Morgan O Driscoll IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART 12th November 2018

Irish & International Art
Monday 12th November 2018 at 6.00pm
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Viewings: Cork | London | Dublin
MORGAN O’DRISCOLL
Monday 12th November 2018 at 6pm

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53
Louis Le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Cavanagh (1974)
Aubusson tapestry - unique - produced by Tabars Freres & Soeurs, France No:2031
Front Cover (detail of Lot 43)
Banksy (1975)
laugh now 2003

IRISH & INTERNATIONALART
VENUE: RHA (Royal Hibernian Academy)
15 Ely Place, Dublin 2
Auction: Monday 12th November 2018 at 6pm
FINE ART AUCTIONEERS & VALUERS
Cork Viewing
Our Offices
1 Ilen Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, Ireland
Saturday 27th October 2018: 12noon - 5pm
Sunday 28th October 2018: 12noon - 5pm
Monday 29th October 2018: 12noon - 5pm
london viewing highlights
La Galleria Pall Mall
30 Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 4UY, United Kingdom
Monday 5th November 2018: 10am - 5.30pm
Tuesday 6th November 2018: 10am - 5.30pm
Dublin Viewing
RHA (Royal Hibernian Academy)
Friday 9th November 2018: 11am - 5pm
Saturday 10th November 2018: 11am - 5pm
Sunday 11th November 2018: 11am - 5pm
Monday 12th November2018: 10am - 4pm
Phone No. For Viewing Dates and Sale Day
Ireland: 086 2472425
London:+353 86 2472425
www.morganodriscoll.com
Licence No. PSRA: 002720
Index of Artists by Lot Number
Le Brocquy,Louis 53, 56, 57, 72, 95
Le Brocquy,Melanie 65,106
Le Jeune,James 5
Lennon,Ciaran 88,94
Leonard,Patrick 12
Lohan,Mary 122
MacCabe,Gladys 112
Maderson,Arthur K. 116
Maguire,Cecil 2,101
Manzi,Sergio 124
McAuley,Charles J. 35
McCaig,Norman J. 4
McCarthy,Andy 108
McGuinness,Norah 1
McKelvey,Frank 34
McSweeney,Sean 80,89,126
Middleton,Colin 70,87
Miller,Nick 55
Minihan,John 131
O’Conor,Roderic 82
O’Donoghue,Hughie 92
O’Dowd,Gwen 54
O’Malley,Tony 71
O’Neill Collins,Majella 140
O’Neill,Daniel 76
O’Neill,George Bernard 23
O’Neill,Liam 114
O’Neill,Mark 10,115,118
O’Reilly,Patrick 61,62
O’Sullivan,Sean 120
Robinson,Markey 15,85,128,133
Ryan,Thomas 142
Scott,William 41,49,50
Shawcross,Neil 78,93
Shinnors,John 38,39,77
Souter,Camille 69
Sutton,Ivan 7
Swanzy,Mary 75
Swift,Patrick 86
Teskey,Donald 37,40,97
Thaddeus,Henry Jones 22
Topham,Francis William 21
Treacy,Liam 3
Tuohy,Patrick 31
Warhol,Andy 44,45,46,47
Warren,Barbara 123
Webb,Kenneth 13
Yeats,Jack Butler 29,30,132
Yeats,John Butler 143

Cork Viewing
Our Offices
1 Ilen Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, Ireland
Saturday 27th October 2018: 12noon - 5pm
Sunday 28th October 2018: 12noon - 5pm
Monday 29th October 2018: 12noon - 5pm
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ENQUIRIES TO Cork or Dublin Office:
Morgan O’Driscoll
1 Ilen Street
Skibbereen
Co. Cork
Ireland
Tel: 028 22338
Mob: 086 2472425
email: info@morganodriscoll.com
International dialing code: +353 (drop the zero)
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Dublin 2
Ireland
Tel: 01 6650425
email: info@morganodriscoll.com

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london viewing highlights
La Galleria Pall Mall
30 Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 4UY, United Kingdom
Monday 5th November 2018: 10am - 5.30pm
Tuesday 6th November 2018: 10am - 5.30pm
Dublin Viewing
RHA (Royal Hibernian Academy)
Friday 9th November 2018: 11am - 5pm
Saturday 10th November 2018: 11am - 5pm
Sunday 11th November 2018: 11am - 5pm
Monday 12th November2018: 10am - 4pm

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR BUYERS
A full list of conditions of sale are available from our offices or on our website
at www.morganodriscoll.com
BID NUMBER
Intending purchasers must register for a paddle before the auction. Potential purchasers should allow time for
registration. We recommend registering on viewing days.
BIDDING FOR PEOPLE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE AUCTION IN PERSON
We are pleased to offer Absentee, Telephone and Live On-Line Bidding on our website www.morganodriscoll.com
PRE-SALE ESTIMATES
These are shown beneath each lot in this sale and they are intended merely as a guide and may be subject to change.
Amounts given in foreign currencies are approximate and are for convenience only. They are subject to fluctuation. The
legal amount due is always the Euro sum €. The auction shall be conducted in Euro.
BUYERS’ COMMISSION
The Purchaser shall pay the hammer price together with a buyers’ premium of 20% plus VAT (24.6% inc. VAT). For
Live Online bidding there is a further 5% service charge.
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.
ARTIST RESALE RIGHTS
No artist resale rights shall be paid by the purchaser, it is the responsibility of the vendor.
PAYMENT
All purchases must be paid for in Euro in full within 7 days of the sale. We accept cash, cleared personal cheques,
bankers drafts and debit cards. The auctioneers and house agents act under which we are licensed to hold public
auctions, only allows for lots to be handed over to purchasers when paid for in full.
COLLECTION OF LOTS
In some circumstances small or portable lots may be collected during the sale on production of a purchasers’ sale
receipt. Our staff are here to help, but please remember that the smooth conduct of the sale has to be their first
consideration at all times.
Purchasers are requested to remove their lots from the saleroom after the sale on Monday 12th November 2018 or on
Tuesday 13th November between 9.30am and 1pm at our Dubin office. Alternatively, items can be collected from our office
in Dublin or West Cork by prior appointment.
DELIVERY
We can recommend a number of couriers who will deliver purchases for you at a reasonable charge payable by you.
This agreement is solely between the purchaser and the courier and no responsibility is held by the auctioneer.
International deliveries can be arranged, please contact us for details.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR BUYERS
A Full List Of Conditions Of Sale Are Available From Our Offices Or On Our Website
at www.morganodriscoll.com
BID NUMBER
Morgan O’Driscoll’s operate a buyer bid number system. Persons bidding at the auction must register and receive a
bidding number on arrival. Proof of identity is required from new clients.
BIDDING FOR PEOPLE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE AUCTION IN PERSON
We are pleased to offer Absentee, Telephone and Live On-Line Bidding on our website www.morganodriscoll.com
PRE-SALE ESTIMATES
These are shown beneath each lot in this sale and they are intended merely as a guide and may be subject to change.
BUYERS’ COMMISSION
The Purchaser shall pay the hammer price together with a buyers’ premium of 20% plus VAT (24.6% inc. VAT).
For Live Online bidding there is a further 3% service charge.
ARTIST RESALE RIGHTS
No artist resale rights shall be paid by the purchaser, it is the responsibility of the vendor.
PAYMENT
All purchases must be paid for in Euro in full on the day of the sale. We accept cash, cleared personal cheques,
bankers drafts and Laser debit cards (Visa and Mastercard credit cards are accepted subject to a service charge of
2.00%). The auctioneers and house agents act under which we are licensed to hold public auctions, only allows for
lots to be handed over to purchasers when paid for in full.
COLLECTION OF LOTS
In some circumstances small or portable lots may be collected during the sale on production of a purchasers’ sale
receipt. Our staff are here to help, but please remember that the smooth conduct of the sale has to be their first
consideration at all times.
Purchasers are requested to remove their lots from the saleroom after the sale on Monday 14th September or no later
than 1pm on Tuesday 15th September 2015. Alternatively, items can be collected from our office in Dublin or West Cork
office by prior appointment.
DELIVERY
We can recommend a number of couriers who will deliver purchases for you at a reasonable charge payable by you.
This agreement is solely between the purchaser and the courier and no responsibility is held by the auctioneer.
International deliveries can be arranged, please contact us for details.
Amounts given in foreign currencies are approximate and are for convenience only. They are subject to fluctuation.
The legal amount due is always the Euro sum €. The auction shall be conducted in Euro.
Any bids submitted must be given in Euro only.

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AT 6.00PM
OIL & ACRYLIC PAINTINGS
WATERCOLOURS
D
S
RAWINGS
CULPTURES
Auction Commences
OIL & ACRYLIC PAINTINGS
WATERCOLOURS
D
S
RAWINGS
CULPTURES
CONTENTS
Lots 1-143 page 8-155
Conditions of Sale page 156 & 157
Bid Forms page 158 & 159
Index of Artists page 160 & 161

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1
Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901-1980)
Summer Landscape with Haystacks
stamped with atelier studio stamp - second painting of ‘Going to Mass’ verso
watercolour and ink
17.75 x 25.75cm (7 x 10in)
Provenance: James Adam, Dublin 28th March 2007, Lot 105;
Private Collection
€800-€1,200 (£714-£1,071)

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Cecil Maguire RHA RUA (b.1930)
Dawn’s Early Light at Roundstone (1985)
signed lower right and dated (19)’85, titled on reverse
oil on board
41 x 51cm (16 x 20in)
Provenance: Artist’s Label verso;
Private Collection
€2,500-€3,500 (£2,232-£3,125)

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Liam Treacy RHA (1934-2005)
Arklow Harbour
signed lower right
oil on canvas
25.5 x 35.5cm (10 x 14in)
Provenance: Private Collection
€500-€750 (£446-£669)
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Norman J. McCaig
(1929-2001)
Haystacks, Rathmullen
Co Donegal
signed lower left
oil on board
40.5 x 51cm (16 x 20in)
€600-€900 (£535-£803)

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5
James Le Jeune (1910-1983)
Nantes Porte, St. Louis
signed top right
oil on canvas
61 x 51cm (24 x 20in)
Provenance: Artist’s label verso;
Private Collection
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)

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Peter Curling (b.1955)
Standing Up in the Irons
signed lower right
pencil and ink on paper
33 x 29.20cm (13 x 11.5in)
Provenance: The Tryon Gallery Ltd, London
(label verso);
Private Collection
€1,500-€2,000 (£1,339-£1,785)
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Ivan Sutton (b.1944)
Walking the Bikes,
Roundstone Village, Co Galway
signed lower right and titled on reverse
oil on board
51 x 76.25cm (20 x 30in)
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist;
Private Collection
€1,500-€2,000 (£1,339-£1,785)

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8
Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964)
Rain at Kilkee. Co. Clare (1948)
signed with initials ‘LMH’ lower right and artist’s label verso
oil on canvas
40.75 x 51cm (16 x 20in)
Provenance: James Adam, Dublin, 28th September 2011, Lot 26:
Private Collection
Exhibited: This work is thought to date circa 1947 / 48 when Letitia Hamilton exhibited a work of
the same title at the RHA (cat No. 4) and also another work “August 1947, Kilkee’’
€6,000-€9,000 (£5,357-£8,035)
A student of Orpen’s at the Metropolitan School of Art, Letitia Hamilton was an exceptionally accomplished painter. She travelled
extensively to the West of Ireland and painted at many locations there. Her chief influences were French, but she also took note
of Paul Henry and Roderic O’Conor. She favoured a sunny palette with some impasto, using dark tones carefully, and her use of
shades of white and off-whites is masterly.

