Adam's Fine Art Auctioneers - Important Irish Art 1st October 2014

1
Important Irish Art
Wednesday 1st October 2014
Important Irish Art, wednesday 1st October 2014 at 6pm

2
Front Cover Maurice MacGonigal Lot 78
Opposite Mainie jellett Lot 31
Page 2 Roderic O’Conor Lot 96
Inside Back Cover Louis le Brocquy Lot 46
Back Cover Louis le Brocquy Lot 45

Important Irish Art
Auction Wednesday 1st October 2014 at 6pm
Including Paintings from the Roth and Deepwell Collections and other Important Clients

5
Important Irish Art
AUCTION
Wednesday 1st October 2014 at 6.00pm
VENUE
Adam’s Salerooms
26 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2.
Ireland
Viewing Highlights September 11th - 18th
At The Ava Gallery, Clandeboye Estate, Bangor, Co. Down BT19 IRN
Monday - Friday 11.00am - 5.00pm
Saturday 13th September 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Sunday 14th September 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Full Sale Viewing September 28th - October 1st
At Adam’s, 26 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2.
Sunday 28th September 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Monday 29th September 10.00am - 5.00pm
Tuesday 30th September 10.00am - 5.00pm
Wednesday 1st October 10.00am - 5.00pm

6
Brian Coyle FSCSI FRICS
CHAIRMAN
Eamon O’Connor BA
DIRECTOR
e.oconnor@adams.ie
Nick Nicholson
CONSULTANT
n.nicholson@adams.ie
James O’Halloran BA FSCSI FRICS
MANAGING DIRECTOR
j.ohalloran@adams.ie
David Britton BBS ACA
DIRECTOR
d.britton@adams.ie
Abigail Bernon BA
FINE ART DEPARTMENT
abigail@adams.ie
Kieran O’Boyle BA Hdip ASCSI
FINE ART DEPARTMENT MANAGER
k.oboyle@adams.ie
Stuart Cole MSCSI MRICS
DIRECTOR
s.cole@adams.ie
CREATE A ‘MY ADAM’S’ ACCOUNT
You can now create your own account with us by signing up and registering your particulars online at www.adams.ie
The process involves uploading identification by way of passport or driving licence and supplying valid credit card information. This is a once off request
for security purposes, and once the account is activated you will not be asked for this information again. You can leave absentee bids online, and add,
edit or amend bids accordingly as well as other useful functions including paying your invoice.
Est 1887
26 St. Stephen’s Green , Dublin 2.
Tel +353 1 6760261 Fax +353 1 6624725
info@adams.ie www.adams.ie
Ronan Flanagan
FINE ART DEPARTMENT
ronan@adams.ie
Caroline Kevany BA
FINE ART DEPARTMENT
caroline@adams.ie
Karen Regan BA
FINE ART DEPARTMENT
karen@adams.ie

7
Deepwell was the home of the Reihill family for over 70 years; and the collection was amassed by two generations of
the same family. John P. Reihill Snr originally bought the house and with the advice and guidance of Senator Joseph
Brennan he set about decorating the walls with pictures from the Waddington Galleries and from Leo Smith at the
newly established Dawson Gallery. He was a patron of the sculptor Jerome Connor, commissioning several works from
him directly as well as buying pieces from him and from the Waddington Galleries.
Several decades later his son John P. Reihill, who died last year, continued the family tradition of collecting. He acquired
numerous traditional works together with a collection of works by Roderic O’Conor and contemporary artworks by
artists such as Louis le Brocquy. This is the second and final tranche of Irish pictures and sculpture coming to us from
the estate of John P. Reihill.
William and Joan Roth’s introduction to Ireland began as a result of William’s passion for the literature of W.B. Yeats. He
compiled a bibliography of Yeats’ works for the Yale University Library in Connecticut. The Roth’s got married in 1947
and decided to honeymoon in Ireland. It was during this time and through his connections and literary contacts that they
developed a real affinity for the country; they in turn were embraced by Ireland’s literati.
Many decades later they purchased Hymenstown House in Cashel and they set about furnishing it in grand style. They
initially collected 18th and 19th century artworks and they frequented galleries such as Cynthia O’Connor, Oriel Gallery
and the Godolphin. Later they began to embrace 20th century pieces, some of which were bought in these rooms. The
paintings offered in this sale evidence their open-mindedness in collecting more contemporary artworks like le Brocquy,
Ballagh and Farrell which they bought mainly from the Taylor Galleries.
Despite the fact that William M. Roth was the scion of a shipping empire, he devoted much of his life to public service. He
was a philanthropist and donated the land surrounding his home in Sonoma Mountain, California to a national reserve.
William and Joan took great pleasure in forming their collection of Irish paintings over a forty year period, unfortunately
William died earlier this year, aged 97, so the Irish adventure for him has come to an end.
The Deepwell Collection
The Roth Collection
Estella Solomons Collection
Adam’s are delighted to offer a collection of works (Lots 197 - 216) by Estella Solomons; an artist who is so often
overlooked. The collection includes landscapes, typical of Solomon’s oeuvre together with a wonderful collection of portraits
depicting her friends, writers and fellow republicans.
These portraits include one of the poet Ella Young (Lot 198) from Ballymena who was involved in the Gaelic Revival and
was a founding member of Cumann na mBán and Solomons was an active member of the group with her close friend
Kathleen Goodfellow (Lot 197). Other notable subjects include Erskine Childers and Darrell Figgis; both of whom were
involved in the Howth gun-running operation in July 1914.
These works were acquired many decades ago from the artist’s estate by Geoffrey O’Connor who passed away earlier this
year. Many of the portraits were included in the 1998 documentary on the artist “Estelle” by Paradox Films which was
screened here during the Summer loan show Irish Women Artists 1870 - 1970 in July this year.

