats and their rigging. The dramatic cut-off
composition results in an almost abstract painting dominated by geometric forms of colour and line. The blue elements of the sea and the sky are
separated by the expanse of the pink of the harbour wall. The resulting painting is extraordinarily modern in the simplicity of its subject and in the
formal tension that builds up between the different elements of its construction. It demonstrates Yeats’s innate sense of design and his early willingness to experiment with the medium of oil. Applying the paint very thickly Yeats creates an intricate arrangement of forms in which constant
variations in brushstroke are evident. This, as in Yeats’s later work, draws attention to the process of painting and makes the viewer aware of the
decisions made by the artist in his creation of the artwork.
Dr. Róisín Kennedy, April 2012
€30000 - 50000
49
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
50
34
Paul Henry RHA (1876 - 1958)
Fishing Boats, Dugort
Oil on canvas, 51 x 61cm (20 x 24”)
Signed
Provenance: Purchased by the current owners’ father from Combridges, 1940 and thence by descent.
Exhibited: 1957 “Paul Henry Retrospective Exhibition”, Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, Cat. No. 60, which then toured
to Belfast Museum and Gallery;
1977 Wexford Arts Centre “Irish Art from Private Collections 1870 - 1930” Cat. No. 17;
2003 The National Gallery of Ireland “Paul Henry Retrospective Exhibition” Cat. no. 93
Literature: “Paul Henry” by Dr S.B. Kennedy 2003 NGI Illustrated P 123
“Paul Henry - Catalogue Raisonne of his Works” by Dr S.B. Kennedy 2007 Cat No. 1037 illustrated P 304.
The subject matter of fishing boats is one to which Paul Henry returned from time to time. The village of Dugort is situated on the northern
shore of Achill Island in County Mayo. The beach to the left is almost certainly Pollawaddy and the cottages in the foreground lie beside the road
running east from Dugort. The mountain in the background is Slievemore, which dominates the landscape of the Island. It was to Dugort that
Henry went when he first arrived on Achill in August 1910. But even then he found the village busy with tourists. ‘Every second house seemed
to be an hotel or boarding house’, he later wrote, and so the morning after his arrival he set off for the much quieter village of Keel in the south
of the island, where he subsequently established himself, taking rooms with John and Eliza Barrett who ran the post office in Keel. Moving
from Dugort to Keel, Henry would have travelled along the road depicted here and he was enthralled with the scenery. ‘Never shall I forget my
delight and astonishment on that drive,’ he wrote (Henry, An Irish Portrait, 1951, p. 3). The bright palette and clear, unmuddied colours which
are a feature of this composition typify Henry’s later work.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy, May 2012
€100000 - 150000
51
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
52
35
Aloysius O’ Kelly (1851-1926)
Boats and Wooded Harbour Scene, Pont-Aven
Oil on Canvas, 68 x 48cm (26.75 x 18.75”)
Signed
Julian Campbell has identified this location as being the view of the harbour, Le Port en Amont and the town of Pont-Aven from downstream
- Irish Arts Review 1996 P83.
Exhibited: 1984 The National Gallery of Ireland “The Irish Impressionists” Cat No. 26 and toured to Ulster Museum (label verso);
1999/2000 The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin “Aloysius O’ Kelly : Re- orientations’” Exhibition Cat. No. 21 (label verso)
Literature: “The Irish Impressionists” by Julian Campbell NGI 1984 P165 (illustrated)
“Aloysius O’Kelly in Brittany”, by Julian Campbell, Irish Arts Review, 1996 P83 (Illustrated)
“William John Leech: An Irish Painter Abroad” by Denise Ferran, 1996, illustrated p118
“Aloysius O’Kelly: Re-Orientations” By Dr Niamh O’Sullivan 1999 Full page illustration P 48
“Aloysius O’Kelly - Art, Nation, Empire”; Dr Niamh O’Sullivan, 2010, Catalogue Raisonné, cat. no. 72 (p293), full page illustra
tion p170
Aloysius O’Kelly was one of the first Irish artists to go to Brittany, along with Augustus Burke, followed by many other Irish artists over the
next half century. In the late nineteenth century, the remote port of Pont-Aven was about a day and a half ’s journey from Paris. The village
comprised a small community of farmers, millers and fishermen. The Aven river was used to drive the mills of the village, and the port lies
four miles up the estuary from the sea.
Painted in the late 1870s, O’Kelly shows the village nestled in the surrounding woods, with the moored fishing boats reflected in the harbour,
from downstream. He captured the distinctiveness of the fishing village, to the extent that at the turn of the century, the production of the
first picture postcards of Pont-Aven feature a scene that bears a remarkable similarity to his painting.
As the postcard producers took their cue from the artists, the locations became attractive to tourists, thereby encouraging the artists to paint
the same locations, and even the same models, over and over. Notwithstanding the apparent naturalism of these images, they were thus, in
many respects, contrived. The Monthly Illustrator (4, 2 (1895)) described Breton autumns as emitting ‘a soft, pearly, luminous colour giving
qualities of opalescent light to the landscape and enveloping everything in a tender tone of sentiment and poetry, a joy to look at and an inspiration to the painter.’ In contrast to the dense darkness of some of his interiors, O’Kelly’s winter landscapes emanate a chilly luminescence.
Clearly painted sur le motif, the treatment of the natural elements is close to the work of his American friend, Hugh Bolton Jones.
Dr Niamh O’Sullivan, May 2012
€15000 - 25000
53
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54
36
William John Leech RHA (1881-1968)
Interior of a Cafe (1908)
Oil on canvas, 73.7 x 83.8cm (29 x 33”)
Signed and dated 1908
Provenance : Purchased at the RHA 1909 by the Hon. Lawrence Waldron; Subsequently bought by Senator Brennan who left it to
Harry Clarke,who in turn left it to Lennox Robinson; Purchased from the Dawson Gallery, Dublin 11/12/1950 for £150
by the present owner’s father and thence by descent. (A photocopy of the original receipt will be given to the new owner)
Exhibited: 1908, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Cat. No. 400 priced £80;
1909, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Cat. No. 81 priced £63 where purchased by the
Hon. Lawrence Waldron;
1914, Salon des Artistes Français, Paris; where awarded a bronze medal;
1969, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, “William John Leech Memorial Panel” No. 4;
1977 “Irish Art from Private Collections 1870 - 1930” Wexford Arts Centre, Cat. No. 29;
1984, “The Irish Impressionists”, The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Cat. No. 117; travelled to The Ulster Museum, Belfast Cat. No. 117;
1996, The National Gallery of Ireland “William John Leech: An Irish Painter Abroad” Cat. No 4;
1997, Exhibition above toured to Musée des Beaux Arts, Quimper and the Ulster Museum Belfast.
Literature: “Painters of Ireland: 1660 - 1920” by Anne Crookshank and The Knight of Glin 1979 P275 (Ill. p 278)
‘The Irish Impressionists” by Julian Campbell NGI 1984 P260
“Leech in Brittany” by Dr Denise Ferran Irish Arts Review 1993 P227
“William John Leech” by Dr Denise Ferran 1992 p12 - 13
“Les Peintres de Concarneau” by H. Beleoch 1993 France P154
“William John Leech: An Irish Painter Abroad” by Dr Denise Ferran 1996 P103 (Ill p105)
See note by Dr Denise Ferran on page 56.
€200000 - 400000
55
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Lot 36 continued
56
William John Leech RHA (1881 - 1968)
Interior of a Cafe (1908)
Some suspicion and slight distancing of the peasants from the artist/viewer can be detected in this work of 1908, which combines the group of peasants and their cafe/bar
interior into a meticulously finished studio painting. The old peasant sitting becapped at
the extreme left is the subject in ‘A Man with a Bottle’ (private collection). Since that is
dated 1903, it seems probably that Leech worked on this painting for a long time. Here
the man sits amicably drinking a cup of coffee with two of his friends - one of whom has
a small liqueur glass on the table in front of him. All three look toil-worn with shoulders
rounded by work in the fields, with bent backs and expressively painted boned hands.
It is especially in the face of the standing figure that the viewer can detect distrust and
suspicion.
It is possible that Leech worked from a photograph or a postcard to complete the details
of the bar interior, especially in the row of bottles above the bar, and added the figures
from studio poses. The exaggerated space in the foreground, which directs the eye to the
figures in the middle distance, suggests the angle of a camera lens, and the questioning
gaze of the standing figure captures a momentary ‘off guard’ expression. The well stocked
shelves of bottles and china cups which glisten in the reflected light and shine under the
brass lamp may possibly be those of the Hotel des Voyageurs, where Leech stayed from
1907.
Leech conveys the intimacy of this darkened interior, disturbed by the intrusion of light
from the left, perhaps from a door, just opened. The gentle, withdrawn figure of a young
girl reading, silhouetted against the lacy curtains of the lighted window, creating depth
with light on dark, in a series of decreasing rectangles. The painting of the head and
shoulders of a young red-haired woman in the framed picture on the wall of the cafe
interior indicates the direction Leech’s painting style was to take. Its simplified, bold
areas of paint, lightened palette and strong play of light depart from the more academic
treatment of the room’s interior.
‘Interior of a Cafe’ is a carefully constructed composition which combines drawing from
life into a studio painting. Here he makes use of sunlight and shadows to contrast the
lighted areas of the three faces engrossed in conversation in dramatic chiaroscuro against
the brown shadows which verge into black. To the right, enveloped in shadow, is the
figure of a fourth man who waits, leaning on the counter, seeking service.
When Leech exhibited ‘Interior of a Cafe’ at the RHA in Dublin in 1909, the review in
The Irish Times declared: “His interiors of French cafes are distinguished by a brilliance
of execution, a realistic treatment, and a mastery of composition, which makes them singularly attractive.” Leech had exhibited another work, ‘Interior of a Kitchen - Brittany’
(whereabouts unknown) at the RHA in 1908, showing his interest at that time in the intimiste world of darkened interiors. The work failed to sell, however, and Leech exhibited
it at the Royal Institute of Painters in Oil that October. It was possibly this work which
was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Francais in 1913, for which he was awarded a
Bronze Medal. Leech later stated that the Salon work was bought by an American gallery in Philadelphia, but extensive research has failed to trace it. Leech also exhibited an
Interior of a cafe in the Sinn Fein-organized exhibition ‘Aonach’, in Dublin, in December
1909. The exhibition review in Sinn Fein recognized that ‘The picture of the Interior of a
Cafe shows him to be a skilled draughtsman, possessing masterly technique...”
Dr. Denise Ferran
(Detail)
57
37
William John Leech RHA (1881 - 1968)
Selling Songs
Oil on panel, 23.5 x 18.5cm (9.75 x 7.25”)
Signed. Inscribed with title verso
Provenance: Purchased by the current owners’ father circa 1950 from Leo Smith, The Dawson Gallery and thence by descent.
This is one of the small, freely painted panels Leech worked on out of doors and which fitted into a special wooden carrying case. He enjoyed sitting
unobserved, depicting park scenes in Regent Park in London and market scenes in France, where this scene is probably captured. The spontaneous
thick brush strokes depict the figures in the market, creating movement and colour bathed in strong sunlight, under the shade of tall trees, similar to
works “The Hat Stall Concarneau” and “The Little Blue Cart” c. 1925, illustrated Ferran, pgs 114 -115
Dr Denise Ferran, April 2012
€5000 - 7000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
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38
Walter Frederick Osborne RHA (1859 - 1903)
A Bookseller by the Liffey
Pen and ink, 29 x 35.5cm (11.5 x 13.75”)
Signed
Provenance: Purchased by the current owners’ father from Leo Smith, The Dawson Gallery c.1943 thence by descent.
This is a study for The Dublin Streets: A Vendor of Books, bequeathed to the National Gallery of Ireland by John
Hamilton Hunter (NGI 4736) in 2004
€4000 - 6000
59
39
Lillian Davidson ARHA (1879 - 1954)
Pull for the Shore
Oil on canvas,51 x 40.5cm (20 x 16”)
Signed with monogram
Provenance: Purchased by the current owner, June 1998 from The Frederick
Gallery, Dublin
Exhibited: 1951 RHA Annual Exhibition Cat. No. 113 costing 45.0.0 (exhibition label verso);
1998 The Frederick Gallery, Dublin “Summer Exhibition” Cat. No. 8 where purchased (exhibition label verso).
Literature: “One Hundred Years of Irish Art” The Oriel Gallery, 1993,
illustrated P 36
Lillian Davison was born in Bray Co. Wiclow and attended the Metropolitan School of Art Dublin from the age of sixteen and won prizes there
in 1895, 1896 and in 1897 won the RDS Scholarship which carried a free
studentship, it didn’t come too soon as that was the year of her father’s
death.
Although not in very buoyant financial circumstances she traveled extensively and did so for most of her life. She painted landscapes in Belgium
and Switzerland, besides various parts of Ireland. She was a regular contributor to the Watercolour Society, The Dublin Painters Society and the
Munster Fine Art Club, and was part of an interesting circle being friendly
with Jack Yeats whom she painted and with the circle of around the Gate
theatre for which she wrote plays under the pseudonym of Ulick Burke,
her most famous play Bride was directed in the Gate by Hilton Edwards
and designed by Michael McLiammoir.
She was certainly aware of the works of Honore Daumier and Jean Francois Millet and used the same proto type of humanity for important works
depicting the Irish Peasant.
€8000 - 12000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
60
40
James Humbert Craig RUA,RHA (1878 - 1944)
The Crolly, Co. Donegal
Oil on canvas, 50.8 x 61cm (20 x 24”)
Signed
Provenance: Purchased from the Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin 1940 by the current owners’ father and thence by descent.
Exhibited: 1939 The RHA Annual Exhibition Cat. No. 365;
1977 The Wexford Arts Centre, “Irish Art from Private Collections 1870 - 1930” Cat. No. 45;
1982 Bank of Ireland Exhibition Hall , Baggot Street, Dublin “Collectors Choice” Exhibition presented by The Friends of St. Patricks Hospital Cat. No. 20
Literature: “Irish Art and Modernism” by Dr S.B. Kennedy 1991 P 177 (Illustrated P159)
J. H. Craig was one of a group of Ulster-born painters - Paul Henry, Frank McKelvey and Charles Lamb are the best known of the others
- who in a large measure determined the development of landscape painting in Ireland in the inter-war years. But unlike his contemporaries,
Craig’s interest lay in the landscape itself and he was indifferent to a human presence. But he so stamped his view on the landscape of counties
Donegal and Antrim that, even today, it is difficult to go there and not see things through his eyes. A keen fisherman, Craig had an angler’s feel
for the landscape, reacting directly to it and working quickly in a loose Impressionist manner typified, as his friend John Hewitt noted, by ‘the
swift notation of the insistent effect, the momentary flicker, the flash of light, the passing shadow’ (Hewitt, Art in Ulster: 1, Belfast, 1977, p. 83).
The Crolly, Co. Donegal, well illustrates these characteristics and is typical of Craig’s work of the 1930s, a time when he produced some of his
most memorable compositions. The scattered habitation caught in the distant sunlight and the emphasis given to the sky-the clouds flinging
their dark shadows over the landscape and bringing to it a sense of grandeur-shows, too, the influence of Paul Henry on Craig in these years.