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9
Ciaran Clear (1920-2000)
Moonlight, Atlantic Coast
signed lower right and lower left, titled on reverse
oil on board
46 x 71cm (18 x 28in)
€2,500-€3,500 (£2,232-£3,125)

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10
Mark O’Neill (b.1963)
Best in Show (2002)
signed lower right and dated 2002
oil on board
59.5 x 85.5cm (23.5 x 34in)
Provenance: Frederick Gallery, Dublin (label verso);
Private Collection
Exhibited: The Frederick Gallery: Spring Show 2002: Cat. No. 34 where purchased
€5,000-€7,000 (£4,464-£6,250)

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11
Aidan Bradley (b.1961)
Georgian Dublin (2013)
signed lower left and dated (2)’013
oil on board
49.5 x 49.5cm (19.5 x 19.5in)
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist;
Private Collection
€600-€900 (£535-£803)
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Patrick Leonard HRHA (1918-2005)
Dollymount (1950)
signed lower right, titled and dated 1950 lower left
pastel on card
56 x 76cm (22 x 30in)
Provenance: Gift from the artist to the present
owner early 1990’s
€1,200-€1,800 (£1,071-£1,607)

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13
Kenneth Webb RWA FRSA RUA (b.1927)
Roundstone Harbour
signed lower right
oil on canvas
38.20 x 91.70cm (15 x 36in)
€8,000-€10,000 (£7,142-£8,928)
Throughout his career, Kenneth has been fascinated by a variety of themes. He gets hooked onto an idea, becomes almost obses-
sional in exploring it, and has to paint his way out of it. “Whenever I am taken by a theme, I seem to have to start all over and
invent my own pictorial structure”.
These pictures are deeply personal, evocative of his home in Connemara. There is a real sense of place about his work, which is
for him magical, full of mystery, sensuality and colour. The artist needs an emotional element in his paintings which gives them an
atmosphere and a mood.

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14
Charles Vincent Lamb RHA RUA (1893-1964)
Carraroe, Co Galway (c.1950)
signed lower left
oil on board
41 x 51cm (16 x 20in)
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin (framing label verso);
Private Collection
€2,500-€3,500 (£2,232-£3,125)

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15
Markey Robinson (1918-1999)
Auld Lammas Fair
signed lower right
oil on canvas
51 x 75cm (20 x 29.5in)
Literature: 100 Years of Irish Art; A Millennium Presentation,
edited by Eamonn Mallie; page 262 & illustrated page 263;
‘Markey Robinson - Maverick Spirit’ by Michael Mulreany
illustrated page 65
€12,000-€18,000 (£10,714-£16,071)

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16
William Crampton Gore RHA (1871-1946)
Achill (1913)
signed, titled and dated lower right
oil on board
25.5 x 33.5cm (10 x 13.25in)
Provenance: Artist’s label and Fine Art Society label verso;
James Adam, Dublin, 26th September 2012, Lot 29;
Private Collection
€800-€1,200 (£714-£1,071)

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17
Paul Henry RHA RUA (1876-1958)
Thatched Cottages (1915-16)
signed ‘PAUL HENRY’ lower left
oil on board
20.5 x 25.5cm (8 x 10in)
Provenance: Bell Gallery, Belfast;
Christie’s, Dublin, 29th June 1994, Lot 264, reproduced in colour;
Private Collection
Exhibited: Possibly 1916 Belfast as ‘Moonlight in the Village’
Literature: S.B. Kennedy: Paul Henry Paintings, Drawings Illustrations, published by Yale, University press;
Catalogue No. 418, page 183 illustrated.
€20,000-€30,000 (£17,857-£26,785)
A small, very directly observed and notably unromanticised view of a grouping of Spartan cottages, thought by SB Kennedy to be
on Achill. Certainly Henry had been based on Achill since 1912, and found it an extraordinarily rich source of inspiration. Later,
when he had moved on to Dublin and then Wicklow, his Western scenes could be formulaic and idealized, but the earthy realism
of this scene rings true.

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18
Paul Henry RHA RUA (1876-1958)
Waterville, Co Kerry
signed ‘PAUL HENRY’ lower right and titled on reverse
oil on board
41 x 46cm (16 x 18in)
Provenance: Combridge Gallery, Dublin, 1946, by whom lent for a time to the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin;
Thence the artist’s studio;
Mrs McAreavey, acquired from Mabel Young in 1962;
The estate of the late James Gibson;
Bell Gallery, Belfast (label verso);
Private Collection
Literature: S.B. Kennedy: Paul Henry Paintings, Drawings Illustrations, published by Yale, University press;
Catalogue No.1063, page 308
€50,000-€70,000 (£44,642-£62,500)
This is probably the picture of this title that Paul Henry first exhibited at the Combridge Gallery, Dublin, in Oc-
tober 1945. It was almost certainly painted in the summer of that year when Henry and his second wife, Mabel
Young, stayed at the Great Southern Hotel in Waterville. They had first visited the Iveragh Peninsula a decade
earlier, in 1932, staying on the northern side of the Peninsula at Glenbeigh. Paul was enchanted by the area.
‘It is lovely. Wherever one turns there is material for dozens of pictures. I felt that if I spent a lifetime I would
never exhaust all the possible subjects,’ he wrote to a friend, James Healy, in New York (letter of 13 December
1934, Healy Papers, Stanford University Libraries). The Peninsula produced a paler key in his paintings, as
the Irish Times commented (7 May 1935), which contrasts with the heavier, more brooding works of the late
1920s and early 1930s when his marriage to his first wife, Grace, was breaking up and at a time when he had
other domestic difficulties. By 1945, with a much more settled lifestyle, Paul and Mabel returned to Kerry-there
is no record of their having been there since the 1930s-and, staying at Waterville, they used that as a base to
explore much of the Peninsula. The area around Waterville has welcomed many celebrities over the years, the
most notable, perhaps, being Walt Disney and Charlie Chaplin. The Iveragh Peninsula, of course, is traversed
by the famous Ring of Kerry tourist route. The stretch of water depicted in this composition is probably Lough
Currane, which lies immediately to the east of Waterville, which is the town crowning the hilltop in the middle
distance. The ‘paler key’ that typifies Henry’s work in these late years of his painting career-he suffered almost
total blindness shortly after this picture was painted-is well seen in this composition, where the mounting cu-
mulus clouds in the sky are reflected in the sea in the foreground, which is almost without detailing of any sort,
save for the masterly dexterity of the brushwork. In this regard, Waterville, Co. Kerry may be compared with
one of Henry’s finest late works, Kinsale, of 1939 (Kennedy, 2007, number 994). For a discussion of Henry’s
other Iveragh Peninsula pictures see S. B. Kennedy, ‘Paul Henry’s Iveragh Paintings’, in John Crowley & John
Sheehan (eds.), The Iveragh Peninsula: A Cultural Atlas of the Ring of Kerry, Cork University Press, 2009,
pp.441-4.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy, October 2018

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Sir John Lavery RA RHA RSA (1856-1941)
Glendalough, Ireland (1924)
signed ‘J Lavery’ lower right, titled and dated on reverse
oil on canvas board
51 x 61cm (20 x 24in)
Provenance: James Adam & Bonhams, 3rd December 2002, Lot 77;
Private Collection
Exhibited: Boston: Robert C Vose Galleries, Portraits and Landscapes of Sir John Lavery RA, December 1925-
January 1926, no 30 as Glendaloch (sic), Ireland;
Harrisburg: Art Association, Paintings by Sir John Lavery RA, February-March 1926, no 33, as Glendaloch;
Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, Portraits, Interiors and Landscapes by Sir John Lavery, March-April 1926, no 1l,
as Glendaloch (sic), Ireland
Literature: Kenneth McConkey. John Lavery, A Painter and his World, 2010 (Atelier Books), p. 165
€60,000-€80,000 (£53,571-£71,428)
In July 1924, the Laverys arrived at Mount Stewart, the home of Lord Londonderry on the Ards Peninsula. The oc-
casion was the painter’s receipt of an honorary doctorate in Civil Law from Queen’s University in Belfast, the city
of his birth, and where Londonderry was university Vice-Chancellor. After a brief sojourn the couple repaired to the
Vice-Regal Lodge in Dublin at the beginning of August, when, on the invitation of WB Yeats, they attended Aonach
Tailteann, popularly referred to as the Irish Olympic Games, staged at Croke Park. This was followed at the end of
the month by a long car journey to Killarney, a tour on which Lavery intended to paint a suite of southern landscapes
with the idea of staging an ‘Irish’ exhibition.1
Their first stop was at Glendalough in county Wicklow, where the present landscape was painted in the stillness of
a late summer day. Now in his mid-sixties, Lavery was well-used to stopping the car at the roadside and completing
an oil sketch of the scene before him, and in this instance, although his ultimate destination was the Great Southern
Hotel at ParknaSilla, there was no hurry or sense of impatience. The calm waters reflecting the majestic sweep of
hills are only broken by a single rower away in the distance. It is a picture of great serenity, painted on one of the
last really good days they had on the trip.
Thereafter they drove down to Tramore in Waterford, before moving on to Clonmel in Tipperary, and from there to
the Lakes of Killarney to be greeted by blustery showers.2
Nevertheless, at each stopping point paintings were pro-
duced – the blacksmiths at Tramore, a wandering penny-whistler who became, Phil, the Fluter, a group of roadside
stonebreakers and a white-bearded peasant on his donkey, tramping The Kingdom of Kerry – over a dozen in all, and
the nucleus of a show.3
Sadly however, this solo display of Irish pictures, which had been in gestation since before
the Great War, was displaced the following year by another project - a much-lauded exhibition of ‘portrait interiors’
which Joseph Duveen took to his New York galleries. The immediate success of this venture led instantly to a tour in
which additional works were added for Boston and other venues. The best half-dozen of the Irish pictures, Glendal-
ough among them, were included in the display, much to the delight of the expatriate communities.4
Glendalough, with its confluence – ‘the meeting of the waters’ – and ancient ecclesiastical ruins had of course been a
favourite scene for topographical watercolourists for a century or more, and although he avoids their clichés, Lavery
was undoubtedly drawn to the site because it typified Ireland’s romantic beauty. A similar impetus had led him to
the Highlands of Scotland before the war, when he painted the shores of Loch Katrine. The present Irish tour was
however, a more extended recapitulation of an earlier visit to the south west in 1913 when he was invited to stay
at Killarney House to paint the portrait of Lady Dorothy Browne, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Kenmare.
There, the rugged beauty of the lakes and mountains had led him directly to a monumental triptych, The Madonna of
the Lakes, 1916, for St Patrick’s Church in Belfast. That work had coincided with the Easter Rising and Ireland, now
free, demanded a fresh eye. The old places must be treated anew and, as never before, permitted to sing their own
exquisite song. Glendalough was the first.
Professor Kenneth McConkey, October 2018
1- McConkey, 2010, pp. 166-174.
2 - McConkey, 2010, pp. 164-5.
3 - While a number of these remained in the artist’s possession at the time of his death, Glendalough does not appear in probate valuations.
We must assume that it was sold after the American tour. All of the others are currently in private collections.
4 - Several of these pictures, excluding the present example, were shown at an exhibition of Irish art at the Fine Art Society in May 1927.