8
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PURCHASERS
1. Estimates and Reserves
These are shown below each lot in this sale. All amounts shown are in Euro. The figures shown are provided merely as a guide to prospective purchasers.
They are approximate prices which are expected, are not definitive and are subject to revision. Reserves, if any, will not be any higher than the lower
estimate.
2. Paddle Bidding
All intending purchasers must register for a paddle number before the auction. Please allow time for registration. Potential purchasers are recommended
to register on viewing days.
3. Payment, Delivery and Purchasers Premium
Thursday 2nd October 2014, 10.00am - 5pm Under no circumstances will delivery of purchases be given whilst the auction is in progress. All purchases
must be paid for and removed from the premises not later than 5pm on Thursday 2nd October 2014 at the purchaser’s risk and expense. After this time
all uncollected lots will be removed to commercial storage and additional charges will apply..
Auctioneers commission on purchases is charged at the rate of 20% (exclusive of VAT). Terms: Strictly cash, bankers draft or cheque drawn on an Irish
bank. Cheques will take a minimum of five workings days to clear the bank, unless they have been vouched to our satisfaction prior to the sale, or you
have a previous cheque payment history with Adam’s. Purchasers wishing to pay by credit card (Visa & Mastercard) may do so, however, it should be
noted that such payments will be subject to an administrative fee of 1.5% on the invoice total. American Express is subject to a charge of 3.65% on the
invoice total. Debit cards including laser card payments are not subject to a surcharge, there are however daily limits on Laser card payments. Bank Transfer
details on request. Please ensure all bank charges are paid in addition to the invoice total, in order to avoid delays in the release of items. Goods will only
be released upon clearance through the bank of all monies due. Artists Resale Rights (Droit de Suite) is NOT payable by purchasers.
4. VAT Regulations
All lots are sold within the auctioneers VAT margin scheme. Revenue Regulations require that the buyers premium must be invoiced at a rate which is
inclusive of VAT. This is not recoverable by any VAT registered buyer.
5. It is up to the bidder to satisfy themselves prior to buying as to the condition of a lot. Whilst we make certain observations on the lot, which
are intended to be as helpful as possible, references in the condition report to damage or restoration are for guidance only and should be evaluated by
personal inspection by the bidder or a knowledgeable representative. The absence of such a reference does not imply that an item is free from defects
or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any others. The condition report is an expression of opinion only and must
not be treated as a statement of fact.
Please ensure that condition report requests are received before 12 noon on Saturday 27th September as we cannot guarantee that they will be dealt
with after this time.
6. Absentee Bids
We are happy to execute absentee or written bids for bidders who are unable to attend and can arrange for bidding to be conducted by telephone.
However, these services are subject to special conditions (see conditions of sale in this catalogue). All arrangements for absentee and telephone bidding
must be made before 5pm on the day prior to sale. Cancellation of bids must be confirmed before this time and cannot be guaranteed after the auction
has commenced.
Bidding by telephone may be booked on lots with a minimum estimate of €500. Early booking is advisable as availability of lines cannot be guaranteed.
7. Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge, with thanks, the assistance of Dr. S.B.Kennedy, Dr Roy Johnston, Bruce Arnold, Denise Ferran, Claudia Kinmonth, Garrett
Cormican, Hilary Pyle, Karen Reihill, Dickon Hall, Dr. Róisín Kennedy, Marianne O’Kane Boal, Dr Éimear O’Connor, Dr Julian Campbell, Giollamuire Ó
Murchú and Ciarán MacGonigal and photographer James Fennell whose help and research were invaluable in compiling many of the catalogue entries.
We particularly want to acknowledge Christina Kennedy and Homan Potterton whose research and writings on ‘The Deepwell Collection’ were the basis
for many of the catalogue entries from that collection.
8. All lots are being sold under the Conditions of Sale as printed in this catalogue and on display in the salerooms

9
1 Cecil fFrench Salkeld ARHA (1904-1969)
Harvest Honeymoon
Gouache, 13.5 x 12cm (5¼ x 4¾”)
Signed. Signed, inscribed and dated Summer 1941 on label verso
€500 - 700

10
2 Palm Skerrett ANCA (20th/21st Century)
‘Three Auld Dubs’
Watercolour, 36 x 54cm (14 x 21¼”)
Signed
€400 - 600

11
3 Palm Skerrett ANCA (20th/21st Century)
Emigrants
Gouache, pencil and ink, 41 x 28.5cm (16 x 11¼”)
Signed. Inscribed with title verso
Provenance: From the Estate of the late Charlie
Hennessy, Cork.
€600 - 800

12
4 James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1877-1944)
Ratray Islanders, Co. Antrim
Oil on canvasboard, 23 x 30.5cm (9 x 12”)
Inscribed to P.J. Little from the artist verso; and sold by his family, De Veres, Dublin, March 1999, Cat.
No. 29
Provenance: Mr. J.P. Reihill, Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€2,000 - 4,000

13
In the Rosses
Oil on board, 28.5 x 41cm (11¼ x 16”)
Signed. Signed again and inscribed with title verso
€3,000 - 5,000

14
On the Tweed, Scotland
Oil on canvas laid on board, 23 x 30.5cm (9 x 12”)
Signed
Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist c.1940 by J.P.
Reihill Snr; Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
James Humbert Craig was almost exclusively a landscape
painter. On the Tweed, an early example of his work, was
painted in 1917, just two years after his first submission to the
RHA. It demonstrates some of the qualities which became
characteristic of the majority of his output, namely, the
manipulation of rich impasto in a quick, loose, Impressionistic
manner to describe brooding, cloud-filled skies, landscape and
rushing water, together with an overall sense of the prevailing
atmospherics and fugitive effects of light.
€1,200 - 1,600
Co. Antrim Hills with Cattle Grazing
Oil on board, 24 x 34cm (9½ x 13½”)
Signed
Provenance: Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin
€1,000 - 1,500

15
8 Maurice C. Wilks RHA RUA (1910-1984)
Maghergallon, Co. Donegal
Oil on canvas, 51 x 61cm (20 x 24”)
Signed; inscribed with title verso
€3,000 - 5,000

16
Ballynahinch River at Toombeola, Co. Galway
Oil on canvas, 35 x 45cm (13¾ x 17¾”)
Signed
€1,500 - 2,500
Snow near Ambleside, Cumbria
Oil on canvas, 40.5 x 51cm (16 x 20”)
Signed; signed and inscribed verso
Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition,
Dublin, 1979, Cat No.101
€1,500 - 2,500