Craig often made use of a palette knife which at times gives his work a somewhat monumental effect, as can be seen in the middle distance of
this painting where one is acutely aware of the soft bogland which has been eroded over the years by the meandering stream. Dated 1935-37
on stylistic grounds.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy, May 2012
€6000 - 10000
61
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62
41
Conor Fallon ARHA (1939-2007)
Bird of Capricorn (1983)
Steel, 34.3cm high (13.5”)
Signed, dated ‘83 and numbered 5/9
Provenance: Purchased by the current owner from
The Butler Gallery in Kilkenny 1983
€3000 - 5000
63
42
Gerda Fromel (1931 - 1976)
Eve (1974)
Bronze, 76cm high including base (30”)
Signed with initials and dated 1974 on black marble base
Provenance: Acquired by the current owner just after the arist died in 1976.
€6000 - 8000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
64
43
William Scott OBE RA (1913 - 1989)
Cup and Pan Blues
Silkscreen print, 69 x 101cm (27 x 39.75”)
Signed and dated 1970 and numbered 39/100
Provenance: The Dawson Gallery, Dublin; where purchased by the current owner (gallery label verso)
€4000 - 6000
65
44
F.E. McWilliam RA (1909-1992)
Woman of Belfast (No. 16 1972)
Bronze, 60cm high (24”)
Signed with initials and numbered 1/5
Provenance: The Dawson Gallery, where purchased and thence by descent to the
current owner (receipt dated 27/12/73)
Born in Banbridge, Co. Down, McWilliam studied at Belfast College
of Art for two years and then at the Slade School of Fine Art in London where he studied under Henry Tonks and Randolph Schwabe.
His intentions of becoming a painter had been altered when he met
Henry Moore at the Slade and decided to focus instead on sculpture.
McWilliam held a studio at Port d’Orléans in Paris for a year before
returning to England. On a return trip to the French capital with his
wife, Beth, he visited the studio of long established modernist sculptor
Constantin Brancusi. In 1936 McWilliam attended the International
Surrealist Exhibition at the new Burlington Galleries in London, and
in 1938 he exhibited with the British Surrealist Group. His first solo
exhibition was at the London Gallery in the following year, where he
noted that his Surrealist sculptures were ‘rather bare-toothed in conception but very beautiful in execution.’
McWilliam’s work spans sculptural mediums such as wood, bronze,
lignum vitae and aluminium. His sculptures and drawings have been
exhibited widely in Ireland and the UK, including the Ulster Museum (Belfast), Hannover Gallery (London), the Douglas Hyde Gallery
(Dublin) and the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery (Cork). His first
American exhibition was held at the Felix Landau Gallery (Los Angeles) in 1963. His works have been purchased by institutions, such as
the Tate Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, London and the Royal
Opera House (Covent Garden).
McWilliam was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature by
Queens University in 1964, and in the same year he was described by
Roland Penrose as ‘an inventor of styles.’ In 1971 he won the Oireachtas gold medal for sculpture and was appointed a Fellow of University
College London.
In 1989 McWilliam was appointed a Senior Royal Academician, and
the Irish Times said that his work was ‘unmistakably his own, craftsman-like, humorous, imaginative, with a playful, poetic, slightly capricious element that sets it apart.’
The F.E. McWilliam Museum in Banbridge opened in 2008, a fitting
tribute to Northern Ireland’s most famous sculptor.
€6000 - 10000
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45
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Indoors, Outdoors (1951)
Oil on canvas, 56 x 66cm (22 x 26”)
Signed
Provenance: From the collection of the Hollywood actress Dana Wynter; and later sold in these rooms, 1st June 1989, Lot 70, where
purchased by the current owner, for a then world record price for le Brocquy’s work IR£60,000 (est: IR£15,000-25,000)
Exhibited: Louis le Brocquy Exhibition, Gimpel Fils, London, 1951
Louis le Brocquy and Hilary Heron - The Irish Room, Venice Biennale 1956
Louis le Brocquy Retrospective Exhibition, The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, 1966; The Ulster Museum, Belfast, 1966/7, cat. no. 21, where lent by Dana Wynter.
Literature: Biennale in Venedig, E von Glasersveld, Standpunkt Maran 1956
Louis le Brocquy, 1966/7 Retrospective Catalogue, illustrated page 35
Louis le Brocquy by Dorothy Walker, Ward River Press, 1981, Illus Fig.51, p.84
€500000 - 800000
‘Indoors, Outdoors’ is one of a series of works executed by Louis le Brocquy in London in 1951 which were to lead up to his
iconic work ‘The Family’ (1951), now in The National Gallery of Ireland (NGI). Late in 1950 Louis had moved to a small
Georgian watch house in Holly Hill in Hampstead, London which belonged to the Northern Irish film producer William
McQuitty. He was surrounded by interesting people, including his old friend and fellow artist, Derek Hill who had a house
nearby.
Louis converted the large garage beside the house into a studio complete with skylight. It was here that he was to commence
a series of works sometimes referred to as his “Grey period” which culminated with ‘The Family’. Regarding that work, Dr
Yvonne Scott has written :
“Carried out in the aftermath of World War II, it was intended to reflect the threatening and unstable environment, indicated
in the painting by the austere surroundings, and revealed in the agonised expression of the woman and defeated posture of the
man”.
The artist has been quoted as saying of this work : “ ‘A Family’ was conceived in 1950 … in the face of atomic threat, social
upheaval, and refugees of World War II and its aftermath ….. fifty years ago it was painted while contemplating a human
condition stripped back to Paleolithic circumstances under the electric light bulbs”
However the current owner, after discussions with the artist, would suggest that there is a much more personal meaning to this
painting and thus also to the later work, now in the NGI. The owners interpretation of the work following these conversations
suggests that the inspiration for the child was le Brocquy’s daughter Seyre from his first marriage to Jean. Louis and Jean split
up in the autumn of 1941 after a two and a half year marriage and eventually divorced in 1948. Seyre is shown leaving the
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house with a vase of old flowers, which represents their life together
coming to an end. At first the seated male figure looks like he is looking
away but on closer inspection he is looking out at the viewer. He too appears to be departing while the two sides of the woman, Jean’s, face represent the light and dark side of their marriage together - which
had included joyous times in Menton and elsewhere in the South of France
before the outbreak of war and the birth of their daughter.
‘Indoors, Outdoors’ was included along with ‘The Family’ in le Brocquy’s
Gimpel Fils June 1951 exhibition which was his most important exhibition to date. The reviews were very favourable, with an entire page of The
Listener, written by Eric Newton, devoted to it. It was also written about at
length by Neville Wallis of The Observer and John Russell of The Times.
In a long article in Art News and Review (16th June, 1951) the critic John
Berger wrote: “…. le Brocquy is completely free of the contemporary tendency to cosmic megalomania. It has become pretentious to talk of an artist’s humility, yet that is what distinguishes his work, his studies testify to
his patience, and his final, large picture to his refusal to evade simple but
difficult problems by relying on the grandiose cliché ….. “
‘Indoors, Outdoors’ was again shown along with ‘The Family’ at the 1956
Venice Biennale where le Brocquy, along with sculptor Hilary Heron, represented Ireland and again his work received favourable reviews from the
likes of French critic Alain Jouffroy, who wrote for the prestigious publication Beaux Arts. James White, the Irish Commissioner, promoted le Brocquy’s work with enthusiasm and eventually gained the important Nestlé
endowed Premio Aquisitato for ‘The Family’.
By the time of the 1966 retrospective ‘Indoors, Outdoors’ had come in to
the possession of Hollywood actress Dana Wynter who maintained a home
in Co. Wicklow. It was later sold through the Taylor Galleries before the
current owner bought it in June 1989 in these rooms for a then world record
price of IR£60,000 - four times the lower estimate.
We are indebted to the artist’s wife Anne Madden, the late Dorothy Walker and Dr Yvonne Scott of TRIARC whose research and writings have
formed the basis of this catalogue entry.
(Detail)
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46
Daniel O’Neill (1920-1974)
Coastal Landscape with Moored Boats
Oil on board, 49 x 60cm (19.25 x 23.6”)
Signed. Inscribed with a title in another hand verso
Belfast painter Daniel O’Neill made the decision to paint full time in 1945 having worked as an electrician in the Belfast
shipyards. He exhibited with Victor Waddington, and later with the Dawson Gallery, but spent much of his time travelling
abroad. In the early 1960’s O’Neill settled in Kerry where he continued to paint his highly recognisable portraits of ladies and
figures in landscapes. The evocative style and intense colours used by O’Neill make for poignant and expressive pictures, and
he has often been described as a romantic painter.
€4000 - 6000
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47
Colin Middleton RHA RUA (1910-1983)
Abstract with Toy Train
Oil on board, 90 x 90cm (35.5 x 35.5”)
Signed with monogram
Provenance: : Commissioned by Noel Campbell for Morelli’s icecream parlour on the Promenade, Portstewart, Co. Derry, circa early 1970s.
Literature: Dickon Hall, Colin Middleton: A Study, Joga Press, 2001, full page illustration, page 79
The variety and range of Colin Middleton’s work is often commented on as its most notable aspect. Closer acquaintance with it reveals a
unity that carries between styles and periods, both in technique and imagery. In each painting Middleton seems to be looking forward and
back. Throughout the six decades that he painted, Middleton never left his initial training as a damask designer far behind, although at times
this influence is almost submerged within paintings. Middleton’s move to the north coast of Northern Ireland in the late 1950s marked a
sharp break in his work; he found a landscape and, through this, a manner of painting that coalesced to express the point at which he found
himself as a man and as an artist. During this period, Middleton seems to have been ready to re-introduce elements of his design background
into his painting. This work demonstrates the complexity of design and visual inventiveness of which Middleton was capable. The series
was painted for Morelli’s café, famous as an ice cream parlour, on the seafront in Portstewart. This was arranged by Noel Campbell, a local
architect who had been instrumental in a number of commissions for murals Middleton received in the late 1960s and 1970s. It was as rare
then as it is now in Northern Ireland for an artist to be thus involved in architectural projects, so this panel has an historical resonance as
well as occupying a very particular place within Middleton’s career.
The planned location, an ice cream parlour in a holiday town, might well have influenced their bright colours and energetic exuberance, as
well as a choice of imagery likely to appeal to children. There are no known photographs of the panels installed in Morelli’s. A simplified
rendering of what appears to be a llama or alpaca is repeated on various scales, overlapping and creating a dizzying and confused sense of
spatial recession. Small panels are placed within these with simplified and angular depictions of fish, a cockerel, a dog and a cat. The latter
two recall the notation of Ancient Egypt and the dog is highly reminiscent of depictions of Anubis, the Egyptian jackal headed god (the
alpaca might also be read as an image of a Pharaoh dog). The alpaca shape is subtly repeated in the forms of the little house, the train and the
girl, all reminders of the holiday spirit. A similar fish image was used by Middleton for the sign of a fish and chip shop in an early painting
of Belfast, presumably here another reminder of summer in Portstewart.
Middleton’s vocabulary is derived from the shapes of objects in the visible world which over decades he has pared into the most visually
effective and communicative signifier capable of carrying its meaning.
Dickon Hall
€20000 - 30000
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47A
Colin Middleton RHA RUA MBE (1910-1983)
Reclining Figure
Oil on board, diptych, 23 x 40cm (9 x 18”)
Signed
Provenance: From the collection of the late William O’Sullivan, former Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College, Dublin;
and his sale in these rooms September 2001, cat. no. 83 where purchased by the current owner
Exhibited: Colin Middleton Exhibition, April 1967, cat. no. 21, where purchased by Mr & Mrs William O’Sullivan
By the late 1960s Colin Middleton had evolved a pared-down and complex formal language through which his
paintings were able to unite the treatment of the landscape and the female form, the two subjects that held the most
enduring interest for him.
This is one of a small number of paintings from 1967 that are painted on two square panels side by side; the heavily
gessoed surface and the abstract left panel reinforce the painting’s two-dimensionality and establish a sense of tension
with the description of volume in the right-hand panel. Despite the level of abstraction Middleton still manages to
evoke the sensuality of the female figure.
Dickon Hall
€6000 - 8000
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48
Margaret Clarke RHA (1888-1961)
Portrait of Éamon de Valera
Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 40.5cm (20 x 16”)
Inscribed verso ‘Sketch of Eamon de Valera - two sittings by Margaret Clarke’
Provenance: The sitter and thence by descent to current owners
Margaret Clarke was commissioned to paint Éamon de Valera in the autumn of 1928. De Valera had abandoned abstentionism and taken
his seat in Dáil Éireann the previous year, an important year for Margaret Clarke also: she had been granted full academic membership of
the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), only the second woman to be so honoured. Dermod O’Brien, president of the RHA, was a great
admirer of her portraiture:
“What I like about her work is her sincerity and insight and characterization. She does not content herself with setting a surface likeness
but seems to search into the character of the sitter and get at the soul of him or her.” (Extract from a letter to Mr Dwyer, Fitzwilliam
Square, regarding a commission, July 1932)
O’Brien recommended Clarke for a number of commissions, including this one from John J. Shelly of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Shelly had
specific ideas regarding the work, which he put to Clarke in a letter now unfortunately lost. In a subsequent letter dated Nov. 1928, he was
jubilant with relief, having just received long-awaited confirmation from Frank Gallagher of Fianna Fáil that de Valera was willing to sit
for Clarke. Shelly seems to have hoped that the portrait would be part of a promotional campaign. He confided to Clarke that he ‘thought
his [Gallagher’s] silence was one way of “freezing me out”’. Gallagher was de Valera’s media and public relations man, soon to be the
first editor of the Irish Press. Obviously Shelly had reason to believe that he might not welcome outside interference. Perhaps, in the end,
Gallagher had his way. Shelly had specifically requested that the painting should be exhibited at the next RHA annual exhibition. Clarke
exhibited works there in 1929 and for many years thereafter, but her portrait of de Valera never appeared publicly.
The painting is carefully composed to combine informality and status. A formally dressed De Valera is casually leaning on a bookcase with
an academic backdrop of swathes of red fabric partially obscuring a green wall. Most uncharacteristic of Clarke as a portrait artist and of
de Valera as a public figure is the hint of a smile on his relaxed face. Arguably, Shelly wanted the image of a civilized, benign gentleman to
be used to help banish memories of de Valera’s more violent past.
Margaret Clarke had one more encounter with de Valera: Harry Clarke’s work known as the Geneva Window had been in storage in government buildings since his death in Jan 1931. She had tried to buy it back from Cosgrave. On taking office in 1932, de Valera ordered that
she be asked if she was still interested in it, and noted that it had ‘acquired’ two cracks. During negotiations with Seán Lemass and others,
Clarke argued strongly for some sort of favourable terms but de Valera and his cabinet insisted she repay the full purchase price of £450.
Clarke was deeply disappointed and may well have regretted ever accepting Shelly’s thirty guineas and endowing de Valera with a smile.
Fiana Griffin
€7000 - 10000
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The following two lots come from the historic Beaulieu House Collection
49
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
Bound for the Islands (1952)
Oil on board, 23 x 35.5cm (9 x 14”)
Signed
Provenance: Purchased in 1953 by Mr & Mrs Nesbit Waddington at the Victor
Waddington Galleries and thence by descent to current owner
Literature: Jack B. Yeats - A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1992
by Hilary Pyle, cat. no 115
Beaulieu House in Drogheda is probably the finest and best preserved
country house from the second half of the 17th Century in Ireland and
one of the first without fortifications. It was built c.1660 -7 by Sir William Tichborne and passed mainly down the female line being inherited
in 1939 by Mrs Sidney Waddington. Sidney was married to Nesbit
Waddington who was for many years the manager of the Aga Khan’s
Irish stud farms.