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Alfred W. Elmore RA (1815-1881)
A Greek Ode (1879)
oil on canvas
123.5 x 90.5cm (48 x 36in)
Provenance: By descent to the artist’s daughter;
Roy Miles Gallery, London: Stock No: 2081A (label verso);
Private Collection
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1879, No.213;
€12,000-€18,000 (£10,714-£16,071)
Born in Clonakilty, the son of a British army surgeon who had settled in West Cork, Alfred Elmore spent the first decade of his life in Ireland.
His father married Mary Anne Callanan, of Clonakilty, whose father, a doctor, had been a member of the United Irishmen. After the pre-
mature death of his mother, and failure of his father’s flax growing and linen manufacturing business, the family moved to London, where
Alfred studied at the Royal Academy. He then spent time in Paris, attending life classes and copying paintings in the Louvre. After complet-
ing a large canvas, The Martyrdom of Thomas a Becket (1840), commissioned by Daniel O’Connell for Westland Row Church in Dublin,
Elmore travelled to Munich, where he studied at the Academy, before moving on to Dresden and then to Italy. Influenced by French painters
such as Delacroix and Cogniat, Elmore was also inspired by literature and music. His 1844 painting Rienzi in the Forum relates to Edward
Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Rienzi, the last of the Tribunes, published a decade earlier, and to Richard Wagner’s opera of the same name, per-
formed in Dresden in 1842. Another novel by Bulwer-Lytton, The Last Days of Pompeii, inspired a later painting by Elmore, Pompeii - AD
79, in which a young woman plays with her child, oblivious to the volcano beginning its eruption in the distance. Perhaps because his mother
was Catholic, and his father Protestant, many of Elmore’s paintings have a theme of religious and political freedom. Likewise, his father’s
career in the linen industry is reflected in paintings by Elmore that depict technological progress. Even when depicting Classical scenes, as he
did from the 1870s onward, Elmore’s psychological insight sets him apart from other artists who sought to represent ‘authentic’ scenes from
ancient Greece and Rome, such as Frederick Leighton, Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Edward Poynter.
One of Elmore’s finest works, A Greek Ode was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1879. In ancient Greece, an ode was a highly-stylised
spoken poem: The Odes of Pindar were celebrated, while in Roman times the Odes of Catullus, recording the secret passion for the wife
of a senator, were amongst the most highly-regarded love poems of classical literature. The form survived and was introduced into English
literature in the 16th century by Edmund Spenser, whose Epithamialion and Prothamalion were written while he was living at Kilcolman
Castle in Co. Cork. The title of Elmore’s painting evokes John Keats’s 1819 poem Ode to a Grecian Urn and is a neat inversion of the liter-
ary technique of ‘ekphrasis’, where a painting or sculpture is described in a poem. In Elmore’s canvas, visual art is intended to evoke a work
of literature.
Classical subjects were in vogue at the Academy in the 1870’s, with Edward Poynter’s Zenobia Captive having been shown there in 1878,
along with Frederick Leighton’s Winding the Skein. In Elmore’s painting, a dark-haired young man, reclining on a stone parapet, reads from
a scroll to a young woman who sits, head in hand, listening. The composition recalls Winding the Skein, particularly in the choice of setting,
with Classical figures on a long low wall, sea beyond, and a mountain range in the distance. Leighton had visited the island of Rhodes in
1867, as part of his research for authentic settings; Elmore spent time in Algeria in 1866, for the same reason.
Although the subject of the ode in Elmore’s painting is not known, the serious expressions of reader and listener suggest that it does not deal
with trivial matters. The young woman holds a laurel branch in her hand; she is waiting until the reading is finished before crowning the poet.
Such accolades remain alive today in the designation “Poet Laureate”. In the painting there is also a suggestion of class difference, with the
dark-haired poet dressed simply, in blue smock and straw hat. In contrast, the young woman’s cloak-a Greek garment known as a himation-
is held at the shoulder by an elaborate brooch, while her dress, or chiton, is adorned at the sleeve with decorative buttons. Beside her, a lyre
has been set to one side, indicating that she now prefers poetry to music. Above the lyre, on the stone bench, stands a silver ewer for water,
and beside it, two small bronze basins for washing. The symbolism here is that of an awakening, the face been washed to face a new day. A
palm-shaped fan lies discarded on the ground, hinting that the time for indolence is past. It is likely therefore that Elmore’s intention was to
depict a moment of awakening, or revelation, when a young woman is inspired by the words of a poet. In an earlier painting, On the Brink
(1865), Elmore had depicted a young woman, on the brink of being seduced, by a Satanic-like figure. However, in A Greek Ode, the young
man is not sinister; rather he may be offering a means of escape. As is often the case with Elmore’s paintings, there is a sense of ambiguity, of
decisions being made, or about to be made, that will affect the future lives of the protagonists. In depicting this moment of psychological ten-
sion, set in Classical antiquity, Elmore departs from the standard Victorian approach to such scenes, which generally evoke little in the way
of ideas, but are more essays in ‘dolce far niente’-the delights of doing nothing, in a world where youth, beauty and sunshine are eternal.
In recent years, art historians Dr. Julian Campbell and Caoimhín de Bhalís have pioneered the re-discovery of this almost forgotten nine-
teenth-century Cork artist; de Bhalís is currently working on a monograph on Alfred Elmore.
Peter Murray, September 2018

27

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21
Francis William Topham RA (1808-1877)
The Stepping Stones (1861)
watercolour
45.70 x 40.5cm (18 x 16in)
Provenance: Richard Haworth Gallery, Blackburn (label verso);
Private Collection
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)
Born in Leeds, Topham was an engraver, then an accomplished genre and figure painter, who visited the west of Ireland repeatedly
from the 1840’s, and also Wales and Spain. Together with Frederick Goodall, and Alfred Downing Fripp, his legacy of detailed
scenes of rural people, is highly valued by social historians. He exhibited widely, for example at the RA, the RHA and for 30
years regularly at the Old Watercolour Society. His depiction of this barefoot mother, her white bonnet suggestive of her married
status, is typical of his Irish work. Fond of painting women and children, he shows her carrying her child across a stone ford, their
substantial stone farmhouse in the background.
Claudia Kinmonth, October 2018

29
22
Henry Jones Thaddeus (1860-1929) RHA
Portrait of a Young Lady in a Black Feathered Hat
signed lower left
oil on board
52 x 43.5cm (20.5 x 17in)
Provenance: Gorry Gallery, Dublin;
Private Collection
Exhibited: An Exhibition of 18th - 21st Century Irish Paintings:
Gorry Gallery, Dublin: 6th - 19th December 2015; illustrated page 27
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)
The sitter bears more than a passing resemblance to Rita de Acosta Lydig, a New York socialite, painted by Thaddeus in 1904
(Brendan Rooney, ‘The Life and Work of Harry Jones Thaddeus, p.234 illustration no.47). She also sat to Giovanni Boldini and
John Singer Sargeant. She was regarded as ‘the most picturesque woman in America’.

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23
George Bernard O’Neill (1828-1917)
Picking Grapes (1898)
oil on board
45.70 x 35.20cm (18 x 14in)
Provenance: Richard Green Gallery, London (label verso);
Private Collection
€2,500-€3,500 (£2,232-£3,125)
Accomplished and prolific, O’Neill was best known for his highly detailed genre and figure paintings, which typically featured
children and animals. Born in Dublin, he exhibited over seventy works at London’s Royal Academy, and his paintings survive in
more than 16 public collections, e.g. A Deathbed Scene (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin), and The Foundling (Tate Britain,
1852). His narrative suggests children leaving their game of hoop and stick, to help the old man, so he need not descend from
the ladder as he picks grapes. Meticulously depicted, the open gate hints that the girl has wandered into the scene, where the boy
already has his basket lined and filled with a vine leaf and grapes. Plants are used symbolically; to represent youth and innocence
(the daisy, between the children), and old age (the autumn leaves), soon to be swept aside with the besom that leans up in the fore-
ground. The terrier, representing faithfulness, observes the scene. The leaded fenestration and good clothing, suggest an English
rather than Irish setting.
Claudia Kinmonth
October 2018

31
24
Edwin Hayes RHA RI (1820-1904)
Battling the Swell (1875)
oil on canvas
25 x 48cm (10 x 19in)
€1,200-€1,800 (£1,071-£1,607)
The Irish marine painter Edwin Hayes was born in Bristol but grew up in Dublin. He studied drawing and painting at the
Dublin Society Art School and set his sights on becoming a marine painter, an ambition nurtured and encouraged by liv-
ing close to Dublin’s docks and quays, as well as his personal experience as a trans-Atlantic steward boy and sailor.
Hayes first exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) in 1842, at the age of 22. He later moved to London in 1852
to paint under the scene artist Telbin. Hayes exhibited “View of the River Liffey and the Custom House” at the Brit-
ish Institution in 1854, and the following year he showed at the Royal Academy (RA), continuing to do so for nearly 50
years. In addition, Hayes exhibited at the Society of British Artists and at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours,
becoming an Associate in 1860 and a Member in 1863. Meanwhile, Hayes continued submitting to the Royal Hibernian
Academy (RHA) to which he was elected an associate member in 1853 and a member in 1871.