17
Reflections, Glenveagh, Co. Donegal
Oil on canvas, 49 x 59.5cm (19½ x 23½”)
€2,500 - 3,500

18
In the Inagh Valley, Connemara
Oil on canvas, 49.5 x 75cm (19½ x 29½”)
€3,000 - 5,000

19
13 Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
Ards Bay, Co. Donegal
Signed
Provenance: Mr. J.P. Reihill, Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin; who purchased it in these salerooms circa 1978.
Exhibited: Collector’s Choice Exhibition, Bank of Ireland, 1982, Cat. No. 52
McKelvey’s landscapes from the 1950s onwards, become increasingly atmospheric and possess a certain “velvety” quality.
Here, the tonal landscape is invigorated by the alternation of diffused golden light with areas of rich, dark shade. The
darkened foreground of this composition has the effect of making the viewer feel that he or she is surrounded by the
landscape - that the cloud which causes the shadow is directly over the viewer’s head. This painting illustrates McKelvey’s
mastery at depicting cloudy, wind-swept skies.
€5,000 - 7,000

20
14 Seán Keating PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977)
Portrait of a Young Woman
Charcoal, 50 x 57cm (19¾ x 22½”)
Signed
€800 - 1200
15 Seán Keating PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977)
Study after The Tipperary Hurler c. 1930
Charcoal, 49 x 42cm (19¼ x 16½”)
Signed
Two galleries in New York were of great importance to the market for Irish art during the 1920s: the Helen Hackett Gallery, and The Irish Art
Rooms, later the Museum of Irish Art, run by a jovial Irish-American, Patric Farrell. Seán Keating first exhibited in a group show with Helen
Hackett in 1929, and then in a one-person exhibition in the same gallery for which he travelled to the city in 1930. He then moved to the Irish Art
Rooms where his work was shown in several group exhibitions during the 1930s. Keating’s The Tipperary Hurler, completed for the Paris Olympiad
in 1928, was sent to New York in 1929 where it was exhibited to great acclaim by both above-mentioned galleries, and later, at the World’s Fair held
in the city in 1939. Featuring a well-known star of the GAA, (now known to have been an amalgamation of two sitters; the famous Tipperary hurler,
John Joe Hayes, and, when he knew that the painting had to be finished on time for the Olympiad, completed using the features of a similar looking
art student, former IRA member, Ben O’Hickey), the painting appealed to the large Irish émigré communities in America.
A label on the reverse of Study after The Tipperary Hurler offers tantalising evidence about the origin of the work. The drawing was framed at David
Bendann’s Fine Art Rooms, a renowned gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, established in 1859 and still in existence today. The label suggests that the
drawing post-dated the painting from which it derived, and may have been commissioned by an American purchaser to whom The Tipperary Hurler
appealed. The suggestion is not at all implausible. Keating was in New York for a month in December 1930, and although exhibiting with Helen
Hackett, he was doing commissioned drawings in a space provided for him by Patric Farrell in the Irish Art Rooms. If not made during that trip
in 1930 then Study after the Tipperary Hurler may have been commissioned, through Patric Farrell, sometime over the ensuing years. Keating was
extremely precise in his treatment of the subject matter, so much so that the study, with its striking lines, and the powerful gaze of the sitter, has all
the attributes of the painting from which it originates, including the important lettering on the sash, CHC (Commercial Hurling Club), founded by
the GAA in Dublin in 1886, and still in existence today. There is one small difference: the face of the hurler is slightly younger, and a little thinner,
than that portrayed in the painting.
The connection to America through the label on the reverse of Study after The Tipperary Hurler is apposite. The original painting, The Tipperary
Hurler, proved extraordinarily popular among the press, and viewers, in New York, Boston and further afield. Although it might have found a home
in America, the painting was donated to the Municipal Gallery Dublin (now the Dublin City Gallery the Hugh Lane) in 1957 by - Patric Farrell.
©Dr Éimear O’Connor HRHA Research Associate, TRIARC-Irish Art Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin, August 2014
€3,000 - 5,000

21

22
16 Charles Lamb RHA RUA (1893 - 1964)
Fisherman and Boats, Sruthán Harbour, Carraroe
Oil on board, 26 x 35cm (10¼ x 14¼”)
Signed
€1,500 - 2,500

23
17 Charles Lamb RHA RUA (1893 - 1964)
Bann Bridge, Portadown
Oil on board, 28 x 40cm (11½ x 16”)
Provenance: Collection of the late Dr. Flood in whose house the artist lived for a time in Dublin; Sold in these rooms,
Important Irish Art sale, 8th December 1999, where purchased by the current owners
€2,000 - 4,000