Although the main reception rooms at Beaulieu feature family portraits
of the Tichbournes and a Van Wyck of William III at the Battle of
the Boyne the private family quarters of the house are hung with 20th
century works collected by Sidney and Nesbit Waddington. They were
friends with such artists as Mary Swanzy, Norah Mc Guinness, Bea Orpen and Father Jack Hanlon whose works feature strongly in the collection. Other works by Jack B. Yeats, Daniel O’Neill and Colin Middleton were bought through the Victor Waddington Gallery mainly in the
1950’s. Gabriel De Freitas a former motor racing champion is the 10th
generation of her family to live at Beaulieu which is very much a home
not a museum.
This very late painting by Yeats, made when he was 80 years old, was bought
directly from the Victor Waddington Galleries by Nesbit Waddington in
1953. It shows a sailor standing on a headland waving out to a boat on the sea
below. His blue sou’wester hat and dark complexion lend him an exotic air, as
if he himself has travelled far. The tiny toy-like boat is placed at the centre of
the composition. Beyond it on the horizon are the ghostly forms of an island,
its cliffs rising from the sea. Hilary Pyle has speculated that this may refer to
the Aran Islands.
The composition is similar to other late works such as ‘The Circus has Come’,
(1952, Private Collection) and ‘Many Ferries’, (1948, National Gallery of
Ireland), which also show an isolated figure looking down at an expanse of
water. The dramatic rupture between the foreground and background of the
painting introduces a sense of ambiguity. It is as if the sea, island and boat
belong to a realm of fantasy or memory. The meeting of the sea and sky and
the predominance of pale blue and white is suggestive of open space and of
a place where the imagination holds sway. The boat and its occupants, bound
for the islands, may refer to those who are free to depart to new horizons
while the sailor, like much of humanity, bids them well but remains behind.
Dr. Roisin Kennedy, April 2012
€50000 - 80000
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50
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
Good Evening Men (1950)
Oil on canvas, 23 x 35.5cm (18 x 24”)
Signed
Provenance: From the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Nesbitt Waddington and thence by descent to the current owner.
Exhibited: 1951 Jack B. Yeats Exhibition, Victor Waddington Galleries, cat. no. 11
1957 Jack B. Yeats- Memorial Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, cat. no. 88
1967 Jack B. Yeats Exhibition, Victor Waddington Gallery, London, Sept/Oct cat. no. 25
1972 From Yeats to Ballagh, Lund Kensthall, April-May, cat. no. 56
Literature: From Yeats to Ballagh, Lund Kensthall, April-May, cat. no. 1026
This humorous painting was Mrs Sidney Waddington’s favourite work and according to her husband Nesbitt it
depicted a foreman who has climbed up the ladder to find the workers slacking and playing cards in the hayloft.
It shows an elderly man peering through a doorway and may have been inspired by a memory of such an incident.
The sides of the ladder are visible as are the inner walls of the barn, painted in dark red and blue which frame the
composition and indicate the interior darkness of the building. Behind the man a wild landscape and stormy sky
unfolds suggestive of the West of Ireland. The effects of the changing light and the blustery weather is indicated by
the vigorous way in which the paint has been applied, particularly in the sky. Below to the left a man with a horse and
cart wait for their companion to return.
The old man in his hat is a recurring feature of Yeats’s later work. His weathered face created out of strong red and
purple on bare canvas indicates a life spent out of doors. Often in Yeats’s paintings one sees two such figures greeting
each other in an open landscape. Here we, the viewers, take the place of the old man’s companions. It is as if the figure
has climbed out of the painting to greet us, bringing us playfully into an engagement with the work.
Dr. Róisín Kennedy, April 2012
€200000 - 300000
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51
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
The Prompt
Pen and ink on paper, 19 x 25cm (7.5 x 9.75”)
Signed with monogram
€1500 - 2000
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52
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
Women on a Beach in Sligo (c.1908)
Watercolour, 18.4 x 26.7cm (7.5 x 10.5”)
Monogram stamp
Provenance: The Waddington Galleries, London, where purchased by current owner.
€3000 - 5000
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53
John Butler Yeats RHA (1859-1922)
In a Gondola
Gouache, 33 x 47cm (13 x 18.5”)
Signed and extensively inscribed on artist’s label verso
Provenance: Inherited by the current owner
Exhibited : 1901 Hone - Yeats Loan Exhibition in Dubin
Literature: “The Prodigal Father” by William Murphy P116 and P232
This is one of two works that the poet Dr John Todhunter commissioned from John Butler Yeats based on Brownings series of narrative
poems “Bells and Pomegranates”. The first commission was given in 1870, “Pippa Passes” and is now in the collection of The National
Gallery of Ireland (Ref 3531). Brownings poems tell how a girl from Asolo spends her New Years holiday passing through the lives of
others, imagining herself into their situations and so influencing them. It took two years for the first commission to reach Todhunter.
Yeats met and made a lifelong friendship with John Todhunter while at Trinity College, Dublin (1857 - 62). Todhunter was a gifted
dilettante who started life in a grocery firm but then decided to become a doctor and through his interest in music, poetry and philosophy
brought him into the company of Yeats.
At the time of painting this picture Yeats was sharing a studio with Edwin Ellis at. No. 74 Newman Strret, London near J.T. Nettleship
- a member of the informal artistic brotherhood they had set up who recently published a collection of essays on Brownings poetry. The
brotherhood declared a common interest in Blake, Browning and the Pre-Raphaelite ideals as well as a belief in the solitary nature of the
artist. Browning saw “Pippa Passes” at Todhunters and called on Yeats,who was out and never returned Brownings call. It had also been
admired by Rossetti who invited Yeats to visit but again Yeats, due to the awe in which he held Rossetti, never took up the invitation.
The model for Pippa in both this work and “Pippa Passes” has been identified as Nelly Whelan. This later work was also in Todhunters
possession when Browning called and Todhunter lent both to the very successful 1901 Hone-Yeats exhibition that was organized by
Sarah Purser and included 44 works by John Butler Yeats and 28 works by Hone.
There is a label, verso inscribed with a stanza from Robert Browning’s ‘In a Gondola’ :
Care not for the coward,
care only to put aside thy beauteous hair,
my blood will hurt
€4000 - 6000
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54
John Hogan (1800 - 1858)
Bust of Francis Sylvester Mahony (“Fr. Prout”)
Marble, 50cm high (19.75”)
Signed
Provenance, by descent in the family of the sitter
Literature “John Hogan, Irish Neoclassical Sculptor in Rome” (Irish Academic Press, 1982) where it is listed as No. 58 in the Catalogue Raisonné.
Mahony wrote a description of Hogan’s studio in Rome in the spring of 1847 which mentions his own portrait bust. “The locale which forms this sculptor’s workshop (once tenanted by Canova) presents just now what may be termed a sort of Hibernian Valhalla…the bust of Father Mathew looks forth
redolent of Christian philanthropy: on the same shelf is seen the mirthful brow of Father Prout…the late venerable Mr Beamish of Cork as well as his
meritorious partner William Crawford, both models to any mercantile community, have their representations here, with several Murphies from that city.”
The bust was made before May 1847 so it is unlikely to have been this bust for which Mahony sat for Hogan in November 1847 as Turpin writes. The
date is therefore likely to be 1846 rather than 1848.
Turpin notes the low relief carvings on either side of the base. On one side an open chest with rolls of parchment and an antique lamp an illusion to the
‘discovery’ of Fr Prout’s literary remains in a chest - and on the other a book, a wine bottle, a chalice and a classical flask - apt symbols of Mahony’s life.
Francis Sylvester Mahony (Fr Proust) (1804-1866)
“A very singular person, of whom the world tells a thousand and one tales, you know, but of whom I shall speak as I find him, because the utmost kindness and
warmheartedness have characterised his whole bearing towards us….a most accomplished scholar and vibrating all over with learned associations and vivid combinations of fancy and experience - having seen all the ends of the earth and the men thereof, and possessing the art of talk and quotation to an amusing degree.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 10th October 1848
Francis Mahony was born in Cork on 31st December 1804, the son of Martin Mahony a woollen merchant. He went to Clongowes in 1815, to the Jesuit college of St.
Acheul at Amiens in 1819 and then to Paris as a Jesuit novice. From 1823-1825 he studied in Rome. He was “brilliant but intractable and ill-disciplined”. Eventually he
was told that he was not suitable for ordination as a Jesuit. Returning to Ireland still intent on ordination he was made Prefect of Studies at Clongowes and then Master
of Rhetoric. Then disaster struck. He took a party of boys on an outing to have dinner in Maynooth. The boys got drunk and returned to Clongowes on turf-cutters’ carts
after midnight. Mahony resigned his post. He went abroad, continued his studies and was eventually ordained, but not as a Jesuit, in 1832. He served bravely in Cork
during the Cholera epidemic of 1832 but again fell out with his superiors. After two years he went to London, gave up life as a priest and began the career in journalism
for which he is remembered.
His relations with the Church have continued to be uncertain. A friend wrote after his death that “he might have had a cardinal’s hat but for that which is imputed to him
as his one great fault - conviviality”
Mahony loved the sociable, literary world of London. He wrote for Fraser’s Magazine under the pseudonym of “Father Prout”, allegedly the parish priest of Watergrasshill,
near Cork. The editor William Maginn, Thomas Crofton Croker, the antiquarian and collector of Irish fairy stories and Daniel Maclise, the artist, were other Cork-born
contributors.
Mahony’s writing shows him to have been a classical scholar, linguist and wit. He described himself as “an Irish potato seasoned with Attic salt.” As a joke he alleged that
Thomas Moore, then at the height of his success, was just a plagiarist, merely translating from French, Greek or Latin poems or other “originals” which Francis supplied.
The Bells of Shandon - for long included in the Oxford Book of English Verse - was written as the supposed original of Moore’s Evening Bells - a St Petersburg Air. Many
of these articles were collected as The Reliques of Father Prout.
From 1837 he wrote for Charles Dickens’s Bentley’s Miscellany from Italy. His contributions were collected and published in 1847 as Facts and Figures from Italy by Don
Jeremy Savonarola - another pseudonym - with a brief foreword by Dickens.
Mahony settled finally in Paris where for eight years he was the correspondent of The Globe and where he died in 1866. He is buried at Shandon in Cork. One of his
obituarists wrote “Indeed Francis Mahony… was no common man, either in genius or expression. Many elements met in him, as in a mayonnaise, to make a piquant mixture. He was a Jesuit and a humourist; a priest and a Bohemian; a scholar and a journalist; a wag and a song-writer; a Cork man familiar to everyone in Rome, a Roman
Catholic ecclesiastic well known in the convivial clubs of London.”
€4000 - 6000
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55
Helen Mabel Trevor (1831-1900)
Race to the Bottom of the Bowl
Oil on canvas, 66 x 71cm (26 x 28”)
Signed and dated 1892
Helen Mabel Trevor was born near Loughbrickland, Co Down. She attended the Royal Academy Schools
in London in the late 1870s, and then the Académie Julian in Paris. She exhibited in Dublin, London and
Paris, receiving ‘honourable mention’ in the Salon in 1898. She was a genre and portrait painter, who excelled
at painting children, producing many charming, warm pictures of them throughout her life. As well as many
urban scenes of Paris, she travelled to Brittany and Normandy from 1881, and kept a delightfully illustrated
journal on her travels. After six years in Italy, from 1883 to 1889, she and her sister, Rose, returned to Paris. She
resumed her visits to Brittany and added Cornwall to her regular itinerary but she had a particular empathy for
Breton people, their customs and traditions.
Here are two young chubby-cheeked children, and a black cat with an arched back. The girls are feeding themselves from a rough earthenware bowl, with a pewter spoon. They wear simple peasant clothing in earthy blues
and greys, and close-fitting white bonnets. The older girl holds back to allow her little sister to dip her spoon
into the dish. They are totally engrossed in their goûter. The square format frames the children engagingly. The
painting is free and fluid with occasional touches of impasto, and there is a stong sense of tactility. These Breton
children recur in Trevor’s work two or three years later, when she painted Two Breton Girls, the same children,
in school (shown in The Irish Impressionists exhibition in the National Gallery, 1984).
Dr Niamh O’Sullivan, May 2012
€10000 - 15000
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56
John Faulkner RHA (1835-1894)
Driving Cattle and Sheep down road by Cottage
Watercolour, 47 x 97cm (18.5 x 38.25”)
Signed and indistinctly inscribed with title
€800 - 1200
57
John Faulkner RHA (1835-1894)
Country Cottage, Near Edgeware, Middlesex
Watercolour, 46 x 97.5cm (18.25 x 38.5”)
Signed and inscribed with title
€800 - 1200
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58
William Percy French (1854-1920)
Achill Geese
Watercolour, 17.5 x 25.5cm (7 x 10”)
Signed
€3000 - 5000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
90
59
Helen O’Hara RWS (1846-1920)
A Country Garden, Summer
Watercolour, 25 x 36cm (10 x 14”)
Signed with monogram & dated 1891
€700 - 1000
91
60
Wycliffe Egginton (1875-1951)
Clifftop Castle
Watercolour, 52 x 72cm (20.5 x 28.3”)
Signed
€1000 - 1500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
92
61
Patrick Vincent Duffy RHA (1836-1909)
Moonlit Lake Landscape
Oil on canvas, 42 x 57.5cm (16.5 x 22.6”)
Signed
€1500 - 2500
93
62
William Sadler II (c.1782-1839)
A Stormy seascape with Figures and Boats
Oil on panel, 21.5 x 33.4cm (8.5 x 13”)
€1500 - 2500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
94
63
Alexander Williams RHA (1846-1930)
An Inlet of the Sea, Killybegs, Donegal
Oil on canvas board, 34 x 59cm (13.4 x 23.25”)
Signed. Signed, inscribed with title and artist’s studio
address verso (not in the artist’s hand)
€1200 - 1600
95
64
Thomas Rose Miles RCA (fl. 1869-1910)
Morning - Landing Fish at Blackrock, Galway Bay
Oil on canvas, 37 x 67cm (14.5 x 26.5”)
Signed. Signed with monogram and inscribed with title verso
€4000 - 6000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
96
65
William Guy Wall (1792-1864)
A View on the Boyne
Oil on canvas, 72 x 92cm (28.3 x 36.25”)
Signed and inscribed with title on artist’s label verso
Born in Dublin, Wall emigrated to America in 1818 where he established himself as a painter of some note. An original member of The
National Academy of Design he became most closely associated with the Hudson River School of painting.
In 1832 he returned to Dublin where both his Irish and American landscapes were initially well received but by the 1850’s he was forced
to return to America in search of commissions and latterly he moved to London where he died in 1875.
In ‘View on the Boyne’ Wall brings to bear an eye for the dramatic and sublime so redolent of The Hudson River School. The sheets of rain
falling along the coast south of Drogheda sit in marked contrast to the considerably brighter foreground of the Curly Hole above the river
Boyne with a workman seated by his spade conversing with a woman standing by her donkey. In the far distance the spire of Drogheda’s
St Peter’s Church has been picked out by the artist and locates the town without imposing any sense of the urban upon the composition.
€5000 - 7000
97
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
98
66
Sir William Orpen HRHA RA (1878-1931)
Mary
Conté, charcoal and chalk, 26.5 x 18cm (10.5 x 7”)
Inscribed with the title on label verso
Provenance: Purchased by previous owner from Leo Smith, The Dawson
Gallery, Dublin and sold in these rooms, March 1992, Lot 128, where purchased by the current owner.
€1500 - 2500
99
67
Sir John Lavery RHA RA RSA(1856-1941)
Portraits of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins
Artists’ proofs, 45 x 36cm (17.75 x 14.25”); 43.5 x 33.5cm (17.25 x 13.25”)
Published by Wilson Hartnell & Co., Dublin (1922)
Each signed in pencil by the artist and the sitter - name in full
Lavery and his wife Hazel got to know Griffith and Collins during the Treaty negotiations in London,
where the couple used their social connections to assist the Irish delegates (2)
Provenance: gifted from Arthur Griffith to the current vendor’s family and thence by descent.