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25
Sir Thomas Alfred Jones (c.1823-1893)
Woman Knitting
signed with monogram centre left
oil on board
43.5 x 33cm (17 x 13in)
Provenance: Gorry Gallery, Dublin;
Private Collection
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)
The exhibition, at the Gorry Gallery in 2016, of Connemara Girls by Sir Thomas Alfred Jones,
marked the re-discovery of this almost forgotten painter of Irish life and people in the nineteenth
century. Acquired by the Quinnipiac Great Hunger Museum, Connemara Girls was subsequently
one of the highlights of the touring exhibition “Coming Home”, shown at Dublin Castle and the
West Cork Arts Centre in 2018. Another painting by Jones, also of an Irish ‘colleen’, Molly Mac-
ree, has long been a popular favourite in the National Gallery of Ireland. An eminently Victorian
artist, Jones’s own life story is like something from a novel by Charles Dickens. Abandoned as a
child, he was raised in Dublin by foster parents, the philanthropist Mr. Archdale and his sisters. In
1833, showing talent as an artist, he was enrolled at the Dublin Society’s Drawing Schools, and
nine years later became a student at Trinity College, although he left without obtaining a degree.
In 1841, Jones exhibited for the first time at the Royal Hibernian Academy, before setting off to
continue his artistic studies on the Continent. The portrait Thomas-Alfred Jones, painted in 1851
by Pierre Puvis de Chevannes (Musee d’Orsay), may well be of the Irish artist during his time in
France. Jones returned to Ireland after several years, setting up as a portrait painter. He exhibited
regularly at the RHA, was elected an Associate in 1860, and nine years later succeeded Stephen
Catterson Smith as President.
In many of his paintings, Jones set out to create an idealised picture of how rural life in Ireland
might be. He delighted in depicting country girls, bare-foot and wrapped in shawls, but healthy
and rosy-cheeked. If the realities of life in rural Ireland failed to reach this ideal, this escaped his
notice; his depictions of people were intended to be heart-warming and reassuring. In this painting,
Jones celebrates the qualities of a woman who, though of advancing years, is still busy knitting,
and doing her best to improve life for herself and her family. Her face, though lined with age, is
handsome and resolute. She is outdoors, enjoying the good weather, although well wrapped up
with shawls and a bonnet. Behind her is the neat white-washed wall of a cottage. Many of Jones’s
portraits are of ‘colleens’, or young girls, but this painting confirms that his interest was in depict-
ing countrywomen of all ages, in a sympathetic and unsentimental way.
Although attractive and popular, these scenes of country life were not Jones’s main output as an
artist. He was more at home as a society painter, depicting professional, social and political lead-
ers. Among his commissions was a large series of portraits of the Lords Mayors of Belfast, among
them William Ewart, James Haslett, Edward Coey, John Lytle, John Preston and others. His portrait
of Queen Victoria is also in Belfast City Hall, while his portrait of James Hamilton is in the offices
of Belfast Harbour Commissioners. Jones’s sitters in Dublin included members of the Guinness
family, surgeons, musicians, politicians and generals. In 1875 he painted portraits of the Earl and
Countess of Bantry, while his portrait of Charles Stuart Parnell can be seen in the Oak Room of the
Mansion House, Dublin.
Peter Murray, October 2018

33

34
26
Frederick Calvert (c. 1790 - 1844)
Sailing Craft in Mount’s Bay, Cornwall c.1825
oil on canvas
61 x 92cm (24 x 36in)
Provenance: Collection of Princess Duleep Singh;
Private Collection;
Thence by Descent
€3,000-€5,000 (£2,678-£4,464)
This dramatic canvas by Frederick Calvert depicts sailing vessels near St. Michael’s Mount, a tidal island in Mount’s Bay, Corn-
wall. The view is taken from the north shore; to the left is the island, surmounted by castle and abbey, while in the far distance
is the Lizard peninsula, the most southerly point on the English coast. In the foreground, a three-masted lugger, with crew and
passengers, heels over in a strong south-westerly wind as it heads out across the bay, while in the background a larger trading brig
approaches, probably making towards Newlyn. There are several white sails on the horizon, while in the distance a sloop, beyond
the lugger, is heading out to sea. Exposed to southerly gales, Mount’s Bay is by no means a safe anchorage and there have been
many shipwrecks there over the years.
In his marine paintings, Calvert often combined a variety of sailing craft, including fishing smacks, men-o-war and trading
vessels. He specialised in scenes of impending storms and choppy seas, with ships heeling over in strong winds; his skies are
characterised by contrasts of dark rainclouds and blue patches of sky. Often, he depicted ships running for shelter; there is a sense
of urgency as they seek refuge from oncoming storms. Although Calvert painted mainly along the south coast of England, at loca-
tions such as Ramsgate, the Needles, the Isle of Wight and Dover, he also produced scenes set in Irish coastal waters. His skies
and seas are finely painted, and the compositions, and contrasts of light and shade, add drama to his work.
Born in Cork around 1790, Frederick Calvert may have been related to the John Calvert, who appears in the list of Cork freemen
1710-1841, described as a ‘cotton manufacturer’. In 1807, Frederick’s aquatint view of the newly-constructed Parliament Bridge
in Cork was published (coll. National Library of Ireland), and five years later he exhibited View near Rathfarnham at the Society
of Artists in Dublin. In 1815 he showed two Dublin scenes at the Hibernian Society’s exhibition. Around that time, he moved to
England, publishing four aquatints of the interior of Tintern Abbey in Wye valley, a ruin made famous in the Romantic era by Wil-
liam Wordsworth and JMW Turner. Several of these aquatints are in the National Library of Wales; one shows the exterior of the
Abbey, while another depicts sightseers wandering amidst ivy-clad ruins, admiring the nave and south window. Both images have
lines of poetry inscribed underneath. In 1815 also, Calvert’s three-part book, Lessons on Landscape in Three Parts: Consisting of
Pencilling, Shadowing, and Colouring was published. Maintaining that ‘the rules of Art are as simple as the lessons of Nature’,
Calvert’s manual was intended to help amateur painters achieve more professional results, He continued to exhibit in Ireland, and
in 1821 his views of Wicklow were included in an “Exhibition of Works by Old Masters, Artists and Amateurs” held in Limerick.
The following year he published The Forest Illustrated (coll. V & A), a series of lithographs depicting ash, oak and fir trees, as
seen in both winter and summer. His lithograph print On the River Lea, County Cork (NLI) was published in London in 1824,
while a fine lithograph of Killarney (NLI), after an original drawing by Dr. John Hume, Dean of Kerry, dates from four years
later. By then Calvert was settled in London, with a studio on Pall Mall, where he exhibited views of Dover Castle and Broughton
Castle. He began to specialise in marine paintings in the 1830’s, showing works at the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Belfast
Association of Artists. Over the following two decades he exhibited mainly at the British Institution, and with the Society of Brit-
ish Artists at Suffolk Street. His books include Picturesque Views of Staffordshire (1830), containing thirty-nine plates, engraved
on steel by T. Radclyffe, and Picturesque Views of Shropshire (1831), with thirty-four engravings. These were produced in as-
sociation with William West. Calvert also contributed papers and illustrations to the Archaeological Journal. Works by him are in
the British Museum, the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the V & A, Walker Art Gallery, and several regional museums
including Bristol and Lancashire. His Shipping in Dublin Bay is in Calke Abbey, while his Lobstermen hauling in their pots off a
French coast was shown at the Gorry Gallery, Dublin, in 2013. Apart from three prints in the National Library, Calvert does not
appear to be represented in any Irish national collection. The date of his death is not known, but was probably around 1844: He is
not to be confused with a Suffolk artist of the same name, a clergyman who died in 1855.

35

36
27
John Faulkner RHA (1835-1894)
Cattle Watering at a Stream
signed lower right
watercolour
47.5 x 87.5cm (18.5 x 34.5in)
€1,000-€1,500 (£892-£1,339)

37
28
Nathaniel Hone RHA (1831-1917)
Across the Bent
oil on board
29 x 45.5cm (11.5 x 18in)
Provenance: The artist’s family by descent;
De Veres, Irish Art Sale, 13th June 2006, Lot 75:
Private Collection
Exhibited: Paintings from the Studio of Nathaniel Hone’ :The Gorry Gallery June/July 2002:
Cat. No. 7 (Full page illustration)
Literature: Four Irish Landscape Painters’ by Thomas Bodkin 1920: Cat. No. 300
€3,000-€5,000 (£2,678-£4,464)

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29
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
The Creole (1946)
signed ‘JACK B.YEATS’ lower left
oil on board
23 x 35.5cm (9x 14in)
Provenance: Sold by the artist to Reeves Levanthal, USA, 1946;
Collection of Joseph B.Gallagher, New York;
Sotheby’s, London, The Irish Sale, 11 May 2006, Lot 69;
Private Collection
Literature: “Jack B.Yeats - A Catalogue Raisonne of the Oil Paintings” by Hilary Pyle, No.787, p.709
€60,000-€90,000 (£53,571-£80,100)
This is a late painting by Yeats, one in which memory and imagination are to the fore, and the artist’s
concern for depicting reality has receded, to the point where the painting is becoming largely an abstract
work of art; the forms of rock, sea and ship are barely discernible within a glorious haze of expression-
ist paintwork. Set against a suggested, rather than represented, background of sea and rocky coastline,
the Creole, a two-masted sailing vessel, is moored against a quay wall. The focal point of the painting,
Creole is framed by two darker forms, of warehouses, or cliff faces, on either side of the composition. On
the right foreground is a bright yellow board, a poster advertising a circus or funfair.
There are several possibilities, of vessels named Creole, that Yeats might have had in mind as he painted
this work: these include the slave ship of the 1840’s, and a ship chartered in 1847 to take emigrants from
Roscommon to New York. However, specific details in this painting, such as lack of a deckhouse, the
rounded stern, short masts and long bowsprit, suggest that it was the yacht Creole, built by Camper and
Nicholson in 1927, that excited Yeats’s interest and imagination. During World War II, Creole was loaned
to the British Admiralty. Her rig and deckhouse were removed, and she was used for transporting troops
and hunting mines. By 1946-the year this work was painted-Creole was in a sorry state, and a long way
from her years of sailing glory. A year later, she was acquired and fully restored by Stravos Niarchos,
the Greek shipping tycoon. Today, Creole is owned by the Gucci family and maintained in impeccable
condition at Mallorca. A keen yachtsman himself, from an early age, Yeats often painted and drew sailing
vessels. He was a close friend of the poet and novelist John Masefield, whose books, such as Sea Life
in Nelson’s Time, The Dauber, A Tarpulin Muster and Salt Water Ballads, were an inspiration to Yeats,
many of whose works contain an element of nostalgia, looking back to the great days of sailing ships.