24
18 William Conor RHA PRUA OBE (1884-1968)
Fun at the Fair
Oil on canvas, 51 x 40.5cm (20 x 16”)
Signed
Provenance: Thought to have been bought circa 1940s at exhibition in Dublin; and thence by descent
Martyn Anglesea has written about how William Conor found a
champion in John Hewitt. “...Hewitt perceptively described Conor as
‘a proletarian artist without protest.’ Angelsea observes, ‘this is a fair
point. Conor’s Belfast working classes are never abject, but usually
happy and enjoying themselves. There is no sense of exploitation...He
depicted the working people from both the Protestant and Catholic
traditions in Belfast with the same affection. In fact, as he spelled his
name with only one N, many people assumed that he was Catholic
rather than Protestant. He did not seem to mind.’ (William Conor -
The People’s Painter, 1999, p25). John Hewitt has also written ‘For the
middle decades of the century William Conor was the representative
artist...few can have realised how representative he has been, how
broadly typical of our best moods and impulses. In the art history of
Ireland, William Conor must be placed with Paul Henry and Jack B
Yeats, as one of the first to record the life of the people in painterly
terms, without the trappings of stage-Irishry, and by himself, the
pioneer in taking his subjects from town - rather than country folk.’
(Art in Ulster I, 1977, p86)
In a similar vein to his English contemporary L. S. Lowry, William
Conor enjoyed representing Fair Days with their bustle and sense
of anticipation. Unlike Lowry’s large sweeping views of the masses
coming and going on Fair Day, Conor focused on small intimate
groups and integrated personality into his compositions. Fun at the
Fair’ is a painterly representation, carefully arranged and it is a work
that strongly demonstrates a mark of Impressionism. Conor lived
in Paris for about six months in 1912 and would have been familiar
with the work of Renoir and Monet both of whom appear influences
on this work with its colouring, strong summer light in the middle
distance and treatment of figures. This painting is clearly a key genre
scene in Conor’s oeuvre. Harmoniously composed with plenty of
drama and depth to delight the eye, the artist has clearly considered
the perfect balance of figures and space, light and shade, colour and
line. Another painting by Conor that shows a similar compositional
strategy is Fun of the Fair (Lammas Fair, Ballycastle) 1935 in the
collection of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Although the
action in this work depicting the Lammas Fair (which dates to the
seventeenth century), is depicted on a shallower plane, it has the
same overall structure. The principal players in the scene are the man
with his back to the viewer to the left of the painting with figures
gathered, largely children, to his right. One child looks directly at
the viewer to welcome us into the happy proceedings. The figures are
all sheltered from the sun by the canopy overhead. Here in Fun at
the Fair, Conor again gathers the primary group at the fair under the
canopy in the foreground. Like the other painting, an old lady clad
in green to the left of the composition is a key player in this scene.
Again a child with smiling face connects directly with the viewer to
include the audience in the fair. It is a nostalgic painting but remains
somewhat atypical for Conor in its more European composition and
treatment. This is a timeless view yet it depicts a largely bygone era in
Ireland, north and south. “A noteworthy characteristic of an Irish fair
has been that its size did not necessarily bear any relation whatsoever
to the size or importance of the place in which it was held. Some
quite large towns have never at any time had either fairs or markets.
The most outstanding examples in County Antrim would be such
townships as Portrush or Whitehead, and the Ould Lammas Fair,
Ballycastle. As for Cushendall...Its fairs were eight in number and all
of them were held on dates associated in one way or other with the
Christian dispensation.” Hugh Alexander Boyd, Fairs and Markets in
Cushendall and Ballycastle, The Glynns Vol. 15 (1987)
It is quite remarkable that although Conor painted contemporary
subjects, even at the time he knew these scenes would not last forever.
He foretold this in somewhat singular fashion when discussing his
work; “...when we have trampled on the best of the past and sacrificed
everything of value to the much vaunted name of progress I trust
these paintings and drawings will recall a world that is quickly
disappearing and could soon be forgotten.” (Anglesea) The artist has
left us a considerable legacy of paintings, 80 within the Museums and
Galleries of Northern Ireland (MAGNI) and almost 1200 pieces in
the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. These works make up the
most comprehensive social record in visual art of Belfast in the mid
twentieth century.
Marianne O’Kane Boal
€15,000 - 20,000

25

26
19 Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964)
Cottages, Monasterevin, Co Kildare
Oil on board, 41 x 48cm (16 x 18¾”)
Signed
€4,000 - 5,000

27
20 Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964)
Coastal Farmsteads, Achill Island
Signed with initials
€7,000 - 10,000

28
21 Georgina Moutray Kyle RUA (1865-1950)
Continental Street Scene
Oil on canvas, 30 x 30cm (11¾ x 11¾”)
Signed
Born at Craigavad, Co. Down, Georgina Moutray Kyle was educated at home by governess and tutors. After attending
the Colarossi’s studio in Paris in 1880’s, she travelled widely before returning to Ireland with a distinctly modern palette
and post-impressionist style. She also exhibited works of Concarneau and Quimperlé at the RHA and the Belfast
Society. She became an active committee member of the Belfast Art Society (later called the Ulster Academy of Arts)
and was a dominant persona in Belfast exhibitions in the 1920s and 30s.
€800 - 1,200

29
22 Lilian Lucy Davidson ARHA (1893-1954)
A Pull Towards Shore
Oil on canvas, 51 x 40.75cm (20 x 16”)
Signed with monogram
Provenance: The Frederick Gallery, Dublin Summer Exhibition1998, Cat. No. 8 where purchased by John P. Reihill,
Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition 1951, Dublin, Cat. No. 113
Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, Adam’s, Dublin, July 2014, AVA Gallery, Clandeboye Aug-Sept 2014,
Cat. No. 79
Literature: One Hundred Years of Irish Art The Oriel Gallery, 1993, illustrated P 36
Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, illustrated p.94
€3,000 - 5,000

30
23 Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901 - 1980)
Flight over Mulroy
Signed
Dawson Gallery label verso
Exhibited: Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, Adam’s, Dublin, July 2014, AVA Gallery,
Clandeboye Aug-Sept 2014, Cat. No. 89
Literature: Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, illustrated p.103
Norah McGuinness’s paintings of the coastline of Ireland were highly regarded in her lifetime
and have since come to be recognised as amongst her most distinctive contribution to modern
Irish landscape painting. Many depict the murky sandbanks of Dublin, where she lived. But
she also had a studio at Rathmullan on the banks of Lough Swilly close to Co. Derry where
she was from originally. While staying here she painted many scenes of Mulroy Bay in North
Donegal, the earliest dating from the 1940s. Mulroy links Fanad Head and Rosguill Peninsula
and is now spanned by a bridge but was connected by ferry for many years.
Literally taking a bird’s eye view the painting lays out the contours of the land and sea as
seen from above. The shape of the coastline is simplified and the rocks, hills and shrubbery
transformed into decorative elements within the flat patterning of the terrain. Soaring across
this stylised landscape is a gull, its body extended outwards revealing its plumage and making
it appear exotic. More detailed and focused than the ground beneath it, the juxtaposition
of the bird and the land emphasise the two separate planes that each occupy. In this way
McGuinness draws on her extensive understanding of design and her knowledge of cubism.
The final painting was made in the studio, not en plein air, although the artist probably used
drawings and sketches made at the scene as her initial inspiration. In the final painting the
vagaries of the landscape are subsumed into a more controlled work of art. Subtle geometric
patterning and blends of greens, greys and orange transform the natural world into a self-consciously
modern painting. As in McGuinness’s other Irish landscapes, she manages to make
the familiar unfamiliar and present the Irish coastline as exotic and strangely contemporary.
Dr. Roisin Kennedy
Dublin, September 2014
€8,000 - 12,000

31

32
24 Nano Reid RHA (1900-1981)
Churchyard by the Sea
Watercolour, 32 x 56cm (12½ x 22”)
Signed
Exhibited: Dublin, Municipal Gallery & Ulster Museum, Belfast, 1974/75 Nano Reid
Retrospective; Belfast, Cat. No. 39
€1,500 - 2,000