€4000 - 6000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
100
68
Charles Lamb RHA RUA (1893-1964)
Connemara Girl
Oil on canvas, 76 x 50.5cm (30 x 20”)
Signed
Provenance: The collection of the artist’s family and sold by them through The Frederick Gallery, Dublin, July 2000
Exihibited: “Summer Exihibition”, The Frederick Gallery, Dublin, July 2000, Cat. No. 1, where purchased, illustrated front cover of the
catalogue. Sold by the purchaser, again through The Frederick Gallery, The Final Show, April/May 2005. Cat. No. 2, where purchased
by the current owner.
Portadown born, the artist, after studying locally and in Belfast received a scholarship to the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art where he
ingested the Orpenesque treatment of the human figure and particularly the face and what were known as the extremities (hands and feet).
In this large work which is nearly in the form of a pictorial etude the young woman looks to a distant point, a device used to emphasise
the articulation of the face and the clasped hands, and she wears a traditional homespun shawl, with the red petticoat just peeping out as a
foreground note, echoed by the signature of the artist, which within the pictorial tradition of the Franco-Irish-British tradition is used as a
compositional device over which the eye leaps to the middle distance and background.
The long diagonals of the background suggest rapidity and movement, and which are to be found in such early works as the “Turf Cutter” and
a famous early work acquired by the Haverty Trust for the Cawford Gallery Cork, “A Quaint Couple”, which gives it a timeless as well as a
universal appeal; here the thrust of the sitter’s posture is a counter poise against the italic slant of the background; it’s a compositional device
often found in the work of Roderic O’Conor in particular his Breton figurative studies. This underlines the influence which aspects of 19th
Century French modernism had on painters whose aesthetic choices and preference for the “pastoral/figurative” narration is accompanied
by a development of the plastic forms of the pigment. It is often seen in the work of Seán Keating and Patrick Tuohy who used the power
of a dominant foreground figure to compel the viewers attention. Here, the drama lies as much in massed shape of the figure against its
background as the internal painting of the questing expression of the face. It is a device used in the early 1920’s to the late 1930’s by the artist
suggesting action taking place outside the vision of the viewer but of deep interest to the sitter. Therein possibly lies its great attraction as an
expression of a fleeting moment caught by the artist, that of an extrinsic action being intrinsic to the thrust of the composition.
Ciarán MacGonigal
€10000 - 15000
101
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
102
69
Attributed to James Sinton Sleator PRHA (1889-1950)
Self-Portrait in his Studio
Oil on board, 46 x 30.5cm (18 x 12”)
This self-portrait was inherited by the present owners some forty years ago and it was always thought to be by the noted Irish painter
James Sinton Sleator. After comparing this work with a number of other self-portraits by Sleator, two of which are in the National
Gallery of Ireland, we can see no reason to doubt this attribution. Stylistically, it is very close to his work and on examination of his
palette we can see the turquoise colour used on the right hand side is one that often appears in his other works, especially his still-life
work. Most of his other known self-portraits are also unsigned.
Sleator was born in Derrycarne, near Portadown, Co. Armagh and as both his parents were school-teachers they later settled in Belfast.
In about 1903 Sleator entered the Belfast College of Art before enrolling in the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin as a mature
student in 1909.
Sleator had a distinguished career at the Metropolitan School of Art where his contemporaries included Leo Whelan, Albert Power,
Margaret Clarke and Sean Keating. It was here that he came under the influence of Sir William Orpen, an influence that remained
with him for the rest of his life. On leaving art college he became Orpen’s studio assistant in London, a position he held on and off
for the next fifteen years until Orpen’s death in 1931. He actually finished some of Orpen’s unfinished commissions after his death. It
was Orpen who introduced the young Irish artist to Sir Winston Churchill to whom he ended up giving painting lessons. As well as
working with Orpen, Sleator established his own successful practice as a portrait painter.
The present work is thought to date to the mid to late 1920’s. The artist is shown in a confident pose, while the female model cowers
behind, initially looking rather innocent but the bright red shoes and lipstick suggest that this may not have been the case. At some
levels this work is an ‘Homage’ to his teacher, who was also very fond of self-portraits.
By 1941, at the onset of war, Sleator had moved back to Dublin permanently where he became a prominent member of the art world.
This was the golden age of Irish portraiture and so ‘Orpen’s boys’, Sleator, Leo Whelan and Sean O’Sullivan became the portraitists
of the rich, famous and influential of Irish social and business circles. Sleator was well regarded by the critics and artists alike and on
the death of Dermod O’Brien PRHA in 1945 he was appointed President of the RHA, a position he held until his own sudden death
in Academy House in January 1950.
€3000 - 5000
103
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
104
70
Maurice MacGonigal PRHA (1900-1979)
Kerry Landscape
Oil on board, 29 x 59cm (11.4 x 23.25”)
Signed. Also signed, inscribed with title and dated 1974 verso
Exhibited: Taylor Galleries, Dublin, September 1978; where purchased by the current owner
The location of this painting has been identified as being near Feothanach and Ballydavid in West Kerry, where
the artist painted for long periods in the 1970’s.
Our thanks to the artist’s son Ciáran for his help in cataloguing this and the following lot.
€3000 - 5000
105
71
Maurice MacGonigal PRHA (1900-1979)
Cottages in a Connemara Landscape
Oil on board, 34 x 44cm (13.4 x 17.4”)
Signed
This is thought to have been painted in the Lough Inagh Valley, looking towards Bencorr, Knocksheemore and Glencorbet. The artist
leased a fishing lodge (Kylemore Farm) for some years from 1949.
€3000 - 5000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
106
72
George K Gillespie RUA (1924-1995)
Picnic by the River
Oil on canvas, 39 x 49cm (15.4 x 19.25”)
Signed
€1200 - 1600
107
73
George K. Gillespie RUA (1924-1996)
On the Road Between Letterfrack and Roundstone
Oil on canvas, 49 x 74.5cm (19..25 x 29.4”)
Signed
€2500 - 3500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
108
74
George K Gillespie RUA (1924-1995)
Stacking the Turf, West of Ireland
Oil on canvas, 39 x 49cm (15.4 x 19.25”)
Signed
€800 - 1200
109
75
James le Jeune RHA (1910-1983)
Capel Street from Grattan Bridge
Oil on canvas board, 51 x 61cm (20 x 24”)
Signed. Artist’s studio label verso
€5000 - 8000
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110
The following thirty six lots have been collected by the current owner
over a thirty year period.
76
Paul Henry RHA RUA (1876-1958)
Cottages in Connemara
Oil on board, 33.5 x 28cm (8.5 x 11”)
Signed, title inscribed on Combridges Fine Art Galleries label verso
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 10th October 1989, Catalogue No. 92, where purchased by current owner
Literature: “Paul Henry: Paintings, Drawings, Illustrations” by Dr. S.B. Kennedy, Catalogue No. 781 (illustrated)
In the early-mid 1930s, free of his domestic, financial and other difficulties of the previous decade, Paul Henry and
Mable Young, who later became his second wife, paid a visit to Co. Kerry, staying in the area around Glenbeigh. As
a result of the trip Henry’s mood brightened considerably and this change is reflected both in his palette and a much
greater fluidity and directness of execution. The handling of the paint in this work, with its assertiveness of colour put
down without any over painting or other changes, clearly illustrates the artist’s new-founded circumstances and, in a
minor way, is a tour de force. Henry’s approach here perfectly reflects the comments of his erstwhile teacher, Whistler,
that an artist should see his picture ‘on the palette’. ‘Here, not on your canvas, is your field of experiment, the place where
you make your choices’, Whistler said. He also taught that the subject ‘should be presented in a simple manner, without
an attempt to obtain a thousand changes of colour that there are in reality’.
The title, ‘Cottages in Connemara’, is given on a Combridge’s Gallery label on the reverse. Kennedy 2007 dates the
picture 1930-40, but the fluidity of the paint and the bright palette suggest a more likely date of c. 1935-40.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy, May 2012
€25000 - 35000
111
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
112
77
Walter Frederick Osborne RHA ROI (1859-1903)
Near St. Patrick’s Close, Dublin c.1901
Throughout his career Walter Osborne was fascinated by St Patrick’s Cathedral, and the area around it, including Marsh’s Library and Patrick Street and neighbouring streets, provided subjects for many pictures. Among these are two interiors of the cathedral with figures, ‘St Patrick’s Cathedral’ (Dublin City Gallery, the Hugh
Lane), ‘In St Patrick’s Cathedral’ (1887) and one of his best known scenes of Dublin life, ‘Near St Patrick’s Close’ (1887) (National Gallery of Ireland) a scene of figures in the street; as well as his pastel ‘Life in the Street’, c.1893 (DCG,HL) and pictures of men reading in Marsh’s Library, 1898 (one painting being in DCG,HL).
The present small study ‘Near St. Patrick’s Close’ is a view of the cathedral and porch, probably taken from outside the Marsh’s Library, looking across the close to
Patrick’s Street. A few figures are shown in the road going about their business, while buildings close off the background. Among the figures are Dublin women
with shawls, and a carriage or cart, perhaps with two coachmen, beside the porch. Across the road a group of women crouch on the pavement. The buildings in the
background have hipped roofs and tall chimney stacks. Osborne employs a somber tonality of greys, raw umber and maroons, perhaps reflective of a grey winter’s day,
although there are patches of blue in the sky.
The dating of the picture is not certain. A date of 1888 is written on the reverse[2], but the broad handling of the painting and the rapid sketchy brushwork, for
instance in the buildings on the left and in the spires of the cathedral against the sky, suggest a later date. The sweeping brushstrokes are akin to those in Osborne’s
studies of the village of Rush, painted in the late 1890’s while in her Catalogue Raisonné of Osborne’s work Jeanne Sheehy proposes a date of around 1901[3].
Osborne was drawn to this old district of Dublin for several reasons. Travelling from his home in Rathmines into the city, St. Patrick’s and it’s surroundings were
easily accessible to him. Being of the Church of Ireland faith, and his elder brother Charles having been ordained as a clergyman, St. Patrick’s as the largest church in
Ireland, with an imposing façade and an impressive interior, was of great interest to him. During his childhood much restoration had been carried out on the cathedral
by architect Thomas Drew (1838-1910)[4] of whom Osborne was to paint one of his earliest portraits, 1891(NGI), and partially funded by M.P. and philanthropist,
Benjamin Lee Guinness(1798-1868)[5].
Originally built in 1191 on the site of a pre-Norman church of St. Patrick, the church was promoted to cathedral status in 1213. In 1300 it’s status was over-shadowed
by that of the nearby Christchurch, and during the Reformation it was demoted to a church again. Over the centuries St. Patrick’s suffered much damage and underwent much re-building. But during Osborne’s childhood St. Patrick’s was restored to it’s full glory again. After the dis-establishment of the Church of Ireland in
1869 it was set apart as the ‘national cathedral’ of the Church of Ireland.[6]
Osborne, moreover, was drawn to the surroundings of St. Patrick’s, the impoverished, yet bustling atmosphere of Patrick Street and neighbouring streets and their
inhabitants, the little markets, street traders, shawled women, barefoot children and itinerant musicians. By the late 19th century this district had become one of the
most deprived areas of Dublin. Following in the footsteps of their father Benjamin, Arthur Guinness(1840-1915) and Edward Cecil Guinness (1847-1927, later 1st
Earl of Iveagh), contributed much to the renovation of the area, with housing projects, clearance of old tenements, and the building of the new apartment blocks[7].
Thus, during Osborne’s life and his career, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Patrick Street area were going through much change. Some aspects have remained the same
while others have changed considerably since his day. In his little oil study he captures a fleeting impression of this part of old Dublin.
Julian Campbell
1.
Jeanne Sheehy, Walter Osborne, NGI 1983, No.43
2.
Jeanne Sheehy, Walter Osborne, Ballycotton 1974,No.561, p.150
3.
Ibid p.150
4.
Lord Killanin and Michael V. Duignan, Shell Guide to Ireland, 1962, 1967, p.234.Osborne was to have several points of contact with Drew. Both became members of the RHA. In 1891 Osborne painted a portrait of the architect, bearded and
seated, wearing a tweed jacket (NGI no.931). In 1900 Drew was elected President, RHA, and in 1902 he and Osborne were on the committee for Hugh Lane’s Winter Exhibition. In 1900 Drew received a knighthood, but Osborne
declined the offer of one.
5.
Alan O’Day, ‘The Guinness Family’, in Brian Lalor, ed. Encyclopaedia of Ireland, 2003 p.464
6.
Killanin and Duignan op.cit.
7.
Alan O’Day, op.cit.
113
Lot 77
Walter Frederick Osborne RHA ROI (1859-1903)
Near St. Patrick’s Close, Dublin c.1901
Oil on board, 18 x 27cm (7.25 x 10.5”)
Provenance: Acquired 8th June 1903 after the artist’s death from Dermod O’Brien PRHA, one of his executors. Sold by this family at Taylor deVeres 26th May
1992 Catalogue No. 100, where purchased by current owner
Literature: “Walter Osborne” by Jeanne Sheehy, 1974, full page illustration plate 42, Catalogue No 561
€20000 - 30000
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114
78
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Irish Travellers: In Fear of Kane
A pair, watercolour, 30 x 22.75cm (11.75 x 9”)
One signed and dated (19)’47; the other signed with initials and dated (19)’47
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 11th October 1994, Catalogue No. 23, where purchased by current owner
Literature: “Louis le Brocquy”, by Dorothy Walker, 1981, illustration plate 41, p.76
“Louis le Brocquy - Allegory & Legend”, illustrated p. 56 and 57
The tinkers that le Brocquy first encountered in 1945 near Tullamore became the artistic embodiment of
this nascent artistic philosophy. Their independence, adaptability and strong sense of community drew
him into their orbit. His many studies of their daily lives and environment became his commentary on
the lives of so many others dispossessed by the war who would remain at the margins of life in Europe for
the decades to come.
€20000 - 30000
115
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116
79
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Cherub (1951)
Tapestry 49 x 61.5cm (19.25 x 24.25”)
Contained in a burr walnut firescreen frame
Provenance: Mrs. S.H. Stead-Ellis; later sold by Taylor de Veres, 30th September 1996, Catalogue No. 113, where purchased by current
owner
In 1951, the late Mrs S.H. Stead-Ellis commissioned Louis le Brocquy to design three related tapestry panels on the theme of Adam and Eve in the
Garden: one for a 4-fold screen, one for an antique walnut firescreen and one for a wall-hanging. The present unique lot was woven at Edinburgh
Weavers, founded by Lord Bute.
The design recalls the artists’ ‘apocalyptic’ paintings of 1948-9. On the other hand, the revelation of the heart within the figure may be said to anticipate that anatomical insight of his later paintings which J.P. Wilhelm has called ‘une intuition ultralucide du corps humain’. This small work completes
the Eden series.
€10000 - 15000
117
80
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Eden (1951)
Aubusson tapestry, 113 x 182cm (44.5 x 71.5)
Atelier Tabard Frères & Soeurs
Provenance: Mrs. S.H. Stead-Ellis; later sold by Taylor deVeres 30th September 1996, Catalogue No. 114, where
purchased by current owner
The theme, with it’s archtypal imagery is treated in a classic, even traditional, manner. It is dominated by the serpent which appears and reappears in a pattern of leaves, segmented apples and tears. The heel of the woman is asserted in its instep standing on the serpent.