39

40
30
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
Gathering Seaweed, Mayo Coast (1909)
signed ‘JACK B YEATS’ lower left
oil on board
23 x 35.5cm (9 x 14in)
Provenance: Sold by the artist to Dr F. Murray, Dublin, 1928;
James Adam Salesrooms, Dublin, 8th September 1977, Lot 73 (reproduced);
Private Collection
Exhibited: 1910 Dublin (23); 1911 Dublin Aonach; 1912 London (21); 1914 Dublin Arts Club;
Jack B.Yeats and Paul Henry - Contrasting Visions of Ireland, The Hunt Museum, Limerick, 2nd June-30th September
2017
Literature: Life in the West of Ireland (1912) 99 (reproduced);
“Jack B.Yeats - A Catalogue Raisonne of the Oil Paintings” by Hilary Pyle, No.9, p.10 (reproduced);
“Jack B.Yeats and Paul Henry - Contrasting Visions of Ireland”, Published by The Hunt Museum, Limerick, illustrated.
€50,000-€70,000 (£44,642-£62,500)
In the west of Ireland, large quantities of seaweed are often washed onto the shore during storms, and for generations this
has been harvested to provide a source of fertiliser. Up to the mid-twentieth century, people would bring horses and carts
onto the beach, to collect seaweed, which they used as manure to enrich fields and gardens. Seaweed was also burned, the
ash providing a source for chemical compounds such as sodium and potassium nitrates-the latter, saltpetre, is an ingredi-
ent in making gunpowder. Iodine, used in medical treatments, could also be extracted from seaweed ash. From the early
nineteenth century onwards, seaweed gathering became a favourite subject for artists in Ireland. The Kelp Gatherers by
Samuel Lover dates from 1836, while J. M. Kavanagh’s 1895 Carting Seaweed on Sutton Sands is in the National Gal-
lery of Ireland. Henry Jones Thaddeus depicted seaweed gathering in the west of Ireland, as did Paul Henry and Nathan-
iel Hone.
This painting of harvesting seaweed was painted by Jack B. Yeats in 1909, and reproduced as a monochrome plate in
his book Life in the West of Ireland, published three years later. A relatively early work by Yeats, the painting conveys
vividly the struggle by country people to maintain and improve their smallholdings. Under a cloudy sky, waves breaking
around him, the man pulls seaweed from the sea, piling it onto a horse-drawn cart. Just below the horizon, a thin green
line indicates a field, with a sandy cliff below leading to the shore. In the foreground are dark rocks, silhouetted against
the white surf. The colour range, mainly greys and browns, is enlivened with the bright dash of orange and purple sea-
weed piled high on the cart.
In the years after 1905, Yeats travelled extensively in Mayo and Galway, largely as a result of having been commis-
sioned, by The Manchester Guardian, along with John Millington Synge, to produce a series of articles on life in the West
of Ireland. For these articles, Synge provided the texts, and Yeats the illustrations. Yeats also produced illustrations, in-
cluding one of a woman carrying a large basket of seaweed, for Synge’s book The Aran Islands, published in 1907. Dur-
ing these years, exhibitions of paintings by Yeats were held regularly in London and Dublin, and in 1904, the American
lawyer John Quinn organised an exhibition of his work in New York. Gathering Seaweed was first exhibited in Dublin in
1910. Between 1908 and 1915, Yeats was also occupied with editing and providing texts and illustrations for a monthly
publication called A Broadside. A sense of drama infuses Yeats’s art, and there is often a literary quality to his paintings
and prints, many of which illustrate an event, a passing feeling, or a memory of old days. Often the people he depicts are
isolated and lost in their own thoughts. His paintings provide glimpses into everyday life, mainly in Sligo and the west of
Ireland, but also into his own world of the imagination.

41

42
31
Patrick Tuohy RHA (1893-1930)
Saint Patrick (1925-26)
signed lower right
oil on canvas
84.5 x 64cm (33.25 x 25in)
Provenance: The artist’s family;
Thence by descent.
Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition 1926, Catalogue No.149;
Tuohy Memorial Exhibition, Dublin 1931, Catalogue No.20;
Reproduced as a colour print by the Talbot Press, Dublin in 1926/27 and reprinted in 1932
privately to commemorate the holding of the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin that year.
€4,000-€7,000 (£3,571-£6,250)

43
32
James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1878-1944)
The Rosses, Co Donegal
oil on canvas
51 x 61.20cm (20 x 24in)
€6,000-€9,000 (£5,357-£8,035)
The Irish landscape painter James Humbert Craig was born in Belfast but spent his youth in the countryside of County Down.
Craig briefly attended Belfast College of Art where he studied drawing and fine art painting. He took all his inspiration from the
scenery, people and culture of Ireland - above all, from what he saw with his two eyes. He never attempted to embellish or distort
nature. His job, as a landscape painter was to reflect nature as it was. Despite this fidelity to nature, Craig was not above drama-
tising his landscape painting in the style of Paul Henry. Also, despite his indifference to Barbizon landscape art, Craig’s plein air
painting method was similar to that of the Impressionists, as he was at his happiest out-of-doors either painting or fishing. Many
of his colour schemes are consciously sober and the raw beauty of the landscape is expressed in rugged paintwork. He painted in
many different locations, including the Glens of County Antrim, as well as the more inhospitable coastal landscapes of Don-
egal and Galway. A successful painter of his day, Craig exhibited regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1915 and was
elected to both the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA).

44
33
James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1878-1944)
Portnablagh, Co Donegal
signed lower right
oil on board
38.20 x 50.5cm (15 x 20in)
Provenance: Apollo Gallery, Dublin (label & stamped verso);
Private Collection
€5,000-€7,000 (£4,464-£6,250)

45
34
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
Boys Fishing
signed lower left
oil on canvas
51 x 68.75cm (20 x 27in)
€15,000-€20,000 (£13,392-£17,857)
Frank McKelvey first attracted attention with his pictures of ‘old’ Belfast, and his landscape painting. In 1917,
his artwork was accepted by the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) when he was only 23. For the next fifty-five
years he showed every year at the RHA. In 1919, he showed five paintings at the Water Colour Society of Ire-
land exhibition. In 1921, McKelvey was elected a member of the Belfast Art Society. McKelvey was consid-
ered one of the most successful Irish landscape painters of his time. He was gifted both with a superb technical
fluency and an inquisitive mind so that painting to him represented a sense of discovery which, notwithstanding
the often repetitive nature of some of his landscapes, imbued his work with a constant freshness.

46
35
Charles J. McAuley RUA ARSA (1910-1999)
Everyone Helps with the turf (1983)
signed lower left and dated 1983
oil on canvas
51 x 76.30cm (20 x 30in)
Provenance: Oriel Gallery, Dublin;
Private Collection
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)
Charles McAuley was born in 1910, in Gruig, Glenann, County Antrim, one of the nine Glens of Antrim. Despite
being from a small rural village, McAuley pursued painting from an early age, in an area where farming was one of
the main sources of life and income.
Early in his life he was spotted by James H. Craig at a local Glens Feis who encouraged him and inspired his early
work. His paintings depicted the rivers, mountains, seascapes and rural life that surrounded him.
Many of his works are in private collections. There are several of his paintings in public collections such as Ulster
Museum and Queens University Belfast.

47
36
William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968)
The Drummers
signed lower right
watercolour
49 x 36cm (19.25 x 14.25in)
Exhibited: This work is thought to date circa 1962 when William Conor exhibited a work of the same title at the RHA
€8,000-€12,000 (£7,142-£10,714)
William Conor was a Belfast-born artist celebrated for his warm and sympathetic portrayals of working-class life in Ulster. His
artistic talents were recognised at the early age of ten when a teacher of music, Louis Mantell, noticed the merit of his chalk draw-
ings and arranged for him to attend the College of Art.
He initially worked as a commercial artist, before being commissioned during WWI by the British government to produce official
records of soldiers and munitions workers.
He moved to London in 1920 and there met and socialised with such artists as Sir John Lavery and Augustus John. He exhibited at
the RA in 1921 and in Dublin at the RHA from 1918 to 1967.
Conor was one of the first Academicians when the Belfast Art Society became the Ulster Academy of Arts in 1930. He became an
Associate RHA in 1938 and a full member in 1946. He exhibited at the Victor Waddington Galleries in 1944 and 1948. In 1952 he
was awarded the OBE and in 1957 he was elected President of the RUA - an office he held until 1964. More than 50 works of his
in crayon and watercolour are in the permanent collections of the Ulster Museum.

48
37
Donald Teskey RHA (b.1956)
Inagh Valley, Connemara
signed lower right
acrylic on paper
23 x 30.5cm (9 x 12in)
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)

49
38
John Shinnors (b.1950)
Nude II (2004)
signed lower right
oil pastel on board
22.5 x 25cm (9 x 10in)
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin (label verso);
Private Collection
€4,000-€6,000 (£3,571-£5,357)
The human figure is a relative rarity in the abstracted pictorial worlds of John Shinnors, where we are more likely to encoun-
ter birds, cows, fish and scarecrows. He has, though, made several studies of nudes. Predictably, while the gently curvaceous
form is unmistakably human and sensually yielding, the pale torso is translated into Shinnors’ characteristically stylised visual
language of shapes and signs, with an almost monochrome palette illuminated by subtle touches of ochre and flesh tints.

50
39
White Kite
signed lower left
oil on canvas laid on board
22.20 x 19.5cm (8.75 x 7.75in)
€4,000-€6,000 (£3,571-£5,357)

51
40
Donald Teskey RHA (b.1956)
Stella Maris (2006)
signed lower left
oil on paper
71 x 100cm (28 x 39.5in)
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
€15,000-€20,000 (£13,392-£17,857)
In 1996, Donald Teskey was invited on a working residency at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, North Co Mayo.
The experience made a lasting impact on his work and he has returned many times since. Apart from the rugged beauty of the
coastline, he was also drawn to the buildings and communities in this tough, weather scoured environment. He made studies and
paintings of Ballycastle itself and, on several occasions, the strikingly located Stella Maris, built as a 19th century Coastguard
headquarters, now a small country hotel. Downpatrick Head is visible in the background.

52
41
William Scott OBE RA (1913-1989)
Angles Equal, from
‘A Poem for Alexander’ 1972
signed, numbered A/P and dated (19)’72
screenprint in colours on wove paper -
artist’s proof (aside from a numbered edition of 72)
57 x 77cm (22.4 x 30.3in)
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)
42
Hans Arp (1886-1966) German/French
Coulisses de Foret (Wings of the
Forest) 1955
signed lower right
lithograph in colours (from an edition of 300)
36.25 x 31cm (14.3 x 12.2in)
Provenance: Collection of the late Lee
Snodgrass, Colorado;
Thence by Descent
Literature: Arntz 330
€500-€750 (£446-£669)

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43
Banksy (1975)
Laugh Now 2003
signed and dated in black ink, numbered 50/150
screenprint in colours on wove paper - number 50 from an edition of 150 (there was also an unsigned
edition of 450), published by Pictures on Walls, London
69.20 x 49.40cm (27.2 x 19.4in)
This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by Pest Control Office.
€30,000-€40,000 (£26,785-£35,714)

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44
Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
Golden Mushroom, from Campbell’s Soup II, 1969 (F. & S. II.62)
hand signed in ball-point pen verso, stamp-numbered 94/250 verso
screenprint in colours on smooth wove paper - number 94 from an edition of 250 (total edition
includes 26 artist’s proofs). Printed by Salvatore Silkscreen Co., Inc., New York.
Published by Factory Editions, New York.
89 x 58.5cm (35 x 23in)
Provenance: Taylor Gallery, Belfast;
Private Collection
Literature: Feldman-Schellmann II.62
€20,000-€30,000 (£17,857-£26,785)
One evening in 1962, the philosopher and art critic Arthur Danto happened to see a work by
Andy Warhol in the window of the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. The work was a stack
of screen-printed Brillo Boxes, just like the boxes you could find in the supermarket, but these
were recreated by Warhol and they were empty. Danto realised in that moment that Warhol had
transformed the whole notion of fine art. As far as he was concerned, things would never be the
same again.
Born in Philadelphia in 1930, Warhol had worked as a very successful commercial artist and
illustrator in New York since the early 1950s. But now he was transforming the subjects and
methods of popular and commercial culture into the currency of fine art. Pretty much every
American, Danto realised, could understand a Warhol. You didn’t need knowledge of art history
or any kind of insider information. At a stroke he had bypassed the pretensions of an art world
elite - an elite that included Danto himself.
Warhol went on to draw on any number of everyday subjects including, famously, Campbell’s
Soup cans - of which there are three pristine examples here - dollar bills, advertising imagery
and film stars. When Warhol used images of film stars, he didn’t aim for a classical studio
portrait, he took ordinary publicity shots, as reproduced in newspapers and magazines, familiar
to millions of people, made silkscreen versions of them, mechanically, but with some interven-
tions, and produced them in multiples. His studio was called, appropriately, the Factory. His
Ingrid Bergman has her in character as Sister Superior Mary Benedict in The Bells of St Mary’s.
Aidan Dunne, October 2018