33
25 Nano Reid RHA (1900-1981)
Workmen on Tin Roof
Oil on board, 44.5 x 60cm (17½ x 23½”)
Signed
Exhibited: Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, Adam’s, Dublin, July 2014, AVA Gallery, Clandeboye Aug-
Sept 2014, Cat. No. 39
€3,000 - 5,000

34
26 Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978)
Flower Market
Signed
Exhibited: Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, Adam’s, Dublin, July 2014, AVA Gallery, Clandeboye Aug-Sept
2014, Cat. No. 24
€3,000 - 5,000

35
27 Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978)
A Wooded Landscape
Oil on panel, 30 x 36.7cm (11¾ x 14½”)
Signed
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, 1978, where purchased by John P. Reihill, Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Essentially Fauve in character, this painting is close in style to House in a Mountainous Landscape, known to date from
the period when the artist was dividing her time between Ireland and St. Tropez during the years of the First World War.
Probably a southern French view, light and the bright colours of the Mediterranean landscape infuse this work, the latter
being used as much for effect as for description which is a typically Fauvist trait.
€3,000 - 5,000

36
28 Olive Henry RUA (1902 - 1989)
Boy with Hoop by a Gate
Signed
Belfast artist Olive Henry is known not only for her painting but also her
photography and stained glass. After taking evening classes at the Belfast
School of Art she was apprenticed to the glass company WF Clokey &
Co. Ltd where she worked for more than half a century. Henry had an
interest in photography from an early age and won various awards for
her photographs. She also wrote a column for Amateur Photography in
the 1930s. Her paintings were exhibited at the Oireachtas, Royal Ulster
Academy, the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, Water Colour Society
of Ireland and the National Society in London. Additionally she had
an important joint show with Violet McAdoo at Belfast Museum and
Gallery in 1944. Henry enjoyed travelling and made trips to Brittany,
America and Belgium, where she won an international scholarship in
1957. Following the bombing of the Ulster Hospital for Women and
Children in 1941, the Ulster Academy published a portfolio of Henry’s
lithographs in order to raise money. She was a founding member of the
Ulster Society of Women Artists, and president of the society from 1979
to 1981.
€500 - 800
29 Barbara Warren RHA (b.1925)
Mother and Child
Oil on board, 40 x 33cm (15¾ x 13”)
Signed. Inscribed artist’s label verso
€800 - 1,200

37
30 Lady Beatrice Glenavy RHA (1883 - 1968)
Mother and Child
Signed with monogram
Provenance: Sir John Purser - Griffith and by family decent to
his great niece Miss. A Griffith
Exhibited: Irish Women Artists Exhibition, National
Gallery of Ireland, 1987, Cat. No. 114
Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, Adam’s, Dublin,
July 2014, AVA Gallery, Clandeboye Aug-Sept
2014, Cat. No. 49
Literature: Irish Women Artists, National Gallery of Ireland
publication, 1987 illustrated page 134;
100 years of Irish Art - A Millennium
Presentation by Eamon Mallie 2000, page 144,
full page illustration page 145
Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, full page
illustration p.65
€3,000 - 5,000

38
31 Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
Homage to Fra Angelico (1928)
Oil on canvas, 183 x 152.5cms (72 x 60’’)
Provenance: From the Collection of Dr. Eileen MacCarvill, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin
Exhibited: Mainie Jellett Exhibition, Dublin Painters Gallery 1928
Irish Exhibition of Living Art, 1944, Cat. No. 91
An Tostal-Irish Painting 1903-1953, The Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin 1953
Mainie Jellett Retrospective 1962, Hugh Lane Gallery Cat. No. 38
Irish Art 1900-1950,
Cork ROSC 1975, The Crawford Gallery, Cork, 1975, Cat. No. 65
The Irish Renaissance, Pyms Gallery, London, 1986, Cat. No. 39
Mainie Jellett Retrospective 1991/92, Irish Museum of Modern Art Cat. No. 89
The National Gallery of Ireland, New Millennium Wing, Opening Exhibition of 20th Century Irish Paintings, January
2002-December 2003
The Collectors’ Eye, The Model Arts & Niland Gallery, Sligo, January-February 2004, Cat. No. 12;
The Hunt Museum, Limerick, March-April 2004
A Celebration of Irish Art & Modernism, The Ava Gallery, Clandeboye, June- September 2011, Cat. No 21
Analysing Cubism Exhibition Irish Museum of Modern Art Feb/May 2013, The Crawford Gallery Cork June / August 2014
and The FE Mc William Museum September/November 2013
Irish Women Artists 1870 - 1970 Summer loan exhibition Adams Dublin July 2014 and The Ava Gallery , Clandeboye Estate
August/September Cat. No. 70.
Literature: The Irish Statesman, 16th June 1928 Stella Frost,
A Tribute to Evie Hone & Mainie Jellett, Dublin 1957, pp19-20 Kenneth McConkey,
A Free Spirit-Irish Art 1860-1960, 1990, fig 58 p75 Dr. S.B. Kennedy,
Irish Art & Modernism, 1991, p37 Bruce Arnold,
Mainie Jellett and the Modern Movement in Ireland, 1991, full page illustration p120 Mainie Jellett, IMMA Cat, No. 89 p75
Analysing Cubism 2013 Full page illustration P125
Irish women artists 1870 - 1970 Full page illustration P87
€40,000 - 60,000
Cont.on p38