A subsequent single wall-hanging was woven to the same scale, but a later edition of all three tapestries was woven to a large scale, with different colourways.
€20000 - 30000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
118
81
David Clarke (1920-2005)
Kite Series 2
Oil on canvas, 106.5 x 117 cm (42 x 46”)
Signed and dated 1985
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin where purchased by current owner
€2000 - 3000
119
82
Anne Madden (b.1932)
Antigone & Polynices
Oil and graphite on paper mounted on canvas, 220 x
150cm (86.25 x 58.75”)
Exhibited: “Anne Madden - Recent Works” Exhibition,
July 1987, Catalogue No. 4 where purchased by current
owner.
In the introduction in the catalogue, Madden talks of
her inspiration for the current work:
“A fusion of inner and outer worlds, the figure of Antigone burying Polynices appears in my latest paintings
(inspired by a 5th century B.C. Greek pietà). Perhaps
she is a metaphor of the creative process. She gathers
the fragmented body to make it whole, to bury and thus
ensure its rebirth. As Nietzsche said, “There is no burial
without resurrection”. In the back of my mind there is
her relationship with Power and Death. Totalitarian
power claims rights over the body, alive or dead. Antigone stood against the repressive edicts of Creon and
the City, against old men who send youth to be slaughtered. She stands as a figure of human justice outside
the law. There are many Antigones in our world. For
me she is essentially a means to bring about a painting,
which in turn is the only way I can ask myself the question ‘What is painting’?”
€3000 - 5000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
120
83
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
Composition (c.1922)
Oil on canvas, 64.5 x 49.5cm x (25 x 19.5”)
Signed
Provenance: From the private collection of gallery owner John Taylor and his sale Taylor deVeres 21st November 1995, Catalogue No 57, where purchased by current owner
Exhibited: “Mainie Jellett Retrospective Exhibition”, Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin, July - October 1962, Catalogue No. 21 where lent by Miss
Bay Jellett, the artist’s sister
This pure abstract work dates to the early 1920s when Mainie Jellett was completing her period as an assistant to the French cubist painter
Albert Gleizes (1881-1953) in Paris. Central to cubism was the rejection of three-dimensional space and a refusal to replicate reality in the
artwork. Jellett, along with Evie Hone and other artists, helped Gleizes in the development of a new aesthetic - Translation-Rotation. This
involved the selection of colours and shapes which echoed those of the canvas - the static Translation element. Next the artist rotated these
basic forms to create a dynamic composition which introduced time and movement into the painting. This latter part of the process comes
directly out of cubism.
The application of Translation-Rotation can be seen in Abstract Composition. Its interlocking forms of opaque colour are not purely
geometric but are part curved and part angular and they are placed on top of each other to create a series of flat planes which reiterate the
shape of the canvas. Their gradually diminishing size, revolving forms and differentiation in colour creates a subtle sense of movement in the
composition. The paint is thinly applied with brushstrokes barely visible except in one or two places where the planes overlap.
Jellett’s uncompromising use of abstract form was extremely rare amongst Irish and British artists of this period. Created before Ben Nicholson began his experiments in non-representational painting this work is arguably one of the earliest examples of non-objective art by
a British or Irish artist. In terms of Jellett’s work it is a rare example of her early use of Translation-Rotation in oil rather than gouache.
The work is in some ways more extreme in its austere use of form than her painting Decoration, (1923, National Gallery of Ireland) which
shocked critics when exhibited at the Dublin Painters Gallery in 1923.
Dr. Róisín Kennedy, April 2012
€15000 - 25000
121
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122
84
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
Achill Horses
Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 66cm (36 x 26”)
Signed and dated 1938
Provenance: From the collection of the late Dr. Eileen McCarvill, her sale, James Adam & Sons, 10th July 1986, Catalogue No. 80;
Taylor deVeres 11th June 1996, Catalogue No. 16, where purchased by current owner
Achill Horses is part of a series of paintings made in the late 1930s when Jellett began to produce more representational subjects than her previous austere compositions. Her visit to the major exhibition of Chinese art in London in 1935 had a profound effect on her ideas about art. She
saw close connections between the unity of image and pattern found in 10th and 11th century Chinese painting and that seen in early Celtic
Irish art such as the Book of Kells. Landscape was an important theme in Chinese art and upon returning to Ireland after visiting the exhibition
Jellett immediately went to stay in Achill. The resulting works apply the lessons of Chinese art along with her knowledge of cubist form to the
West of Ireland landscape. A recurring subject is that of horses roaming freely in the Achill countryside.
Jellett’s use of a modern abstract style to depict the West was in marked contrast to the dominant realist mode of presenting the region as found
in the work of her contemporaries Paul Henry and Charles Lamb. Her success in creating a new visual language for rural Ireland was confirmed
by the fact Jellett was chosen to create murals representing the life and people of Ireland for the Free State’s pavilion at the Glasgow Empire
Exhibition in 1938. One of the ten scenes depicted was horses grazing in the West of Ireland. This commission was, along with Chinese art, a
catalyst for the development of the Achill Horses series. Another version of the subject, Achill Horses II, (1938, National Gallery of Ireland) was
shown at the Glasgow exhibition and was also included in the Irish pavilion at the New York World Fair the following year.
Using a broad range of colours from earthy browns and reds to olive greens and pale pink Jellett creates a dynamic composition based on three
horses. Two are standing on elevated ground silhouetted against a sky filled with spiralling forms suggestive of light and movement. They are
balanced by the figure of the horse on the lower register whose darker colours anchor the structure of the painting. The animals’ bodies form the
fulcrums of the composition with circular and linear forms emanating from them. Like her earlier more severe abstract paintings Achill Horses
has an inner rhythm and movement. The relationships of colours and forms have been carefully orchestrated to maintain an overall sense of
unity and balance. This is extended even to the framing line of harmonising colours which surrounds the edge of the composition. The painting differs from Achill Horses II in its more angular forms and darker colours. Its opaque grainy surface gives the painting a mural-like quality
which reflects Jellett’s interest in enduring traditions of art-making and her uniting of a modern cubist style to older pre Renaissance practices.
Dr. Róisín Kennedy, April 2012
€30000 - 50000
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124
85
Cecil French Salkeld ARHA (1904-1969)
Figures in a Street
Oil on canvas, 61 x 51cm (24 x 20”)
Signed
Born in India, Salkeld entered the Metropolitan
School of Art at the age of fifteen. In 1921 he went
to Kassel, Germany and studied art under Ewald
Dulberg. In 1924 he returned to Dublin and held
his first solo show at the Dublin Painters’ Gallery.
He also exhibited in the New Irish Salon Exhibition in Mill’s Hall, Dublin.
After a lapse of ten years, he returned in 1939 to
the RHA and from then unitl 1968 showed fiftysix works. The 1930s also saw his Gayfield Press in
action. As owner and often operator of the hand
press, he was responsible for all types of commercial
art and publicity. In 1941 he painted wall panels in
Davy Byrne’s pub. Ballet scenes often formed the
subject matter of his paintings in the 1940s.
€2000 - 4000
125
86
Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978)
Flower Sellers
Oil on board, 33.5 x 24cm (13.25 x 9.5”)
Signed
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 13th March 1990
Lot 61B where purchased by current owner
€5000 - 7000
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126
87
Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901-1980)
The Nun’s Cove (1944)
Oil on canvas, 63.5 x 76cm (25 x 30”)
Signed
Provenance: Sale in these rooms 29th March 2006, Catalogue No. 68, where purchased by current owner
Exhibited: Irish Exhibition of Living Art 1951, Cat. No. 60 costing 50.0.0;
“Norah McGuinness Exhibition of Paintings in Oil and Gouache 1935-61” Exhibition March-April 1979,
The Taylor Gallery Dublin Cat. No. 3. Original Exhibition label verso
Painted in 1944, the year Norah was elected president of The Irish Exhibition of Living Art, The Nuns’ Cove was exhibited
there in 1951. Confidence and fun burst from the canvas. As the Dublin Magazine critic said of her work in 1949, ‘At its best
the work of Norah McGuinness is forthright, spontaneous and dramatic.’ Two years earlier, on the occasion of her first solo
exhibition at the Leicester Galleries, The Studio speaks of ‘courage, coupled with hidden knowledge, a looseness of technique
completely free of sloppiness and a richness of colour unusual in its mature balance’. A woman of the world, well-travelled and
an habitué of bohemian London during the 1920s and 30s, Norah was no mealy-mouthed Sunday painter. Just as Nano Reid
in depicting Mellifont Abbey would show her disapproval by artfully inscribing her signature along a serpent, maybe Norah is
here playfully juxtaposing the absurdity of the enclosure of young women behind convent walls and their obvious enjoyment
of the wonders of nature. There may be an element of punning here also. Regarded as something of a ‘scarlet woman’ after her
divorce from the poet Geoffrey Phibbs, Norah, at the insistence of the Lord Mayor’s wife, was refused an invitation to view
her own exhibition at Londonderry City Hall. It is said that she never set foot in her native city thereafter. To be close to her
roots she bought a cottage in Donegal and regarded that county as her own. There is a Nun’s Cove in Donegal Bay, which may
well be the inspiration for this painting. The painting is composed rather like a mediaeval painting, a Book of Hours; the nuns
are almost synchronic figures, similar but separate. The sense of movement, both of the wild elemental forces and the nuns
coming to witness said forces, is striking. Norah’s signature colours, her blues and oranges are here but it is her use of white
which dominates the piece pulling together all the elements. One is reminded of George Campbell’s advice for watercolourists, that the secret is to know when to leave the paper white. All the drama, all the life in this painting is highlighted in white.
A designer of stage-sets from the early 1920s, Norah is here setting a stage for both nuns and nature.
Síle Connaughton-Deeny
€20000 - 30000
127
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128
88
Colin Middleton RHA RUA MBE (1910-1983)
Seaman’s Wife (1952)
Oil on canvas, 75 x 59.5cm (29.5 x 23.4”)
Signed; signed again with title and dated 1952
Artists Ref. 150
Provenance: From the McClelland Collection and on loan from them to IMMA 1999-2004;
Sale in these rooms 25th May 2005, Lot 97 where purchased by current owner
Exhibited: ‘Colin Middleton Exhibition’, Irish Museum of Modern Art, January - June 2001
Literature: ‘Colin Middleton: A Study’ by Dickon Hall 2001, Illustrated page 34
Colin Middleton moved to Ardglass, a small fishing village near Strangford, in late 1948 or early 1949. He had just begun his
association with Victor Waddington, which was to establish him as one of the leading painters in Ireland, and Ardglass became
the first home in which Middleton seems to have felt settled with his second wife and young family. This was also the period
during which Middleton produced his most consistent and arguably his greatest work.
He became absorbed by the people and the local way of life, particularly the mythology surrounding the sea and the fishing
community. ‘Seaman’s Wife’ is one of a series of paintings of single female figures removed from their environment, which are
often de-individualised and become almost totemistic. This particular painting is slightly different; there is a great sense of
pathos and of the life of this woman. She appears to be pregnant and with her hands protecting her stomach, a reminder of
her absent husband and of the constant shadow of loss that hangs over the fishing village. The work of this time is particularly
moving in its expression of the artists compassion with the suffering of others, and his sense of a common humanity inspired
by the unimaginable horror and tragedy of the war in Europe.
Dickon Hall
€40000 - 60000
129
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
130
89
Colin Middleton RHA RUA MBE (1910-1983)
Two Heads (one)
Oil on board, 61 x 61cm (24 x 24”)
Signed, inscribed with title and dated ‘67 verso
Provenance: Colin Middleton Studio Sale, Christies, London, 4th October 1985, Catalogue No. 183 (studio stamp verso);
Taylor deVeres 13th March 1988, Lot No. 66, where purchased by current owner
From the early 1960s Colin Middleton held regular solo exhibitions in Ireland’s leading galleries and it was only at the
studio sale held by Christie’s in 1985 that many of his most experimental works from these years were first seen. While
paintings such as the present work relate in various ways to the very coherent bodies of work that are better known from
these exhibitions, they demonstrate a mature and still inventive artist exploring new ideas with spontaneity and visual
richness.
The most striking influence revealed here is that of Paul Klee, with the formal construction of the image through a simple
notation of repeated shapes creating at the same time a mischievous suggestion of biomorphic forms and, through them,
a mysterious implied narrative. The coloured triangles recur throughout Middleton’s paintings of the 1960s, while the
weathered or marbled effect achieved across the surface of the board looks forward to the Wilderness Series of the early
1970s; here it provides a dense fog from which pairs of eyes peer at us and also at the two more defined heads.
Dickon Hall, May 2012
€6000 - 10000
131
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132
90
Patrick Scott HRHA (b.1921)
Original Design for a Tapestry
Mixed Media, 52 x 45cm (20.5 x 17.75”)
Signed
Provenance: The Dawson Gallery, label verso
€1500 - 2500
133
91
Patrick Scott HRHA (b.1921)
Gold Painting 12
Gold leaf and tempera on canvas, 117 x 127cm (46 x 50”)
Signed and inscribed verso
Provenance: The Arts Council of Ireland. Loaned to An Foras Forbartha; Carlow County Council
Exhibited: ‘Contemporary Irish Painting’, Wexford Festival, 1969
€3000 - 5000
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134
92
William Crozier HRHA (1930-2011)
Midnight in Summer
Oil on canvas, 106.5 x 114.5cm (42 x 45”)
Signed, also signed, titled, and dated 1989 verso
Label for West Cork Arts Centre
Provenance: Acquired by current owner 17th January 1990
‘Midnight in Summer’ is one of a group of strong paintings that includes ‘The Ripe Field’ in the Crawford Art Gallery permanent
collection, which were executed by the artist in 1989. These landscapes are notable for the use of searing yellows, which glow against
the cold blues of a summer’s night. The subject of Midnight in Summer was inspired by the artist’s intense experience of a specific
location, but its taut composition, heightened colour and carefully judged abstraction lift the landscape subject from the local to the
universal.
William Crozier began painting the landscape of West Cork in 1984. In 1987, two years before ‘Midnight in Summer’ was painted,
Crozier gave up his teaching responsibilities as Professor Emeritus at Winchester School of Art to devote himself to his painting.
By 1989 his work had gained a new freedom and sense of exhilaration, which resulted in a more daring use of chromatic contrast,
further removed from a naturalistic rendering but more emotionally true to the landscape subject. As the artist wrote of his work at
this time ‘The thing seen must be the detonator which explodes the imagination and creates the energy to sustain a singular passion.’
(Stet.No.8 Winter 1991)
We are grateful for the assistance of Professor Katharine Crouan in cataloguing this work.
€20000 - 30000
135
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136
93
Gerad Dillon RHA RUA (1916-1971)
Clown with Red Canvas
Oil on Board, 74.5 x 64.5cm (29.25 x 25.5”)
Signed, inscribed with title verso
Fig 1. Clown with Acrobats
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 12th December 1995, Catalogue No. 34, where purchased by current owner
Exhibited: “Canvases and Clowns”, The Dawson Gallery 1965, Catalogue No. 11
By the mid-1960s Dillon had exhibited in London, Paris, Boston, New York and Rome. At home, he held regular exhibitions in the Dawson Gallery,
and exhibited work as a committee member at the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art.