55

56
45
Tomato-Beef Noodle O’s, from Campbell’s Soup II, 1969 (F. & S. II.61)
hand signed in ball-point pen verso, lettered L verso
screenprint in colours on smooth wove paper - one of 26 artist’s proofs numbered A-Z aside from the edition of 250.
Printed by Salvatore Silkscreen Co., Inc., New York. Published by Factory Editions, New York.
88.90 x 58.40cm (35 x 23in)
Private Collection
€20,000-€30,000 (£17,857-£26,785)

57
46
Scotch Broth, from Campbell’s Soup II, 1969 (F. & S. II.55)
hand signed in ball-point pen verso, stamp-numbered 38/250 verso
screenprint in colours on smooth wove paper - number 38 from an edition of 250 (total edition includes 26 artist’s proofs).
Printed by Salvatore Silkscreen Co., Inc., New York. Published by Factory Editions, New York.
88.90 x 58.40cm (35 x 23in)
Provenance: Martin Lawrence Gallery, New York (label verso);
Taylor Gallery, Belfast;
Private Collection
€20,000-€30,000 (£17,857-£26,785)

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47
The Nun, from Ingrid Bergman, 1983 (F. & S. II.314)
hand signed in pencil and numbered 215/250 lower right
screenprint in colours on Lenox Museum Board - numbered 215 from an edition of 250 (total edition includes 20 artist’s
proofs) with the printer’s blind stamp Rupert Jasen Smith, New York. Published by Galerie Börjeson, Malmö, Sweden.
96.5 x 96.5cm (38 x 38in)
Private Collection
€20,000-€30,000 (£17,857-£26,785)

59
48
Albert Irvin RA (1922-2015) British
Hackford Series No. 21 (1990)
signed top centre and dated (19)’90
gouache
56.5 x 76cm (22.25 x 30in)
Exhibited: Gimpel Fils Gallery, London (label verso)
€3,000-€4,000 (£2,678-£3,571)
A quintessentially London artist, Albert Irvin lived and worked in the city, and his titles are taken from its highways
and byways. Having begun as a figurative artist, Irvin jumped into his own brand of exuberant, colourful abstraction,
making buoyant, cheering compositions from just a few linear motifs. A geometric underpinning is always there, but
expressed with the lightest gestural touch. He was an alchemist of colour, light and pattern.

60
49
Abstract Composition (1964)
Executed in 1964. The Present work is registered with the William Scott Archive as no.1131
pastel on paper
34 x 36.5cm (13.5 x 14.5in)
Provenance: Private Collection;
Christie’s, London, Private Collection Sale, 8th March 1991, Lot 151;
Private Collection
€10,000-€15,000 (£8,928-£13,392)
William Scott’s work is rooted in still life and the human figure but, over the course of his career, not unlike Giorgio Morandi with
still life, he managed to accommodate whole worlds in the ostensible constraints of a single genre. By the 1960s, he was thorough-
ly at home in an idiom that was both intimate and architectonic in its reach. The elegant simplicity of forms and the management
of space belie the relatively small scale of the work.

61
50
Abstract Composition (1964)
Executed in 1964. The Present work is registered with the William Scott Archive as no.1134
pastel on paper
34 x 36.5cm (13.5 x 14.5in)
Provenance: Private Collection;
Christie’s, London, Private Collection Sale, 8th March 1991, Lot 154;
Private Collection
€10,000-€15,000 (£8,928-£13,392)

62
51
Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (1932-2016)
Cockerel
signed lower left
oil on board
51.5 x 42cm (20 x 16in)
Provenance: Tom Caldwell Galleries, Belfast (label verso);
Private Collection
€8,000-€12,000 (£7,142-£10,714)
There was no better observer of animals, including the human animal, horses, dogs and more, that Basil Blackshaw. His anten-
nae were instinctively attuned to the nervous energy of other beings, alert to the most subtle nuances of posture and movement.
While the casual manner of delivery might make it look easy for him, he was in fact the most self-critical and exacting of art-
ists. It’s just that, once he had found what he was looking for, he did not believe in adding any superfluous detail.

63
52
George Campbell (1917-1979)
Mountain Village, Tenerife
signed lower left and titled on reverse
oil on board
51 x 40cm (20 x 16in)
Provenance: David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, April 1972 (label verso);
James Adam, Irish Art Sale, 27th March 2002, Lot 20;
James Adam and Bonhams, Irish Art Sale, 4th December 2007, Lot 119;
Private Collection
Exhibited: George Campbell Exhibition - The Lavitt Gallery, Cork April 1972: Catalogue No.7;
George Campbell & the Belfast Boys Summer Loan Exhibition 2015, James Adam Dublin: No.121
€5,000-€7,000 (£4,464-£6,250)
George Campbell first visited Spain in 1951 and was so smitten that he spent about half of every year there from then on.
Throughout the 1950s and ‘60s he developed and refined an elegant, rhythmic style of painting - of which this composition based
on a village on the island of Tenerife is a particularly fine example - that centres on a Cubist approach to spatial arrangement and
is informed by an innate rhythmic sense (he was also an ardent and gifted musician).

64
53
Cavanagh (1974)
Aubusson tapestry - unique - produced by Tabars Freres & Soeurs, France No:2031
(label verso)
382 x 386cm (150 x 152in)
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist
by an important private collector in 1974:
Thence by Descent
€100,000-€150,000 (£89,285-£133,928)
Throughout the 1940s, Louis le Brocquy became interested in the emotional
expressiveness of colour and the potential correspondence between colours and
music. He wrote of using “major and minor ‘colour chords’ for their emotional
resonance.” In 1948, he was one of several painters invited to produce designs for
tapestry by the Edinburgh Tapestry Weavers. He was enthralled by the medium, but
rather then pursuing the conventional practice of having skilled weavers reproduce
painted cartoons with coloured thread, he was influenced by the great Jean Lurçat,
who he regarded as a mentor.
Lurçat championed the reintroduction of pre-Renaissance tapestry techniques, and
le Brocquy was instinctively drawn to his approach. Having been commissioned
to produce several further tapestries, he made linear cartoons (or patterns), based
on his paintings, with a numerical code specifying colours throughout the compo-
sition. Thus, rather than being a version of an original, the tapestry was a unique
work in itself. They were made by Atelier Tabard at Aubusson.
When he made his celebrated brush and ink drawings for Thomas Kinsella’s The
Táin in 1969, he realized that the black-and-white calligraphic images were perfect
for translation into tapestry. Atelier René Duché at Aubusson made a series of
black-and-white works, culminating in an absolutely monumental piece, The Táin,
Army Massing, for the RTE studio building. Then, le Brocquy brilliantly applied
the fruits of his 1940s explorations of colour with another monumental work, The
Táin, made by Atelier Tabatd for the PJ Carroll building in 1970.
A Táin is a raiding party and le Brocquy visualised a host of co-operative but rug-
gedly independent individuals with an informal grid of heads, each distinctive,
rather than a formal, regimented army. He emphasises this point with the dazzling
use of a spectrum of primary and secondary colours that pulses and flares through
the composition. In the 1970 Táin, the heads are arrayed against a single back-
ground colour. In time, le Brocquy introduced a variable luminosity, so that the
background seems to radiate light that shines through and illuminates the warriors’
heads. These works rank among his finest achievements and, not least given its
dramatic scale, this example is one of the most impressive and important.
Aidan Dunne, September 2018

65

66
54
Gwen O’Dowd (b.1957)
Cladach Series (2005)
signed, titled and dated 2005 on reverse
oil on canvas
149.5 x 119.5cm (59 x 47in)
Provenance: Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin (label verso);
Private Collection
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)
Gwen O’Dowd’s textural, architectonic compositions usually hinge on the interaction of sea and land or, to be more specific, tide
and rock. The relentless energy of the tides wears down the shore, finds and infiltrates faults and fissures, carves out hollows and
channels. The energies involved can be explosive, as in several images in her Cladach (Seashore) series, as waves erupt through
openings in hidden sea caverns. Her work has been read metaphorically, for example as alluding to the human life cycle, but
O’Dowd never spells out any desired line of interpretation, preferring to let her paintings and prints - she is also an outstanding
printmaker - speak for themselves.

67
55
Nick Miller (b.1962)
Nature and History II (1998)
signed lower left and dated 1994-8 lower right, titled on reverse
oil on linen
122 x 137.5cm (48 x 54in)
Provenance: Rubicon Gallery, Dublin (label verso);
Collection of the late Vincent Ferguson;
Thence by Descent
Exhibited: Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, 2002
€17,500-€25,000 (£15,625-£22,321

68
56
Image of James Joyce (1992)
signed lower left and dated (19)’92 with artist’s archive W1211
watercolour
64 x 49cm (25.25 x 19.25in)
Provenance: Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, where purchased by the present owner;
€17,500-€25,000 (£15,625-£22,321)
An encounter with painted Polynesian heads in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris in 1964 led Louis le Brocquy to embark on a series
of paintings of ancestral heads. He also had in mind the Celtic notion of the head as a container that holds the spirit prisoner. The era
of a straightforward portrait likeness was, he felt, over in the age of cinema and photography, of the multiplicity of imagery - and
this was pre-internet. He conceived the idea of painting as a kind of archaeology of the mind, an attempt to attain a fragmentary
grasp of the spirit of a living being. Within a year, he was already interested in using this approach to explore the image of James
Joyce. Yeats and Beckett were to follow. The images are always tentative, always aspirational. They have, over the years, become
trademark works.

69
57
Image of Samuel Beckett (1992)
signed lower left and dated (19)’92 with artist’s archive W1201
watercolour
64 x 49cm (25.25 x 19.25in)
Provenance: Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (label verso), where purchased by the present owner;
€17,500-€25,000 (£15,625-£22,321)

70
58
John Behan RHA (b.1938)
Atlantic Winter Famine Ship
signed
unique bronze
73 x 63 x 15cm (28.7 x 24.8 x 5.9in)
€8,000-€12,000 (£7,142-£10,714)
John Behan has explored many themes of ancient mythol-
ogy, literature and legend. Each theme is moved to a depth
of exploration, the imbued meaning in the works derive
from his own in-depth knowledge of his subject, which is
translated into the shape and form of his bronze work. John
Behan is renowned for his many themed works, his great
Bulls, Birds or Famine Ships, ‘Paiste’ and ‘Family’ are other
universal themes explored by Behan. In their simplicity of
depiction, they are created with an energy; great metaphors
of life’s journey. John Behan first created The Famine Ship
to stand at the base of Croagh Patrick, County Mayo. Fierce
in impact, the hull of the boat is birthed at land, the mast
laden with the skeleton bodies of lost emigrants. In large or
smaller scale, The Famine Ship series carries an indescrib-
able depth of history, poignant loss and struggle for life.
Commissioned by the Irish government to commemorate the
contribution of Irish emigrants worldwide, a 26-by-24-foot
bronze themed piece on The Famine Ship entitled “Arrival”
now stands in the plaza in front of the United Nations head-
quarters in New York.