39

40
Note on Lot 31 Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) Homage to Fra Angelico (1928)
Cont. from p36
Homage to Fra Angelico is a major work in the oeuvre of Mainie
Jellett, a leading advocate of modernist art in Ireland. Exhibited
at a solo exhibition at the Society of Dublin Painters in 1928, the
work was warmly received by the critics of the Irish Times and the
Irish Statesman, two publications which had only five years earlier
lambasted Jellett for her abstract and seemingly incomprehensible
painting, Decoration, (1923, National Gallery of Ireland). The work
represents a turning point in Jellett’s reputation and to some extent
her practice. In it she moves from an extreme abstraction to the use
of more recognisable figurative elements. Homage pays tribute to the
work of the early Renaissance artist Fra Angelico, whose paintings,
which were reproduced in religious journals, were well known in
Ireland. Jellett schematises the underlying forms and shapes of Fra
Angelico’s design of his altarpiece, the Coronation of the Virgin (c.
1435, Uffizi), editing out unnecessary detail. The curved form of
the composition derives directly from the framing of Fra Angelico’s
painting. In addition Jellett draws on the work’s dominant colours
and tones using a similar neutral background with yellows, blues and
reds marking the prominent components in the painting. Through the
language of cubism she transforms a 15th century religious artwork
into a modern expression of spirituality. In doing so she convinced
many of her contemporaries in Ireland of the value and relevance of
modern art. As Riann Coulter has discussed Jellett’s choice of the
Virgin as a subject was a way of linking modern art to the sensibilities
of the predominantly Roman Catholic public of Free State Ireland.
The theme of the Coronation of the Virgin is found in Gothic and
early Renaissance art and represents Mary being crowned Queen of
32 Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
Virgin with Angels
Gouache, 43.5 x 33cm (17 x 13”)
Signed and dated 1930
Provenance: From the collection of the late Miss Hosford
Exhibited: The Dawson Gallery (original label verso)
Heaven. The story, which is recounted in the bible, was popularised in
the 13th century Golden Legend. For Jellett such a theme evoked a
period of widespread devotion in which the artwork played a central
role. Homage to Fra Angelico relates closely to a work produced by Albert
Gleizes, Jellett’s friend and mentor, who completed a painting with a
similar composition in 1927. Gleizes’s work was intended to be part
of a scheme of murals for a church at Serrieres close to where he had
established a commune of artists on the banks of the Rhone. In the end
the murals were never installed. Jellett, who visited Gleizes and who
corresponded regularly with him knew of the project. Both artists began
in this period to make explicit reference to religious themes. According
to Gleizes’s biographer, Peter Brooke, the French artist’s version of
the Coronation of the Virgin owed a great deal to Jellett. Homage to
Fra Angelico belonged to the academic Eileen MacCarvill who was a
great champion of Jellett’s work after the artist’s early death in 1944. In
1958 MacCarvill published Jellett’s key writings on art together with
tributes from And Lhote and Gleizes in Mainie Jellett: The Artist’s
Vision. Included in the book is a full-page illustration of Homage to Fra
Angelico together with reproductions of the series of preparatory studies
that Jellett produced for the painting showing how she transformed the
original early Renaissance image. Jellett’s work was seen to incapsulate
the core values of spirituality and universality which her particular form
of cubism championed and which challenged what the artist saw as
the superficiality of contemporary academic and realist art. Dr. Róisín
Kennedy Riann Coulter, ‘Translating Modernism. Mainie Jellett,
Ireland and the Search for a Modernist Language’, Apollo, 164, 2006,
pp.56-62. Peter Brooke, Albert Gleizes: For and Against the 20th
century, Yale University Press, 2001, p.159.
Mainie Jellett Retrospective Exhibition, The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, July - Oct 1962, Catalogue. No. 100
Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, Adam’s, Dublin, July 2014, AVA Gallery, Clandeboye Aug-Sept 2014, Cat. No. 29
Literature: Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, full page illustration p.29
€4,000 - 6,000

41

42
33 Evie Hone HRHA (1894-1955)
Composition
Gouache, 22.5 x 16cm (8¾ x 6¼”)
Signed
Provenance: The Dawson Gallery, Dublin (label verso)
€1,500 - 2,500

43
Composition
Gouache, 26 x 20.5cm (10¼ x 8”)
Signed
Provenance: The Dawson Gallery, Dublin (label verso)
€1,500 - 2,500

44
35 Frances Kelly ARHA (1908-2002)
Mother and Child
Gouache on board, 20 x 25.5cm (8 x 9”)
Signed
€200 - 400
36 May Guinness RHA (1863-1955)
Boats in Harbour
Watercolour, 29 x 22cm (11½ x 8¾”)
Signed
€1,500 - 2,500

45
Abstract Figural Composition
Stained glass panel, 30.5 x 23cm (12 x 9”)
Contained within a custom made timber light box, 58.5 x 51cm (23 x 20”)
Provenance: Previously in the Collection of the Church Preservation Trust
€2,000 - 4,000

46
The Deepwell Collection Jerome Connor (1876-1943)
quently changed, although whether the decision of change came from the
38 Jerome Connor (1876-1943)
The Singer
Bronze, 23cm high (9”)
Signed
This piece is identified as The Singer due to its close relationship
with a correspondingly titled piece in the Digby Collection. Its
smooth finish and concise modelling relate it most immediately
to The Boxer, sold in these rooms, May 2014, Cat. No. 37
€2,000 - 4,000
Born near Annascaul, Co. Kerry, in 1874, Connor was thirteen when
the family emigrated to Massachusetts. Shortly after their arrival his fa-ther
died so Connor left home to seek work, beginning first in New York
where he found employment as a sign-painter, a machinist and then as a
stone-cutter for a monument company in Massachusetts, where he worked
on the South Hadley Civil War Memorial. During this time he made addi-tional
money as a prizefighter under the name of Patrick J. O’Connor. He
also trained as a bronze-founder and assisted Roland Hinton Perry (1870-
1941), in the casting of The Fountain of Neptune bronzes for the Library of
Congress, Washington DC, all before he was twenty-one years old.
Having worked for a period at the Roycroft Institution, East Aurora, New
York, where he produced commercial terracotta busts. Connor graduated to
“high” art via portraiture, producing Civil War memorials and various mon-uments.
His Irish-American connections brought him the Robert Emmet
commission, and later, the Lusitania Memorial commission, funded by the
Lusitania Peace Memorial committee and to be sited at Cobh. He was also
commissioned to carry out a full length statue of Elbert Hubbard, founder
of the Roycroft Institution and personal friend of Connor’s who died in
the sinking of the Lusitania. On the strength of these two commissions he
returned to Ireland in 1925, taking a studio on the North Circular Road
in Dublin. However, the designs for the Lusitania Memorial were fre-
Lusitania committee or the sculptor himself is unclear. Conceived of as a
symbolic appeal for world peace, the Memorial was to occupy Connor for
nearly eight years, from 1929-1936, and although he had produced several
designs, plans, scale models and some full-size symbolic figures it remained
unfinished at the time of his death in 1943. (The monument was not finally
completed until 1968).
Connor undertook other commissions including a memorial for Tralee
entitled The Pikeman, to commemorate the 1798 Rising, and a figure of
Éire, for the Killarney Poets Society in commemoration of Gaelic poets of
18th century Kerry. He also entered designs for a national coinage, became
friendly with W.B. Yeats and A.E. and exhibited in London where his work
was positively reviewed by leading critics. At the same time he kept up his
links with America, going back there regularly, (his wife and daughter had
returned there c.1934). In 1939 Connor was declared bankrupt; he lost
possession of his studio and the war cut him off from his family in America.
From this time until his death Connor exhibited in Dublin a remarkable
series of small bronzes which he described as “little pieces of free work”,
more loosely handled in their use of clay than his earlier output. They are of
particular importance as they are the product of a talent which first intro-duced
the processes of casting, chasing and patinating of bronze to Ireland.