In the early 1960s the artist’s two brothers died which led to the appearance of a clown in oils and works on paper. The artist’s show in April 1965 at
the Dawson Gallery was a further development of the subject. The exhibition, “Clown with Canvases” had an acrobatic theme with clowns standing
by canvases. Several were given fanciful titles with an addition of a colour; “Blue Clown and Dove” or “Clown and Whirligig”, or in this case “Clown
with Red Canvas”. At the time art critics commented; “These canvases are not easy to describe in words…” (Irish Times 2/4/65); and others one year
later drew their own conclusion “Mr Dillon has never taken life seriously, and the clown is a natural symbol, with whom he can ally his thoughts and
emotions.”(Irish Times, 19/8/66)
Referring to Gerard Dillon’s work, George Campbell suggested the “second and third layers of meaning are much nearer to the basic Dillon than
he wished to display in that first look.” (Portrait of an artist; Irish Times 14/11/72). Interestingly both artists exhibited “Acrobats” and “Tumbling
Clowns” in a group exhibition for Ulster Artists as early as 1944-5 with the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA). This
image however, relates to the artist’s interest in Carl Jung, and in particular the power of a third eye, and its ability to read other people’s thoughts.
Similar to another work “Clown with Acrobats” (Fig 1.), the comic performance reveals the ‘second and third layer’ with the appearance of three eyes
on one of the acrobats. According to Jung, the persona is an archetype that defines the social mask used by humans in social meetings. The third eye
helps to see behind the social mask of an individual, but this can only be achieved by learning “the dream” language. The solemn expression on the
clown may be linked to the artist’s unhappiness at having being forced to move to a new home with unfriendly neighbours in London.
In an interview in 1964, the artist referred to people’s questions on his subjects “what does it mean’? or what’s behind it?” The artist explained “It
must mean nothing to the person who asks such a question. For, as I’ve said. It talks to you through your senses and it will ‘talk’ differently to each
person as music does, through the eyes as music ‘talks’ to your senses through the ears.” (The artist talks to Marian Fitzgerald; Irish Times 23/9/64)
Karen Reihill, who is currently researching the life and work of Gerard Dillon.
€15000 - 25000
137
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
138
94
Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
Homage to John McCormack (1984)
Oil on board, 122 x 46cm (48 x 18”)
Signed with initials and dated 6/84; signed again, inscribed with the title
and dated June 1984 verso
Artists Ref 728
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 11th October 1994, Catalogue No. 25, where
purchased by current owner.
€10000 - 15000
95
Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
Island of the Arawaks, Bahamas (1982)
Oil on board, 112 x 61.5cm (48 x 36”)
Signed with initials, also signed and inscribed with the title and dated November
1982 verso
Artist’s Ref. 521
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 11th June 1996, Catalogue No. 119, where purchased by
the current owner
€15000 - 20000
139
Lot 95
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
140
96
Basil Blackshaw ARHA RUA (b.1932)
Nude Figure
Oil on canvas, 152 x 132cm (60 x 52”)
Dated June ‘89/’90, signed and inscribed with title verso
Provenance: Acquired Kerlin Gallery 26th November 1990 by the current owner
Exhibited: 1995 Basil Blackshaw Retrospective, organized by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland;
1997 Basil Blackshaw Retrospective, RHA Gallery Dublin
Painted at the end of a turbulent but highly important decade for Blackshaw, this nude figure denoted a progression both in style and
subject for an artist already renowned and celebrated for his remarkable animal studies and landscapes.
A devastating studio fire in 1983 coincided with a period of re-assessment by the artist - “About 81 or 82 I looked at the work and thought
if that’s what’s going to go on, then I’m going to pack up painting because there’s no point. I know what I’m going to paint, I know how
to paint it and I know what it’s going to look like when it’s done. There’s no exploration, no chance taken” (conversation with the artist Feb
2007). The fire destroyed the beginnings of a new body of work but it also liberated him from the constraints of his artistic training and
unleashed a newly exuberant, risk taking but confident, spirit.
This nude is a powerful example of his fresh treatment of a traditional subject. Meeting his model Jude Stephens in the year after the fire
inspired a significant series of nudes informed by hours of life study, works which Blackshaw often destroyed in order to build back up
again, in his spirit of retaining the painting as a purely visual experience, removed from association with the subject.
This painting demonstrates the playful mood of an artist fascinated by his subject, knowing it so well that he is able to flout conventions to
produce an abstracted vision of the female form. Strong colours and thick impasto give depth and grounding to the subject.The traditional
three quarter length portrait style is subverted, as the faceless figure quivering with energy appears ready to burst through the confines of
the picture, the large scale and unusual cut off points challenging traditional perspective and experimenting with distance and proportion.
Claire Dalton, May 2012
€30000 - 50000
141
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142
97
John Behan RHA (b.1938)
Flight of Birds
Bronze on granite base, 46cm high overall (18”)
Unique
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 9th December 1996, Catalogue
No. 183, where purchased by current owner
€2000 - 3000
143
98
John Behan RHA (b.1938)
Warrior Group
Bronze, 63cm high (24.75”)
Provenance: Sold in these rooms 25th May 2005, Lot 111, where purchased by current owner
€4000 - 6000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
144
99
John Behan RHA (b.1938)
Bird (1985)
Bronze, 48cm high overal (19”)
Unique
Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist in 1985 and sold
in these rooms 25th November 2003, lot 114 where purchased by
current owner
€2000 - 4000
145
100
Rowan Gillespie (b.1953)
Reclining Bodyscape (1994)
Bronze (232 x 46cm high) on a granite plinth
From an edition of nine
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist 9th July 1997 by the current owner
Literature: “Rowan Gillespie - Looking for Orion”, by Roger Kohn, 2007, this piece illustrated page 76
€15000 - 20000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
146
101
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
The Lake Shore at Dusk
Oil on board, 29.5 x 39.5cm (11.75 x 15.5”)
Signed
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 9th June 1989, Catalogue No. 40, where purchased by current owner
€2000 - 3000
147
102
William John Leech RHA ROI (1881-1968)
The Apple Orchard
Oil on canvas, 52 x 63.5cm (20.5 x 25”)
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 26th May 1992, Catalogue No. 55, where purchased by current owner.
W.J. Leech paints the apple orchard, bathed in the warm summer’s sun. The nearest row of trees forms a diagonal which sweeps down
to the red brick apple shed at the bottom of the orchard. Leech used the top floor of this barn as his studio, which afforded views of the
Devon countryside. He had come to stay with his brother Cecil and family in Devon, after the blitz had severely damaged his studio
in London in 1941, which also prevented him from sending any work to the R.H.A. that year or for the next two years.
Dr Denise Ferran
€15000 - 20000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
148
103
Stella Steyn (1907-1987)
Still Life with Flowers
Oil on canvas, 89.5 x 80cm (27.25 x 31.5”)
Signed, dated (19)’53 verso
€2000 - 4000
149
104
Neil Shawcross RHA RUA (b.1940)
Basket of Apples
Oil on paper, 59 x 74cm (23 x 29”)
Signed and dated 1999
Provenance: Sold in these rooms 25th November 2003, Lot 42, where purchased by current owner
€2000 - 4000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
150
105
Seán Keating PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977)
Launching a Curragh
Charcoal 36.5 x 72.5cm (14.5 x 28.75”)
Signed
Provenance: Sale in these rooms 5th October 1994, Lot 117, where purchased by current owner
€2000 - 3000
151
106
William Conor RHA RUA ROI OBE (1881-1968)
Lambeg Drums
Crayon, 21 x 26cm (8.25 x 10.5”)
Signed and dated 1914
Provenance: The McClelland Collection and on loan from them to the IMMA 1999-2004
Sale in these rooms 7th December 2005, Catalogue No. 180 where purchased by current owner
€3000 - 5000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
152
107
James le Jeune RHA (1910-1983)
Sunlit Glade
Oil on Canvas, 50.5 x 61cm (20 x 24”)
Signed, also signed and inscribed with title verso
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 28th May 1991, Catalogue No. 42, where purchased by current owner
Exhibited: Victoria Embankment Exhibition, 1949
€5000 - 7000
153
108
Patrick Collins HRHA (1911-1994)
The Flight into Egypt
Oil on board, 36 x 42cm (14.5 x 16.5”)
Signed
Provenance: Taylor deVeres 13th March 1990, Lot 41, where purchased by current owner
€5000 - 8000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
154
109
Charles Harper RHA (b.1943)
Four Female Studies
Mixed media, 61 x 56cm (24 x 22.4”)
Signed and dated
€1000 - 1500
155
110
Charles Harper RHA (b.1943)
Tight Finish (1998)
Oil on Canvas, 107 x 116.5cm (42 x 46”)
Signed, inscribed with title and dated 1998 verso
€1500 - 2500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
156
111
Nicholas Hely Hutchinson (b.1955)
Moroccan Window
Watercolour and gouache, 74.5 x 54.5cm (29.25 x 21.5”)
Signed with monogram
Provenance: The Solomon Gallery April 1989 where purchased by
current owner
€800 - 1200
112
Nicholas Hely Hutchinson (b.1955)
View from the Orangerie
Watercolour and gouache, 52.5 x 66.5cm (20.6 x 26.2”)
Signed with initials
€700 - 1000
157
113
Nicholas Hely Hutchinson (b.1955)
Cottage Interior near Mulranny
Oil on canvas, 89.5 x 120cm (35.25 x 47.25”)
Signed with initials
€2500 - 3500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
158
114
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Six Masks for The Playboy of the Western World:
Christy Mahon; Michael James; Pegeen Mike; Widow Quinn; Shawn Keogh; Old Mahon
Aquatint on Japanese rice paper laid on handmade paper, 154.5 x 27.5cm (60.75 x 10.75”)
Signed, dated 1971 and numbered 17/75. Extensively Inscribed gallery label verso
This piece was etched and printed at the Atelier Maeght, Paris
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin (label verso)
Exhibited: Taylor Galleries, Dublin, 1971
€1500 - 2500
115
Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Study 13 - Image of W.B. Yeats (C146)
Charcoal, 23 x 18cm (9 x 7”)
Signed with initials and dated (19)’75
Provenance: The Dawson Gallery, Dublin, Louis le Brocquy Exhibition, November December 1975, Cat. No. 13, where purchased by the current owner.
Exhibited: “Studies Towards an Image of W.B. Yeats”, le Brocquy touring exhibition, The Dawson Gallery November - December 1975
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, January - February 1976
Crawford Gallery, Cork, February 1976
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Louis le Brocquy - A la Recherché de Yeats, Oct/Nov 1976;
Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh, Festival N° 77 Exhibition
le Brocquy said “In these studies I have tried, as uncritically as I could, to allow different
aspects of Yeats’ appearance to emerge.”
€2000 - 3000
159
Lot 115
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
160
116
Felim Egan (b.1952)
Woodnote 2’K’ (2002)
Acrylic and mixed media on wood, 48 x 48cm (18.8 x 18.8”)
Signed and dated ‘02 verso
Exhibited: Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, May/June 2002
€1500 - 2500
117
Felim Egan (b.1952)
Sounding 2c
Acrylic and mixed media on wood, 24 x 24cm (9.5 x 9.5”)
Signed and dated ‘02 verso
Exhibited: Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, May/June 2002
€800 - 1200
161
118
John Shinnors (b.1950)
White Field Forms
Oil on canvas, 33.5 x 43.5cm (13.25 x 17.2”)
Signed
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist
€4000 - 6000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
162
119
John Doherty (b.1949)
Red Barn, Ardfert, Co. Kerry
Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 33cm (10 x 13”)
Signed, inscribed with title and dated ‘95/’6/’7 verso. Inscribed by the artist ‘For Robert’s Collection’
Provenance: From the collection of Robert Cahill, General Manager of Ernie’s Restaurant, Donnybrook - a gift from the artist
Robert Cahill was general manager of Ernie’s Restaurant in Donnybrook, having previously served his time at The Royal Hibernian Hotel before moving to
The Shelbourne Hotel on Dublin’s Stephen’s Green. There he was head waiter in the Saddle Room restaurant; where he met and later became great friends
with many international personalities including the esteemed actor Peter O’Toole; director John Huston and the writer Leon Uris to name but a few. When
well known hotelier Ernie Evans decided to open a restaurant at Mulberry Gardens in Donnybrook in 1984, Robert Cahill was the obvious first choice as
front of house for the venue.
Ernie had taken a lot of his own collection with him when he left the Towers Hotel, Glenbeigh, Co. Kerry; this included many traditional paintings. To
mark the new opening in Donnybrook they decided to acquire some new contemporary work. Ernie and Robert visited The Taylor Galleries in Dublin
where they first became familiar with the work the well known Irish photo-realist artist, John Doherty. Their first purchase was a large scale piece entitled
Old Dockyard Building, Castletownbere, which greatly reminded Robert of the work of the American realist painter Edward Hopper. Robert never tired of
this piece and continued to get great joy from it for many years. Over the years Ernie continued to purchase many more works by Doherty for the restaurant.
This piece entitled Red Barn, Ardfert was a gift from Doherty to Robert Cahill.
€4000 - 6000
163
120
Charles Brady HRHA (1926-1997)
Paper by the Sea
Oil on canvas, 53 x 59cm
Signed
Exhibited: The Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast, cat. no. 18 (label verso)
€5000 - 8000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
164
121
Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
September Painting - Saint Martin’s
Mixed media on paper, 28.5 x 39.5cm (11.25 x 15.5”)
Signed. Inscribed with title, dated 1976 and no. 8911
verso (not in the artist’s hand)
€1000 - 1500
122
Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
October Painting - Saint Martin’s
Mixed media on paper, 23.5 x 39.5cm (9.25 x 15.5”)
Signed. Inscribed with title, dated 1976 and no. 8910
verso (not in the artist’s hand)
€1000 - 1500
165
123
Neil Shawcross RHA RUA (b.1940)
Still Life (Cup & Saucer)
Oil on canvas board, 19 x 24cm (7.5 x 9.5”)
Signed and dated 2002
Provenance: Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin, where
purchased by the current owner (label verso)
€1200 - 1600
123A
Ciarán Lennon (b.1947)
For E O R
Acrylic paint on copper plate on paper, 57 x 75cm
(22.5 x 29.5”)
Signed, inscribed with title, medium and dated
2006
€800 - 1200
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
166
124
Oisín Kelly RHA (1915-1981)
Horse and Jockey
Carved elm sculpture, 49cm high (19.25”)
Signed
€1500 - 2000
167
125
Sophia Rosamund Praeger (1867-1954)
The Philosopher
Bronze on a wooden plinth, 28cm high (excluding plinth), (11”)
Signed and inscribed with title
€2000 - 3000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
168
126
John Coll
Bird Bush (1987)
Welded brass with patination. 19cm high on a marble base
€400 - 600
127
Vivienne Roche (b.1953)
Maquette for the Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (1911-1978)
Memorial, Sneem, Co. Kerry
Steel, 33cm high x 60cm x 53cm (13 x 23.6 x 20.75”)
From an edition of six done in 1983
€1200 - 1600
169
128
Krystyna Pomerory (20th/21st Century)
Brown Hare
Bronze, 52cm high (20.75”)
Signed with initial ‘K’ and numbered 3/9
€1400 - 1800
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
170
129
Ana Duncan (20th/21st Century)
Superior in Weight
Bronze, 14cm high (5.5”)
Signed and numbered 2/9
Provenance: Solomon Gallery, Dublin, 2002
€1000 - 2000
130
Mark Rode (20th/21st Century)
Jacinta Seated
Bronze, 29cm high (11.5”)
Signed and numbered 1/12
Provenance: Solomon Gallery, Dublin, 2002
€800 - 1200
171
131
Robin Buick RHA (b.1940)
Contemporary Man in the Environment
Bronze, 30cm high (12”)
Signed and numbered 3/9
Provenance: Purchased at the 2004 Annual RHA
exhibition
€1500 - 2500
131A
Ian Pollock (b.1975)
Stacked Books - A Maquette
Bronze, 29.6cm high (11.5”)
Signed and dated 2004
€1000 - 1500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
172
132
Seán O’Sullivan RHA (1906-1964)
Paris, 1939
Gouache, 37 x 52cm (14.5 x 20.5”)
Signed and dated 1939
€300 - 500
133
Pauline Bewick RHA (b.1935)
Cat & Kittens
Linocut, 46 x 68cm (18 x 26.75”)
Signed, inscribed with title and numbered 9/50
€600 - 800
173
134
Father Jack P. Hanlon (1913-1968)
Figures at a Stall
Oil on canvas, 40.5 x 51cm (15.9 x 20.1”)
Signed
Provenance: Given by the artist to a friend and thence by descent, label verso.