71

72
59
Wild Swans at Coole (2018)
signed, numbered 4/9 and dated 2018
bronze - number 4 from an edition of 9
80 x 75 x 64cm (31.5 x 29.5 x 25.2in)
€10,000-€15,000 (£8,928-£13,392)

73
60
Canal Bull
signed and numbered 3/9
34 x 56.5 x 23cm (13.4 x 22.2 x 9.1in)
€5,000-€7,000 (£4,464-£6,250)

74
61
Patrick O’Reilly (b.1957)
Pegasus (2007)
signed, dated (20)’07 and numbered 1/1
unique bronze on steel base
85 x 168 x 62cm (33.5 x 66.1 x 24.4in)
Provenance: De Vere’s, Irish Art Sale, Dublin, 14th May 2013, Lot 123;
Private Collection
€10,000-€15,000 (£8,928-£13,392)
Kilkenny-born Patrick O’Reilly’s arrival on the artistic map came with a hugely ambitious show at the 1996 Galway Arts Festival.
His witty, allegorical, mechanical sculptures accepted no bounds in terms of scale and aesthetics, mingling fine art with fair-
ground. The decisive next step was the late Barry Flanagan’s advice to him to work in bronze. Where Flanagan identified with the
hare as an animal alter ego, O’Reilly settled on the teddy bear, and he never looked back. Magic-realist bears in numerous guises
have appeared all over in Ireland and internationally. Crows and horses have also preoccupied him and, here Pegasus, the winged
horse, charged with the artist’s phenomenal energy.

75
62
Patrick O’Reilly (b.1957)
Stitch in Time (2017)
signed and dated (20)’17
unique bronze
35.5 x 34 x 15cm (14 x 13.4 x 5.9in)
€4,000-€6,000 (£3,571-£5,357)

76
63
Sandra Bell RHA (b.1954)
Salmon Leap (2002)
signed and dated 2002
unique bronze
52 x 41 x 32cm (20.5 x 16.1 x 12.6in)
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)

77
64
Orla de Bri (b.1965)
Divine Embrace
signed
unique bronze
207 x 54.5 x 58cm (81.5 x 21.5 x 22.8in)
€6,000-€9,000 (£5,357-£8,035)

78
65
Melanie Le Brocquy HRHA (1919-2018)
Mother and Child Walking (1998)
signed, dated and numbered AC
bronze on granite base - artist’s copy
(aside from an edition of 6)
28 x 21 x 15cm (11 x 8.3 x 5.9in)
Provenance: From the collection of the artist;
Thence by Descent
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,785-£2,678)

79
66
Rory Breslin (b.1963)
Seamus Heaney (2012)
signed, dated 2012 and numbered 1/3
60 x 56 x 33cm (23.6 x 22 x 13in)
€3,000-€5,000 (£2,678-£4,464)

80
67
Nevill Johnson RHA RUA (1911-1999)
No Vile Men (1956)
signed lower centre left
oil on board
37 x 71.75cm (14.5 x 28.25in)
Provenance: Combridge Fine Art, Dublin (framing label verso);
Collection of Professor Eoin O’Brien
Exhibited: Irish Exhibition of Living Art 1956 (label verso);
Literature: Nevill Johnson ‘Paint the Smell of Grass’ by Dickon Hall & Eoin O’Brien, Ava Gallery 2008; illustrated page 55
€6,000-€9,000 (£5,357-£8,035)
In this quasi-abstract painting-one of Johnson’s best-the composition, based on a landscape, is dominated by an horizon of black
hills, above which hover grey clouds. The landscape itself, a bleak monochrome expanse, appears to contain fragmentary remains
of buildings but is otherwise uninhabited: this might well be a vision of the world after a nuclear war. In 1956, the year this paint-
ing was exhibited at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, the Cold War was at its height; in October the Hungarian revolt against So-
viet rule was crushed while in the Middle East, the Suez Crisis dominated the headlines. Nuclear annihilation was an ever-present
threat, and Johnson captures the spirit of the times in this painting, with its expressive title No Vile Men. The origins of the title
are not clear; but the phrase reflects Johnson’s humanist philosophy, and his bleak view of the world’s political leaders.
Born in Buxton, Derbyshire in 1911, Nevill Johnson was a significant figure in Ireland’s art world in the mid-twentieth century.
Best known for quasi-abstract still-lives, interiors and landscapes, he was also a talented photographer. After attending Sedbergh
School, Johnson went to work for the Ferodo motor parts company, and was soon afterwards transferred to their Belfast office,
where he took up painting part-time, and became friends with the writers John Hewitt and Louis MacNeice. Influenced by the
painter John Luke, Johnson initially produced tempera works that reflected his increasingly Existential world view. In 1936, he
and Luke travelled to Paris, where they saw works by Picasso, Yves Tanguy and Salvador Dali, the latter becoming a significant
influence on Johnson, who, after his return to Belfast, produced a series of Surrealist paintings. Johnson travelled regularly to
the Republic of Ireland, and in 1947 had his first exhibition at the Waddington Gallery in Dublin, followed by a second success-
ful show three years later. In 1951, his Crucifixion was included in a touring exhibition presented at the Rhode Island School of
Design. By then Johnson was living full-time in Dublin, and he remained there for much of that decade, exhibiting at the Irish
Exhibition of Living Art, and taking black and white photographs of street scenes that were later published in the book Dublin: A
People’s City. Along with George Campbell, Daniel O’Neill and Gerard Dillon, he was included in a Waddington exhibition Four
Ulster Painters, that toured to London. He also had a solo show in Washington DC in 1957 and around that time decided to move
to London, where he shared a flat in Notting Hill with artists Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde.
A restless and self-critical spirit, Johnson was dissatisfied with his own art and although he destroyed many of his paintings during
this time, he continued to show with the IELA. In 1970, during which time he was exploring print-making and collage, he had his
first solo show in many years, at the Collectors Gallery in Notting Hill. Eight years later, an exhibition of his work was held in
Dublin, at the Tom Caldwell Gallery. His autobiography The Other Side of Six, was published in 1983 and documents his experi-
menting with different art styles and media; his earlier Surrealist paintings giving way to more Cubist-inspired work. No Vile Men
reveals the influence of artists such as Paul Nash and Ben Nicholson, but is also a highly-personal work, inspired by Johnson’s
own thoughts on life and his worries about the future of the world. Johnson is represented in the major galleries and museums in
Ireland, as well as the OPW and Arts Council collections. A label on the back of this work confirms it was painted in 1956, while
Johnson was living in Convent Place, Hatch Street, Dublin, and that it was exhibited at the IELA that year. The use of hardboard,
or Masonite, was popular amongst artists at the time, not least due to the expense of linen canvas. Thurloe Conolly and Brian
Boydell, exhibitors at the IELA, also generally used hardboard for their paintings.

81

82
68
Evie Hone HRHA (1894-1955)
Figure on a Woodland Path
signed lower right
gouache
23.5 x 16cm (9.25 x 6.25in)
€1,200-€1,800 (£1,071-£1,607)

83
69
Camille Souter HRHA (b.1929)
Plaice (1976)
oil on mulberry paper
36.70 x 49.5cm (14.5 x 19.5in)
Provenance: Collection of the artist Derek Hill;
Christie’s London, 17th May 2001, Lot 323;
Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin 2001 (label verso);
Private Collection
Exhibited: The Dawson Gallery, Dublin (label verso); Some Irish Fish, 1977, number 1;
Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin July 2001
Literature: Camille Souter: The Mirror in the Sea by Garrett Cormican; reference 336, page 290 & illustrated on page 292
€4,000-€6,000 (£3,571-£5,357)
In Paris in the early 1970s, Camille Souter visited a slaughterhouse and was struck by the unsettling beauty of the butchered
animals. Back in Ireland, the experience launched her into a series of paintings of meat. Thus primed, she noticed “a rather
lovely display” in the window of a Bray fishmongers. Thereafter, she set up studio near the fish market - now gone - in Dublin
city centre. This sensitive study of a plaice was number one in the catalogue of her 1977 exhibition at the Dawson Gallery, Some
Irish Fish. The painter Derek Hill thought highly enough of it to acquire it. Souter’s approach is tender, but also pragmatic, in
musing on the mystery of life and death. As she noted, she fished herself, and she loved to eat fish.

84
70
Colin Middleton RUA RHA (1910-1983)
MatinÈe (1976-77)
signed lower right, titled and dated (1976-77) on reverse
oil on board
61 x 61cm (24 x 24in)
Provenance: Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast (label verso);
Private Collection
Exhibited: Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast, Colin Middleton, Paintings 1976-77:
Transmutations, Metamorphoses, Visitations, catalogue number 10
€25,000-€35,000 (£22,321-£31,250)
Colin Middleton’s work in the 1970s was dominated by two major groups of
paintings, the Wilderness Series and the Westerness Series. These can both, in
part, be seen as a summary of his career, bringing together various ideas, themes
and symbols, as well as very personal references from across five decades, into
a distilled and coherent body of paintings. Matinée, which relates closely to both
groups, was completed towards the end of this period and was exhibited in an
exhibition subtitled ‘Transmutations, Metamorphoses, Visitations’.
These three concepts, which were central to Middleton’s early symbolist and sur-
realist work in the 1930s and 1940s, are skilfully explored in Matinée; the twisted
rock-like form in the foreground recalls the remarkable paint surface Middleton
achieved in the Westerness series to create elusive and shifting textured shapes
which, as here, could suggest either the solidity of rock or else fabric draped
across a mysterious and abstracted female form.
Around this strange arch takes place a colourful scene that is more reminiscent of
the Wilderness series. Two doll-like female figures seem to be engaged in a perfor-
mance with two boxes, one solid, the other weightless, with the higher figure also
tethered to an invisible object just beyond the view we are permitted. The vast sky
and what appears to be a wooden deck-like structure occur in many of the Wilder-
ness paintings and are perhaps a reference to the extensive sea journeys Middleton
took earlier in the decade.
These travels to Spain, Australia and South America stimulated his use of colour
in the 1970s, as well as providing a new vocabulary of shapes and an expansive
sense of scale in his landscapes. While his paintings of this period continue Mid-
dleton’s symbolic interests, they also marked a re-engagement with Surrealism.
In addition, paintings such as Matinée reveal unexpected new influences, such as
advertising hoardings placed in the middle of a field or on a mountain, which ap-
pealed to him as social comment as well as for the visually striking juxtapositions
they suggested.
Dickon Hall, October 2018

85

86
71
Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
Abstract Forms
signed with initials lower right
oil on board
84 x 18.5cm (33 x 7.25in)
Provenance: Purchased at the West Cork Arts Centre,
Skibbereen in the late ‘90’s by the present owner
Exhibited: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen in the late ‘90’s
€4,000-€6,000 (£3,571-£5,357)
A pictorial lyricist, Tony O’Malley seems to have been capable
of drawing pictorial sustenance from wherever he happened
to find himself. He is indelibly associated with St Ives, but
Ireland, before and after St Ives, and the Bahamas, where for
a long period he spent time annually with his partner, Jane
O’Malley were equally important. Partly for health reasons -
the warm dry air - Lanzarote also became an annual fixture and
in this relatively austere volcanic setting both Tony and Jane
flourished artistically, producing a great deal of mellow, even-
tempered work.