47
Statia
Bronze, 24cm high (9½”)
Signed
Provenance: Purchased through the Victor Waddington Galleries
16/12/40 by J.P. Reihill Snr; Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Exhibited: Irish Art from Private Collections 1870-1930,
Wexford Arts Centre, 1977, Cat. No. 4
Jerome Connor, Annascaul, April/May 1988
Jerome Connor, Irish-American Sculptor, National
Gallery of Ireland, Feb/Mar 1993, Cat. No 10f
Literature: Máirín Allen, Jerome Connor-Two, Capuchin Annual
1964, pp353-69 (illustration p367)
Giollamuire Ó Murchú, Jerome Connor, Irish-
American Sculptor, NGI, p56
This is a portrait study of Anastatia Balfe whom Connor
employed as a cook and housekeeper after his wife and daughter
returned to America to live. Statia prepared his meals, tidied his
house and sometimes posed for him and it was she who was
Connor’s final model for the Angel of Peace which surmounted
the Lusitania Memorial. Connor felt something of a father
figure to her and even went so far as to ask his solicitor to
arrange some sort of formal adoption. She stayed with him until
her marriage.
€2,000 - 4,000

48
The Deepwell Collection 40 Jerome Connor (1876-1943)
Peace
Bronze, 17.8cm high (7”)
Signed and inscribed
Provenance: Purchased through the Victor Waddington Galleries,
16/02/40 by J.P. Reihill Snr; Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Exhibited: IELA 1st Exhibition, Memorial Section to Jerome
Connor, Cat. No. 11
Irish Art 1900-1950, ROSC Chorcaí, The Crawford
Gallery, Cat. No. 168
Irish Art from Private Collections 1870-1930, Wexford
Arts, 1977 Centre, Cat. No. 3
Jerome Connor, Annascaul, April/May 1988
Jerome Connor, Irish-American Sculptor, National
Gallery of Ireland, Feb/Mar 1993, Cat. No 10g
Giollamuire Ó Murchú, Jerome Connor, Irish-
American Sculptor, National Gallery of Ireland, 1993
(illustrated p57)
This is one of a number of studies on the theme of Peace, linked
to the second and third of four designs drawn up by Connor for
the Lusitania Memorial’s Angel of Peace. It also recalls the veiled,
allegorical figure of Peace which, with a figure of Patriotism, flank
the Angels of the Battlefield public memorial in Washington DC
which Connor executed in 1924. Anastasia Balfe is the model.
€2,000 - 4,000

49
Bust of a Man in a Hat
Bronze, 26cm high (10¼”)
Signed
Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist c.1941 by J.P. Reihill
Snr; Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Exhibited: Irish Art from Private Collections 1870-1930,
Wexford Arts Centre, 1977, Cat. No. 5
A very late example of Connor’s work, in formal terms this is one
of his most ‘abstract’ pieces. Though obviously figurative, Connor
is concerned less with the definition of the man’s physiognomy
and form than he is with overall texture and surface pattern. The
treatment of this piece emphasises its sheer physical presence.
Connor’s familiarity with Epstein’s work is particularly relevant
in this instance.
€2,000 - 3,000

50
Peggy Connor
Bronze, 28cm high (11”)
Signed
This figure was identified by Máirín Allen as Peggy Connor,
the artist’s only child. Though Connor’s daughter is more
frequently remembered as Marjorie, they are presumably one
and the same person. Both names occur in the RHA listing
for 1938 and refer to two respective pieces: a marble (405),
entitled Peggy, and a bronze (406), entitled Marjorie, both lent
by Joseph Brennan Esq.
€1,500 - 2,500
Portrait Study
Bronze, 19cm high (7½”)
Signed
Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist c.1941 by J.P. Reihill Snr;
Exhibited: RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin, 1941, Cat. No. 386
The identity of the sitter is unknown but she bears a strong resemblance
to the model (identity also unknown), for the Éire memorial, executed
in 1932 and now in Merrion Square Park, Dublin. Its format and
treatment suggest a date of c.1938. Though the modelling is succinct,
the piece, texturally, begins to display the granular character of
Connor’s later work.
€1,500 - 2,500

51
44 Oisín Kelly RHA (1915-1981)
The Flautist (1972)
Bronze on a stone plinth, 52cm high (including plinth) (20½”)
Plinth: 71cm wide x 36cm deep (28 x 14¼”)
From an edition of six
€3,000 - 5,000