Born in Dublin, Hanlon was Educated at Belvedere College, U.C.D. and Maynooth. At Maynooth Hanlon was ordained as a curate in the
Dublin diocese.Thereafter he won a Taylor Scholarship to study in Belgium and Spain before going to Paris to join Andre Lhote’s teaching
atelier. He showed at the RHA in 1935 and at the New York World Fair in 1939. He had four solo exhibitions at the Waddington Galleries,
the first of which was staged in 1941. He also held shows in Paris and Brussels and his work was regularly shown in the group exhibitions of
Irish art. In the 1940s Hanlon was a regular contributor to the Dublin Painters and became a founder member of the Irish Exhibition of Living
Art in 1943. Hanlon also continued to produce religious works and commissions were executed for a number of Irish churches.
€1500 - 2500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
174
135
Father Jack P. Hanlon (1913-1968)
Orange Branches
Watercolour, 37 x 54cm (14.5 x 21.75”)
Provenance: A gift from Father Jack Hanlon
to his close friend and fellow artist Angela
Devereux and thence by descent to current
owners
€800 - 1200
136
Father Jack P. Hanlon (1913-1968)
Still Life with Vase of Flowers
Watercolour, 50 x 33cm (19.75 x 13”)
Provenance: A gift from Father Jack Hanlon
to his close friend and fellow artist Angela
Devereux and thence by descent to current
owners
€1000 - 2000
175
137
Father Jack P. Hanlon (1913-1968)
The Vineyard
Oil on canvas, 46 x 55cm (18 x 21.75”)
Signed. Inscribed with title verso
Provenance: A gift from Father Jack Hanlon to his
close friend and fellow artist Angela Devereux and
thence by descent to current owners
€2000 - 4000
138
Father Jack P. Hanlon (1913-1968)
Continental Landscape with Cypress Trees
Oil on canvas, 32 x 40cm (12.75 x 15.75”)
Signed and dated 1940
Provenance: A gift from Father Jack Hanlon to his
close friend and fellow artist Angela Devereux and
thence by descent to current owners
€1000 - 2000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
176
139
Diarmuid O’Ceallachain (1915-1994)
Caladh Port, Connemara
Oil on board, 26 x 32.5cm (10.25 x 12.8”)
Provenance: Jorgensen Fine Art where purchased
O’Ceallachåin was born in Cork and studied at
the Crawford School of Art and the Metropolitan
School of Art under Keating and MacGonigal. He
was one of Charles Lamb’s first students and this
work is thought to have been painted during a visit
to Lamb in Carraroe, Co. Galway.
€1500 - 2500
140
Edward Molyneux
Irish Barge on the Seine
Oil on canvas, 26 x 35cm (10.25 x 13.75”)
Signed
E. Molyneaux was the leading Anglo-Irish Parisian
based fashion designer of the 1930’s
€400 - 600
177
141
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
Pastoral Landscape with a Shepherd and Flock
Oil on panel, 13.4 x 18.3cm (5.5 x 7.5”)
Signed
€1500 - 2500
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
178
142
Markey Robinson (1918-1999)
Autumnal Landscape with Figures
Oil on board, 60 x 120cm (23.5 x 47.25”)
Signed
€4000 - 6000
179
143
Markey Robinson (1918-1999)
Still Life with Guitar & Lemon
Oil on board, 44 x 61.5cm (17.3 x 24.25”)
Signed
Provenance: Tom Caldwell Memorial Exhibition, Belfast, Sept. 2008, Cat. No 77 (label verso)
Literature: Dr Michael Mulreany, Markey Robinson: Maverick Spirit, Belfast 2003, illustrated page 174
€6000 - 8000
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
180
144
Fergus O’Ryan RHA
Ennistymon, Co. Clare and St. Finbar’s
Cathedral, Cork
A pair, hand coloured woodblock prints, 19 x 22cm
(7.5 x 8.5”)
Signed and inscribed
€400 - 600
145
Jack Cudworth (b.1930)
Yellow Roses
Oil on board, 28 x 19cm (11 x 7.5”)
Signed
€400 - 600
181
146
Nano Reid RHA (1900-1981)
Bird in Abstract
Watercolour, 33.5 x 23cm (13.25 x 9”)
Signed
Provenance: From the collection of the late William
O’Sullivan, former Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College, Dublin; and his sale in these rooms September 2001,
cat. no. 74 where purchased by the current owner
Nano Reid and O’Sullivan were friends from the 1940s
onwards and a large number of her works were included
in their collection.
€800 - 1200
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
182
147
Grace Henry HRHA (1868-1953)
The Dancing Haycocks
Oil on board, 27 x 35cm (10.6 x 13.75”)
Signed
€800 - 1200
148
Patsy Dan Rodgers (B.1945)
Tory Island
Oil on canvas, 51 x 61cm (20 x 24”)
Signed
€500 - 700
General Terms and Conditions of Business
The Auctioneer carries on business on the following terms and conditions and on such other terms or conditions as may be expressly agreed with the Auctioneer or set out in any relevant Catalogue. Conditions 12-21 relate mainly to buyers
and conditions 22-32 relate mainly to sellers. Words and phrases with special meanings are defined in condition 1. Buyers and sellers are requested to read carefully the Cataloguing Practice and Catalogue Explanation contained in condition 2.
DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL CONDITIONS
Definitions
1. In these conditions the following words and expressions shall have the following meanings:
‘Auctioneer’ – James Adam & Sons.
‘Auctioneer’s Commission’ – The commission payable to the Auctioneer by the buyer and seller as specified in conditions 13
and 25.
‘Catalogue’ – Any advertisement, brochure, estimate, price list or other publication.
‘Forgery’ – A Lot which was made with the intention of deceiving with regard to authorship, culture, source, origin, date, age
or period and which is not shown to be such in the description therefore in the Catalogue and the market value for which at the
date of the auction was substantially less than it would have been had the Lot been in accordance with the Catalogue description.
‘Hammer Price’ – The price at which a Lot is knocked down by the Auctioneer to the buyer.
‘Attributed to’;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer probably a work of the artist.
‘Studio of/Workshop of ’
In the opinion of the Auctioneer a work executed in the studio of the artist and possibly under his supervision.
‘Circle of ’;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer a work of the period of the artist and showing his influence.
‘Follower of ’;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer a work executed in the artist’s style yet not necessarily by a pupil.
‘Manner of ’;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer a work executed in artist’s style but of a later date.
‘*’;
None of the terms above are appropriate but in the Auctioneer’s opinion the work is a work by the artist named.
‘Lot’ – Any item which is deposited with the Auctioneer with a view to its sale at auction and, in particular, the item or items
described against any Lot number in any Catalogue.
‘Proceeds of Sale’ – The net amount due to the seller being the Hammer Price of the Lot after deducting the Auctioneer’s
Commission thereon under condition 25 the seller’s contribution towards insurance under condition 26, such VAT as is chargeable and any other amounts due by the seller to the Auctioneer in whatever capacity howsoever arising.
‘Registration Form or Register’ – The registration form (or, in the case of persons who have previously attended at auctions
held by the Auctioneer and completed registration forms, the register maintained by the Auctioneer which is compiled from such
registration forms) to be completed and signed by each prospective buyer or, where the Auctioneer has acknowledged pursuant
to condition 12 that a bidder is acting as agent on behalf of a named principal, each such bidder prior to the commencement of
an auction.
‘Sale Order Form’ – The sale order form to be completed and signed by each seller prior to the commencement of an auction.
‘Total Amount Due’ – The Hammer Price of the Lot sold, the Auctioneer’s Commission due thereon under condition 13, such
VAT as is chargeable and any additional interest, expenses or charges due hereunder.
‘V.A.T.’ – Value Added Tax.
Cataloguing Practice and Catalogue Explanations
2. Terms used in Catalogues have the following meanings and the Cataloguing Practice is as follows:
The first name or names and surname of the artist;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer a work by the artist.
The initials of the first name(s) and the surname of the artist;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer a work of the period of the artist and which may be in whole or in part the work of the artist.
The surname only of the artist;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer a work of the school or by one of the followers of the artist or in his style.
The surname of the artist preceded by ‘after’;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer a copy of the work of the artist.
‘Signed’/’Dated’/’lnscribed’;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer the work has been signed/dated/inscribed by the artist.
‘With Signature’/’with date’/’with inscription’;
In the opinion of the Auctioneer the work has been signed/dated/inscribed by a person other than the artist.
GENERAL CONDITIONS
Auctioneer Acting as Agent
3. The Auctioneer is selling as agent for the seller unless it is specifically stated to the contrary. The Auctioneer as agent for the
seller is not responsible for any default by the seller or the buyer.
Auctioneer Bidding on behalf of Buyer
4. It is suggested that the interests of prospective buyers are best protected and served by the buyers attending at an auction.
However, the Auctioneer will, if instructed, execute bids on behalf of a prospective buyer. Neither the Auctioneer nor its
employees, servants or agents shall be responsible for any neglect or default in executing bids or failing to execute bids.
Admission to Auctions
5. The Auctioneer shall have the right exercisable in its absolute discretion to refuse admission to its premises or attendance at its
auctions by any person.
Acceptance of Bids
6. The Auctioneer shall have the right exercisable in its absolute discretion to refuse any bids, advance the bidding in any manner
it may decide, withdraw or divide any Lot, combine any two or more Lots and, in the case of a dispute, to put any Lot up for
auction again.
Indemnities
7. Any indemnity given under these conditions shall extend to all actions, proceedings, claims, demands, costs and expenses
whatever and howsoever incurred or suffered by the person entitled to the benefit of the indemnity and the Auctioneer declares
itself to be a trustee of the benefit of every such indemnity for its employees, servants or agents to the extent that such indemnity
is expressed to be for their benefit.
Representations in Catalogues
8. Representations or statements made by the Auctioneer in any Catalogue as to contribution, authorship, genuineness, source,
origin, date, age, provenance, condition or estimated selling price or value is a statement of opinion only. Neither the Auctioneer
nor its employees, servants or agents shall be responsible for the accuracy of any such opinions. Every person interested in a Lot
must exercise and rely on their own judgment and opinion as to such matters.
9. The headings of the conditions herein contained are inserted for convenience of reference only and are not intended to be part
of, or to effect, the meaning or interpretation thereof.
CONDITIONS WHICH MAINLY CONCERN THE BUYER
The Buyer
12. The buyer shall be the highest bidder acceptable to the Auctioneer who buys at the Hammer Price. Any dispute which may
arise with regard to bidding or the acceptance of bids shall be settled by the Auctioneer. Every bidder shall be deemed to act as
principal unless the Auctioneer has prior to the auction, acknowledged in writing that a bidder is acting as agent on behalf of a
named principal.
Commission
13. The buyer shall pay the Auctioneer a commission at the rate of 20%, exclusive of vat, of the Hammer Price payable in respect
of any Lot.
Payment
14. Unless credit terms have been agreed with the Auctioneer before the auction the buyer of a Lot shall pay to the Auctioneer
within one (1) day from the date of the auction the Total Amount Due. Notwithstanding this, the Auctioneer may, in its sole
discretion, require a buyer to pay a deposit of 25% of the Total Amount Due at the conclusion of the auction.
The Auctioneer may apply any payments received by a buyer towards any sums owing from that buyer to the Auctioneer on any
account whatever regardless of any directions of the buyer or his agent in that regard whether express or implied.
(f ) To retain that Lot or any other Lot purchased by the buyer whether at the same or any other auction and release same
to the buyer only after payment to the Auctioneer of the Total Amount Due.
(g) To apply any sums which the Auctioneer received in respect of Lots being sold by the buyer towards settlement of the
Total Amount Due.
To exercise a lien on any property of the buyer in the possession of the Auctioneer or whatever reason.
(h) Liability of Auctioneer and Seller
19. Prior to auction ample opportunity is given for the inspection of the Lots on sale and each buyer by making a bid acknowledges that he has, by exercising and relying on his own judgment, satisfied himself as to the physical condition, age and Catalogue
description of each Lot (including but not restricted to whether the Lot is damaged or has been repaired or restored). All Lots
are sold with all faults and imperfections and errors of description. None of the seller, the Auctioneer nor any of their employees,
servants or agents shall be responsible for any error of description or for the condition or authenticity of any Lot. No warranty
whatsoever is given by the seller or Auctioneer or by any of their employees, servants or agents in respect of any Lot and any
condition or warranty express or implied by statute or otherwise is hereby specifically excluded.
Forgeries
20. Any amount paid by a buyer in respect of a Lot which, if it is proved within three (3) years of the date of the auction at which
it was purchased, to have been a Forgery shall be refunded to the seller subject to the provisions hereof, provided that:
The Auctioneer shall only accept payment from successful bidders in cash or by the bidder’s own cheque. Cheques drawn by third
parties, whether in the Auctioneer’s favour or requiring endorsement, shall not be accepted.
(a) The Lot has been returned by the buyer to the Auctioneer within three (3) years of the date of the auction in the same
condition in which it was at the time of the auction together with evidence proving that it is a Forgery, the number
of the Lot and the date of the auction at which it was purchased;
Reservation of Title
15. Notwithstanding delivery or passing of risk to the buyer the ownership of a Lot shall not pass to the buyer until he has paid
to the Auctioneer the Total Amount Due.
(b) The Auctioneer is satisfied that the Lot is a Forgery and that the buyer has and is able to transfer good and marketable
title to the Lot free from any third party claims;
Collection of Purchases
16. The buyer shall at his own expense collect the Lot purchased not later than (2) days after the sale etc (2) days after the date
of the auction but (unless credit terms have been agreed with the Auctioneer pursuant to condition 14) not before payment to
the Auctioneer of the Total Amount Due.
The buyer shall be responsible for any removal, storage and insurance charges in respect of any Lot which is not taken away within
seven (2) days after the date of the auction.
The purchased Lot shall be at the buyer’s risk in all respects from the earlier of the time of collection or the expiry of one (1) day
from the date of the auction. Neither the Auctioneer nor its employees, servants or agents shall thereafter be liable for any loss or
damage of any kind howsoever caused while a purchased Lot remains in its custody or control after such time.
Packaging and Handling of Purchased Lots
17. Purchased Lots may be packed and handled by the Auctioneer, its employees, servants or agents. Where this is done it is
undertaken solely as a courtesy to buyers and at the discretion of the Auctioneer. Under no circumstances shall the Auctioneer, its
employees, servants or agents be liable for damage of any kind and howsoever caused to glass or frames nor shall the Auctioneer be
liable for the errors or omissions of, or for any damage caused by, any packers or shippers which the Auctioneer has recommended.