87
72
Standing Figure (1960)
oil on board
25.5 x 17.75cm (10 x 7in)
Provenance: The Dawson Gallery, Dublin (label verso);
Collection of Melanie Le Brocquy;
Thence by Descent
Exhibited: The Dawson Gallery, Dublin (label verso);
€10,000-€15,000 (£8,928-£13,392)
Throughout the 1950s, Louis le Brocquy gradually refined his paintings of the isolated human
presence into bony, spectral beings. They reflect existential anxieties of the time - “we…walked in
fear of nuclear disaster” and the horrors of the Second World War had eroded faith in human nature.
Also pertinent is the spinal injury, and prolonged surgery and recuperation, experienced by Anne
Madden during the decade (they married in 1959).

88
73
Terence P. Flanagan RHA PRUA (1929-2011)
Dromahair Signal Box
lower centre right
watercolour
54.5 x 74.5cm (21.5 x 29.25in)
Provenance: David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin (label verso);
Collection of the late Vincent Ferguson;
Thence by Descent
Exhibited: T.P. Flanagan Exhibition: Ulster Museum: 17th November - 25th February 1996
€3,000-€5,000 (£2,678-£4,464)
TP Flanagan was probably the finest Irish watercolour painter of the 20th Century. To some extent, he suffered from the fact
that watercolour is usually considered as a lesser medium than oil paint. He did paint in oil as well, but he was a watercolour-
ist through and through. Arguably, the tonal delicacy of his work also told against him. His palette was restrained. And often he
painted in less obvious locations: Fermanagh or, as here, Leitrim. But the quality of his painting is quite exceptional, and his work
has an enduring, classical poise.

89
74
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
Hiding in Masks
signed lower right
oil and collage on board
45.75 x 38cm (18 x 15in)
Provenance: Gifted to Arthur Armstrong by the artist;
Thence by descent;
These Auction Rooms, 2nd December 2013, Lot 47;
Private Collection
€5,000-€7,000 (£4,464-£6,250)
A charming work by Gerard Dillon, restrained and gentle in atmosphere and registering the influence of Marc Chagall, whose im-
portance he readily acknowledged, and even early Picasso. Rather than honestly communicating with each other, the title implies,
the two individuals hide behind the masks of their costumes. But the unspoken tension between them is vividly conveyed. It could
have an autobiographical subtext considering that he gave it to one of his close circle of artistic friends.

90
75
Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978)
The Examination
oil on board
18 x 12cm (7 x 4.75in)
Provenance: Pyms Gallery, London (label verso);
Private Collection
€1,500-€2,000 (£1,339-£1,785)

91
76
Daniel O’Neill (1920-1974)
The Winners
oil on board
46 x 61cm (18x 24in)
Provenance: Sotheby’s, London, The Irish Sale, 16th May 2002, Lot 262;
Private Collection
€8,000-€12,000 (£7,142-£10,714)
There’s a fauvist boldness and freshness to Daniel O’Neill’s painting of sailing boats in a rocky bay. The motif
is charged with allegorical import, but the brusque handling is far removed from the more sentimental figures
usually associated with the artist. In place of dreamy romanticism there is an almost sombre, brooding power.

92
77
St. John’s Night, Carraroe, Inishmor
oil on canvas on panel
108 x 143cm (42.5 x 56.3in)
€17,500-€25,000 (£15,625-£22,321)
Limerick artist John Shinnors is justly celebrated for his inven-
tive pictorial puzzles based on the most ordinary subject mat-
ter: mackerel laid out in the fishmongers counter, washing flap-
ping on the clothes-line, Fresian cattle in a field, scarecrows,
badgers, Loop Head lighthouse. Many of his chosen motifs
share a monochrome, black-and-white palette. He prefers that
colour, when he uses it, makes a point. It certainly does so in
St. John’s Night, Carraroe, Inishmor, which richly displays his
expertise with shades of black and white and volcanic bursts
of colour, and another trademark quality: an air of mystery and
magic. St John’s Eve, usually coincident with the Summer Sol-
stice, is traditionally celebrated by communal bonfires, beacons
in the night. Here, John Shinnors counterpoints the intense
glow of the flames with a stark, elemental terrain, the bonfire in
Carraroe with the forbidding sea-bound fortress of Inish MÛr
nearby. The dark shelf of the island’s formidable cliffs juts out
into the Atlantic waters, phosphorescent in the half-light of
midsummer darkness. Midsummer mirrors midwinter in a fine
example of pictorial drama.
Aidan Dunne, October 2018.

93

94
78
Neil Shawcross RHA RUA (b.1940)
Still Life - Vessels, Bottles and Fruit (2007)
signed and dated 2007
oil on board
120 x 178.5cm (47.25 x 70.25in)
€5,000-€7,000 (£4,464-£6,250)
Neil Shawcross was born in Lancashire in 1940. He has been resident in Northern Ireland since
1962. Shawcross paints the figure and still life, taking a self-consciously childlike approach to
composition and colour. He sources his still-life subjects from his surroundings, his home, local
coffee shops and advertising. When representing a subject as simple as a cup and saucer or a bowl
of fruit, Shawcross translates the mundane domesticity of this object into a painterly statement
invested with character. Objects are demarcated by thick outlines in black or bold colour and the
work is characterised by a remarkable control of medium. A noted colourist and technical innova-
tor, his still-lifes exude vitality and demonstrate a freshness of approach to this much-loved theme
which he has subjected to intense scrutiny over the years.
He has exhibited nationally. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Ulster Academy of Art in
1975 and was made a full Academician in 1977. He won the Academy’s Conor Award in 1975, its
Gold Medal in 1978, 1982, 1987, 1994, 1997 and 2001, and the James Adam Prize in 1998.

95
79
David Crone (b.1937)
Platform Party (1989)
signed, titled and dated (19)’89 on reverse
oil on canvas
142 x 127cm (56 x 50in)
€3,000-€5,000 (£2,678-£4,464)
David Crone, one of the finest Irish artists of our time, is a painter of multiple layers, fragments, reflections and uncertainties, all
gathered together in one tricky surface, painting by painting. Appropriate for a Northern Irish artist, you might think, and indeed
living with The Troubles contributed to his vision. But his relevance is more than historic, embracing the nature of experience,
perception and cognition. Latterly his own garden has provided rich subject matter. In the 1980s the urban world fulfilled that role,
as with the ambiguous, multi-facetted audience gathered here in Platform Party.

96
80
Sean McSweeney HRHA (1935-2018)
February Bogland (2000)
signed lower left and dated (20)’00, titled on reverse
oil on board
35.75 x 46cm (14 x 18in)
€2,500-€3,500 (£2,232-£3,125)
When Sean McSweeney moved to Sligo with his family in 1984, he was returning to a townland
he knew well, though he later observed that it took him a long time to settle there. The landscape
was very different to Wicklow, where they had lived for many years. But in time his own stretch
of bogland, with its rectangular cuttings, became a source of year round inspiration. The constant-
ly changing light, texture and colour provided an inexhaustible range of variations for some of
his finest work. The sunny expanses of Fields, Sligo, offer an overview, while February Bogland
zooms in for a dark, wintry close-up of a bog cutting.

97
81
Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (1932-2016)
Trees at Cogry, Co Antrim
oil on canvas
51 x 61cm (20 x 24in)
Provenance: Eastwood Gallery, Belfast;
Private Collection
€8,000-€12,000 (£7,142-£10,714)
Basil Blackshaw was born in Glengormley, Co. Antrim in 1932 and died in May 2016. He was educated in Belfast and graduated
from the Belfast College of Art in 1951. Blackshaw’s work remained dedicated to very Irish and often rural themes, gaining him
the title ‘poet of the rural’. The artist found inspiration in the environment around him and his art is reminiscent of his upbringing;
of breeding dogs, cock-fighting and of his father’s work as a horse trainer. In addition, he is also known for his nudes, portraits and
landscapes. Blackshaw is recognised for his traditional approach to painting, though combined with his signature loose gestural
application of paint and a very distinctive and subtle use of colour, the finished piece is often considered to be abstract. Blackshaw
has said that he aims to convey a ‘feeling’ through his art by using the subject matter to evoke a sensation in the viewer. In 1977
Blackshaw was elected as an associate of the Royal Ulster Academy of the Arts and in 1981 was elected an Academician. Black-
shaw received the Glen Dimplex Award for a Sustained Contribution to the Visual Arts in Ireland in 2001.

98
82
Roderic O’Conor RHA (1860-1940)
Still Life with Flowers
stamped lower right atelier O’CONOR
oil on board
(There is a ‘Still Life with Fruit’ verso)
41 x 33cm (16 x 13in)
Provenance: Sotheby’s, London, The Irish Sale, 9th May 2007, Lot 90;
Private Collection
€15,000-€25,000 (£13,392-£22,321)
Born in Co Roscommon to a land-owning family, O’Conor grew up in
Dublin and seemed set on being an artist from quite early on. He was
highly regarded at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and estab-
lished himself in local art circles, but his sights were on Europe and, after
one or two forays, around 1886-’87, he went to Paris to attend the atelier
of Carolus-Duran. From there he went on eventually to the artists’ com-
munity at Pont-Aven in Brittany, where Paul Gauguin was the dominant
artistic personality. O’Conor met and befriended him when he arrived
back from the South Seas in 1894.
O’Conor only returned to Ireland to deal with family issues and busi-
ness. Unlike many Irish artists who went to study in France, he was more
than content to settle there, and he had a reputation for being close to all
the latest artistic developments. His financial independence allowed him
a latitude few of his companions enjoyed. But the fact that he was not
financially dependent on his work may have led him to be casual about
exhibiting and marketing it. And he was sometimes given to over-working
a painting.
Long under-estimated, he was a fine Post-Impressionist and over his
lifetime produced an outstanding body of work including landscape, still
life, figures and interiors. There is no sign of over-working in this beauti-
fully free floral study. It is boldly stated but well judged, with soft colours,
and tonally bright, giving it an attractively light feeling.
Aidan Dunne, October 2018

99

100
84
Rose Maynard Barton RWA (1856-1929)
On the Thames
signed lower left
watercolour
23.5 x 32cm (9.25 x 12.5in)
Provenance: Christie’s, London, 11th June 1993, Lot 46;
Private Collection
€1,500-€2,500 (£1,339-£2,232)
83
Arthur Armstrong RHA (1924-1996)
Grey Landscape
oil on board
14.5 x 19.5cm (5.75 x 7.75in)
Provenance: James Adam, Dublin, Important Irish
Art Sale, 29th March 2006, Lot 33:
Private Collection
Exhibited: Arthur Armstrong: The Kenny Gallery,
Galway 1981: Cat. No. 26
€600-€900 (£535-£803)

Morgan O Driscoll IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART 12th November 2018

Morgan O Driscoll IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART 12th November 2018

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