FURTHER PROVIDED THAT the buyer shall have no rights hereunder if:
(i) The description of the Lot in the Catalogue at the time of the auction was in accordance with the then generally
accepted opinion of scholars or experts or fairly indicated that there was a conflict of such opinion;
(ii) The buyer’s sole entitlement under this condition is to a refund of the actual amount paid by him in respect of the Lot. Under no
circumstances shall the Auctioneer be liable for any damage, loss (including consequential, indirect or economic loss) or expense
suffered or incurred by the buyer by reason of the Lot being a Forgery.
The benefit of this condition shall be solely and exclusively for the buyer and shall not be assignable. The buyer shall for the
purpose of this condition be the person to whom the original invoice in respect of the sale of the Lot is made.
Photographs
21. The buyer authorises the Auctioneer at any time to make use of any photographs or illustrations of the Lot purchased by the
buyer for such purposes as the Auctioneer may require.
Non-Payment or Failure to Collect Purchased Lots
18. If a buyer fails to pay for and/or collect any purchased Lot by the dates herein specified for payment and collection the
Auctioneer shall, in its absolute discretion and without prejudice to any other rights or remedies it may have, be entitled to
exercise one or more of the following rights or remedies without further notice to the buyer:
(a) To issue court proceedings for damages for breach of contract;
(b) To rescind the sale of that Lot or any other Lots sold to the buyer whether at that or at any other auction;
(c) To resell the Lot or cause it to be resold whether by public auction or private sale. In the event that there is a
deficiency between the Total Amount Due by the buyer and the amount received by the Auctioneer on such resale
after deduction of any necessary expenses the difference shall be paid to the Auctioneer by the buyer. Any surplus
arising shall belong to the seller.
(d) To store (whether at the Auctioneer’s premises or elsewhere) and insure the
purchased Lot at the expense of the buyer.
(e) To charge interest on the Total Amount Due at the rate of 2% over and above the base rate from time to time of Bank
of Ireland or if there be no such rate, the nearest equivalent thereto as determined by the Auctioneer in its absolute
discretion from the date on which payment is due hereunder to the date of actual payment.
The only method of establishing at the time of the auction in question that the Lot was a Forgery would have been
by means of scientific processes which were not generally accepted for use until after the date of the auction or which
were unreasonably expensive or impractical.
CONDITIONS WHICH MAINLY CONCERN THE SELLER
Auctioneer’s Discretion
22. With regard to the sale of any Lot the Auctioneer shall have the following powers exercisable solely in the discretion of the
Auctioneer:
(i) To decide whether to offer any Lot for sale or not;
(ii) To decide whether a particular Lot is suitable for sale by the Auctioneer and, if so, to determine which auction, the
place and date of sale, the conditions of sale and the manner in which such sale should be conducted;
(iii) To determine the description of any Lot in a Catalogue.
(iv) To decide whether the views of any expert shall be obtained and to submit Lots for examination by any such experts.
(v) To determine what illustration of a Lot (if any) is to be included in the Catalogue.
23. The seller warrants to the Auctioneer and to the buyer that he is the true owner of the Lot or is legally authorised to sell the
Lot on behalf of the true owner and can transfer good and marketable title to the Lot free from any third party claims. As regards
Lots not held by the Auctioneer on its premises or under its control the seller warrants and undertakes to the Auctioneer and the
buyer that the Lot will be available and in a deliverable state on demand by the Auctioneer or buyer. The seller shall indemnify the
Auctioneer and the buyer or any of their respective employees, servants or agents against any loss or damage suffered by any of them
in consequence of any breach of the above warranties or undertakings by the seller.
Reserves
24. Subject to the Auctioneer’s discretion, the seller shall be entitled prior to the auction to place a reserve on any Lot. All reserves
must be agreed in advance by the Auctioneer and entered on the Sale Order Form or subsequently be confirmed in writing to the
Auctioneer prior to auction. This also applies to changes in reserves. A reserve may not be placed upon any Lots under €500 in value.
The reserve shall be the minimum Hammer Price at which the Lot may be sold by the Auctioneer. A reserve once in place may only
be changed with the consent of the Auctioneer. A commission shall be charged on the ‘knock-down’ bid for Lots which fail to reach
the reserve price. Such commission shall be 5% of the ‘knock-down’ bid. This commission and any VAT payable thereon must be
paid before removal of the Lot after the auction. The minimum commission hereunder shall be €50. The Auctioneer may in its sole
discretion sell a Lot at a Hammer Price below the reserve therefore but in such case the Proceeds of Sale to which the seller shall be
entitled shall be the same as they would have been had the sale been at the reverse.
Unless a reserve has been placed on a Lot in accordance with the provisions set out above such Lot shall be put up for sale without
reserve.
In the event that any reserve price is not reached at auction then for so long as the Lot remains with the Auctioneer and to the extent
that the Lot has not been re-entered in another auction pursuant to condition 31 the seller authorises the Auctioneer to sell the Lot
by private treaty at not less than the reserve price. The Auctioneer shall ensure that in such a case those conditions herein which
concern mainly the buyer shall, with any necessary modification, apply to such sale.
Commission
25. The seller shall pay the Auctioneer commission at the rate of 10% on the Hammer Price of all Lots sold on behalf of the seller at
Irish Art Sales and 17.5% on the Hammer Price of all Lots sold on behalf of the seller at Fine Art, Wine and Militaria Sales together
with V.A.T. thereon at the applicable rate. The seller authorises the Auctioneer to deduct from the Hammer Price paid by the buyer
the Auctioneer’s Commission under this condition; VAT payable at the applicable rates and any other amounts due by the seller to
the Auctioneer in whatever capacity howsoever arising. The seller agrees that the Auctioneer may also receive commission from the
buyer pursuant to condition 13.
Insurance
26. Unless otherwise instructed by the seller, all Lots (with the exception of motor vehicles) deposited with the Auctioneer or put
under its control for sale shall automatically be insured by the Auctioneer under the Auctioneer’s own fine arts policy for such sum
as the Auctioneer shall from time to time in its absolute discretion determine. The seller shall pay the Auctioneer a contribution
towards such insurance at the rate of 1.5% of the Hammer Price plus VAT. If the seller instructs the Auctioneer not to insure a Lot
then the Lot shall at all times remain at the risk of the seller who undertakes to indemnify the Auctioneer and hold the Auctioneer
harmless against any and all claims made or proceedings brought against the Auctioneer of whatever nature and howsoever and
wheresoever occurring for loss or damage to the Lot. The sum for which a Lot is covered for insurance under this condition shall
not constitute and shall not be relied upon by the seller as a representation, warranty or guarantee as to the value of the Lot or that
the Lot will, if sold by the Auctioneer, be sold for such amount. Such insurance shall subsist until such time as the Lot is paid for
and collected by the buyer or, in the case of Lots sold which are not paid for or collected by the buyer by the due date hereunder
for payment or collection such due date or, in the case of Lots which are not sold, on the expiry of seven (7) days from the date on
which the Auctioneer has notified the seller to collect the Lots.
Recision of Sale
27. If before the Auctioneer has paid the Proceeds of Sale to the seller the buyer proves to the satisfaction of the Auctioneer that the
Lot sold is a Forgery and the requirements of condition 20 are satisfied the Auctioneer shall rescind the sale and refund to the buyer
any amount paid to the Auctioneer by the buyer in respect of the Lot.
Payment of Proceeds of Sale
28. The Auctioneer shall remit the Proceeds of Sale to the seller not later than thirty (30) days after the date of the auction, provided
however that, if by that date, the Auctioneer has not received the Total Amount Due from the buyer then the Auctioneer shall remit
the Proceeds of Sale within seven (7) working days after the date on which the Total Amount Due is received from the buyer. If
credit terms have been agreed between the Auctioneer and the buyer the Auctioneer shall remit to the seller the Proceeds of Sale not
later than thirty (30) days after the date of the auction unless otherwise agreed by the seller.
If before the Total Amount Due is paid by the buyer the Auctioneer pays the seller an amount equal to the Proceeds of Sale then
title to the Lot shall pass to the Auctioneer.
If the buyer fails to pay the Auctioneer the Total Amount Due within fourteen (14) days after the date of the auction, the Auctioneer
shall endeavour to notify the seller and take the seller’s instructions on the course of action to be taken and, to the extent that it is
in the sole opinion of the Auctioneer feasible, shall endeavour to assist the seller to recover the Total Amount Due from the buyer
provided that nothing herein shall oblige the Auctioneer to issue proceedings against the buyer in the Auctioneer’s own name. If
circumstances do not permit the Auctioneer to take instructions from the seller or, if after notifying the seller, it does not receive
instructions within seven (7) days, the Auctioneer reserves the right, and is hereby authorised by the seller at the seller’s expense,
to agree special terms for payments of the Total Amount Due, to remove, store and insure the Lot sold, to settle claims made by or
against the buyer on such terms as the Auctioneer shall in its absolute discretion think fit, to take such steps as are necessary to collect
monies due by the buyer to the seller and, if necessary, to rescind the sale and refund money to the buyer.
Payment of Proceeds to Overseas Sellers
29. If the seller resides outside Ireland the Proceeds of Sale shall be paid to such seller in Euro unless it was agreed with the seller
prior to the auction that the Proceeds of Sale would be paid in a currency (other than Euro) specified by the seller in which case
the Proceeds of Sale shall be paid by the Auctioneer to the seller in such specified currency (provided that that currency is legally
available to the Auctioneer in the amount required) calculated at the rate of exchange quoted to the Auctioneer by its bankers on
the date of payment.
Charges for Withdrawn Lots
30. Once catalogued, Lots withdrawn from sale before proofing/publication of Catalogue will be subject to commission of 5% of
the Auctioneer’s latest estimate of the auction price of the Lot withdrawn together with VAT thereon and any expenses incurred
by the Auctioneer in relation to the Lot. If Lots are withdrawn after proofing or publication of Catalogue they will be subject to a
commission of 10% of the Auctioneer’s latest estimate of the auction price of the Lot withdrawn together with VAT thereon and
any expenses incurred by the Auctioneer in relation to the Lot. All commission hereunder must be paid for before Lots withdrawn
may be removed.
Unsold Lots
31. Where any Lot fails to sell at auction the Auctioneer shall notify the seller accordingly and (in the absence of agreement between
the seller and the Auctioneer to the contrary) such Lot may, in the absolute discretion of the Auctioneer, be re-entered in the next
suitable auction unless instructions are received from the seller to the contrary, otherwise such Lots must be collected at the seller’s
expense within the period of thirty (30) days of such notification from the Auctioneer.
Upon the expiry of such period the Auctioneer shall have the right to sell such Lots by public auction or private sale and on such
terms as the Auctioneer in its sole discretion may think fit. The Auctioneer shall be entitled to deduct from the price received for
such Lots any sums owing to the Auctioneer in respect of such Lots including without limitation removal, storage and insurance
expenses, any commission and expenses due in respect of the prior auction and commission and expenses in respect of the
subsequent auction together with all reasonable expenses before remitting the balance to the seller. If the seller cannot be traced the
balance shall be placed in a bank account in the name of the Auctioneer for the seller. Any deficit arising shall be due from the seller
to the Auctioneer. Any Lots returned at the seller’s request shall be returned at the seller’s risk and expense and will not be insured
in transit unless the Auctioneer is so instructed by the seller.
Auctioneer’s Right to Photographs and Illustrations
32. The seller authorises the Auctioneer to photograph and illustrate any Lot placed with if for sale and further authorises the
Auctioneer to use such photographs and illustrations and any photographs and illustrations provided by the seller at any time in its
absolute discretion (whether or not in connection with the auction).
Est 1887
at Clandeboye
Sean Keating PRHA (1889 - 1977)
“The Port Authority”
Sean O’Sullivan RHA (1906 - 1964)
“The Old Couple” (1943)
Letitia M. Hamilton (1878 - 1964)
“Fair Day, Clifden”
Lillian Lucy Davidson ARHA (1893 - 1954)
“Fair Day, Westport”
Gerard Dillon RHA RUA (1916 - 1971)
“The Jockey”
www.adams.ie/clandeboye
187
Est 1887
at Clandeboye
Ireland: Her People and Landscape
The Ava Gallery, Clandeboye, Co. Down. 13th june - 6th September 2012
Richard Thomas Moynan RHA (1856 - 1906)
“The Traveling Show” (1892)
Erskine Nicol (1825 - 1904)
“A Shebeen at Donnybrook” (1851)
This exhibition is drawn completely from Private Collections and runs over the summer months
concluding with the Clandeboye Music Festival with Camerata Ireland.
View full catalogue online shortly at www.adams.ie
Est 1887
at Clandeboye
The AVA Gallery, Clandeboye Estate
Bangor, Co. Down, BT19 IRN
(T) +44 (0)28 91852263
[email protected] www.adams.ie/clandeboye
Important Irish Art, Wednesday 30th May 2012 at 6.00pm
188
INDEX
Ballagh, Robert
Behan, John
Bewick, Pauline
Blackshaw, Basil
Brady, Charles
Buick, Robin
1
97-99
133
96
120
131
Carey, Joseph William
20-22
Clarke, David
81
Clarke, Margaret
48
Coll, John
126
Collins, Patrick
108
Conor, William
25-27, 106
Craig, James Humbert 40
Crozier, William
92
Cudworth, Jack
145
Davidson, Lillian
Dillon, Gerard
Doherty, John
Duffy, Patrick Vincent
Duncan, Ana
39
4-6, 93
119
61
129
Egan, Felim
Egginton, Frank
Egginton, Wycliffe
116, 117
13-15
60
Fallon, Conor
Faulkner, John
French, William Percy
Frömel, Gerda
41
56, 57
58
42
Gillespie, George K.
Gillespie, Rowan
72-74
100
Hanlon, Father Jack P.
134-138
Harper, Charles
109, 110
Hely Hutchinson, Nicholas 111-113
Henry, Grace
147
Henry, Paul
34, 76
Hogan, John
54
Jellett, Mainie
10-12, 83, 84
Keating, Seán
Kelly, Oisín
105
124
Lamb, Charles
68
Lavery, Sir John
67
le Brocquy, Louis
45, 78-80, 114, 115
le Jeune, James
75, 107
Leech, William John
36, 37, 102
Lennon, Ciarán
123A
Leonard, Patrick
24
MacGonigal, Maurice
70, 71
Madden, Anne
82
Maguire, Cecil
31, 32
McAuley, Charles
23
McCaig, Norman
24A
McGuiness, Norah
8, 87
McKelvey, Frank
16-19, 28, 30, 101, 141
McSweeney, Seán
7
McWilliam, F.E.
44
Middleton, Colin
47, 47A, 88-89
Miles, Thomas Rose
64
Molyneaux, Edward
140
O’Ceallachain, Diarmuid 139
O’Hara, Helen
59
O’Kelly, Aloysius
35
O’Malley, Tony
94, 95, 121, 122
O’Neill, Daniel
46
Orpen, Sir William
66
Osborne, Walter Frederick 38, 77
O’Ryan, Fergus
144
O’Sullivan, Seán
132
Pollock, Ian
Pomeroy, Krystyna
Praeger, Sophia R.
131A
128
25
Reid, Nano
Robinson, Markey
Roche, Vivienne
Rode, Mark
Rodgers, Patsy Dan 9, 146
142, 143
127
130
148
Sadler, William II
Salkeld, Cecil French
Scott, Patrick
Scott, William
Shawcross, Neil
Shinnors, John
Sleator, James S.
Steyn, Stella
Swanzy, Mary
62
85
90, 91
43
104, 123
118
69
103
86
Trevor, Helen Mabel
55
Vallely, John B.
2-3
Wall, William Guy
Wilks, Maurice C.
Williams, Alexander
65
29
63
Yeats, Jack Butler
33, 49-53