52
45 Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
Cúchulainn Blanc et Rose (1973)
Tabard Frères et Soeurs Aubusson tapestry, 184 x 184cm (72 x 72”)
Signed and numbered 8/9 on the label verso
Provenance: Purchased from Taylor Gallery, Dublin, 1977, by John P. Reihill, Deepwell, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin
The theme of the Táin, the early Irish epic translated by the poet Thomas Kinsella in 1969 and for
which le Brocquy was commissioned to provide the accompanying black brush drawings, inspired
in the artist a fresh surge of creativity in the realm of tapestry. The word ‘Táin’ means ‘hosting’ or
gathering of a large crowd for a raid and provided the theme for a number of tapestries designed by
the artist. The surface of the tapestry is completely covered in multi-coloured, irregular, oval heads,
all with minute irregular ‘features’ and all facing the spectator. Each head exists as a single entity and
does not relate to its neighbour. There is no order, no ranking, yet some inherent, instinctive force
holds them together. In 1970 P.J. Carroll and Co. through their architects Scott Tallon Walker
commissioned the first Táin tapestry from le Brocquy for the foyer of their Dundalk factory, this is
now in the collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
Louis le Brocquy has said “I hope these images from Táin Bó Cúailnge, transmuted into the woven
forms of tapestry, may be seen as a tribute to the poet Thomas Kinsella, who inspired them and to
the devoted publisher and designer, Liam Miller, who gave their original coherence.”
“In this tapestry I have tried to produce a sort of group or mass emergence of human presence,
features uncertain - merely shadowed blobs or patches - but vaguely analogous perhaps in terms of
woven colour to be weathered, enduring stone boss-heads of Clonfert or Entremont - or of Dysert
O’Dea....” “each individual head is conscious only of the viewer vertically facing it. This I think is
the secret of their mass regard. Each head is self-contained, finally a lump of presence. No exchange
or incident takes place between their multiplied features”.
“All of the Táin tapestries were woven in Aubusson, and in them the artist has contrived a masterly
conjunction between the narrative content of the epic, his own and the ancient Celtic concern of
the head image and the visual architectural demands of a large modern wall hanging.”
We are indebted to the late Dorothy Walker, whose writings formed the basis for this catalogue
entry.
€40,000 - 60,000

53

54
Goldfish, 1984 (508)
Oil on canvas, 27 x 34.5cm (10½ x 13½”)
Signed, dated 1984 and inscribed with reference 508 verso
Provenance: The Estate of William Roth
Exhibited : Louis le Brocquy : Procession of Lilies and other new work,
Taylor Galleries March/April 1985 Cat. No. 22
This is one of three works entitled Goldfish included in the Taylor Gallery exhibition. After two
decades of mainly painting the human head and from 1975 the heads becoming more specific
people such as poets,writers and painters in 1984 the artist began to explore other subjects. The best
known were his Procession of Lilies series but he also painted nature, be it his ever popular Fantail
Pigeons, still lifes , peonies, bignonia and goldfish.
In an interview with Ann Cremin in Paris in November 1984 the artist stated “For just twenty years
now, I’ve been painting heads in one form or another. I imagine most of these heads are - when
they emerge at all - essentially tragic, pertaining as they do to the past, to memory to reflection ......
Nature is by definition ever present. It has no past other than its soil. I’ve tended to refer back to
nature recently. I don’t think, however, that a painter consciously chooses his way. He hasn’t much
say in the matter, not much decision. He simply does his best to catch some sort of inner tide, to
avoid being stranded. Often I am stranded, but just now I seem to have caught a sort of ebb tide, to
have returned to an older pre-occupation in a shift back to natural things around me - to growing
plants and fruit and goldfish and fantail pigeons. Perhaps this is simply a temporary release from
the heads and their intense reflective consciousness, their tragic aspect. A return to a simple state
of being, emerging in its own nature, filling out its little volume of reality with the various natural
possibilities of its form”.
Dorothy Walker writing in the 1985 Spring issue of “The Irish Arts Review” refers to the Goldfish
series :- “Even in his paintings of Goldfish, le Brocquy has created a more intense reality than one
can imagine emanating from that somewhat cool customer. If not even Solomon in all his glory
was arrayed as one of the lilies of the field, then not even the Queen of Sheba could rival the dumb,
frightened goldfish shimmying through a succession of present movements in a ukioye flow of self
- images reflected in the side of her bowl , and bathed in the art-light refracted from the relativity
of all living things.
€20,000 - 30,000

55
The Roth Collection

56
The Roth Collection
Study Towards an Image of W.B. Yeats
Etching, 49 x 44cm (19¼ x 17¼”)
Signed, dated 1975 and marked Artist’s Proof I
Exhibited: Dublin, Taylor Galleries (label verso)
€800 - 1,200
47A Hughie O’Donoghue RA (b.1953)
Where is your Garden
Carborundum, 49.5 x 63.5cm (19½ x 25”)
Signed, inscribed with title, numbered 23/50 and dated 2005
Exhibited: Gardens of Earthly Delight, Chester Beatty Library,
Dublin Castle in conjunction with The Graphic
Studio, May-October 2005, cat. no. 31
€300 - 500

57
Cottage Dwellers
Watercolour, 17 x 23cm (6¾ x 9”)
Signed
Exhibited: New York, The Galleries of Associated American Artists
€5,000 - 7,000

58
49 Robert Ballagh (b.1943)
Theo McNab Box
Mixed media, 32 x 41.5 x 5.5cm (12½ x 16¼ x 2¼”)
Exhibited: Dublin, David Hendriks Gallery, March 1974 (label verso)
€2,000 - 3,000
The Roth Collection

59
The Roth Collection
50 Robert Ballagh (b.1943)
Adolf Gottlieb Box
Mixed media, 32 x 41.5 x 5.5cm (12½ x 16¼ x 2¼”)
Exhibited: Dublin, David Hendriks Gallery, March 1974 (label verso)
€2,000 - 3,000

60
The Roth Collection
51 Michéal Farrell (1940-2000)
Le Trente Deux
Oil on linen canvas and oil on timber, irregular shape, 59 x
60cm (including plinth) (23¼ x 23½”)
Signed and dated ‘74 on canvas verso. Also signed, inscribed
and dated Juin ‘74 on the stretcher verso
€1,500 - 2,500
51A Michéal Farrell (1940-2000)
Le Rencontre
Lithograph and Etching, 59 x 88cm (23¼ x 34½”)
Signed, inscribed, dated ‘84 and numbered IV/XXV
€400 - 600

61
52 Barrie Cooke HRHA (1931-2014)
Reclining Nude
Oil on canvas, 90.5 x 101cm (35½ x 39¾”)
Signed and dated ‘65
Original gallery label verso
Exhibited: Dublin, Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Barrie Cooke Exhibition, June 1966, Cat. No. xxx;
where purchased by the current vendor’s family and thence by descent
€8,000 - 12,000

62
53 Camille Souter HRHA (b.1929)
The Alexander in a Broken Pot
Oil on paper, 55.5 x 39cm (22 x 15½”)
Signed and dated 1973. Signed again, inscribed with title and dated verso
Bruce Arnold has written of Camille Souter:- “Richness. Not prodigality. Nothing wasted.
Intimations of so much still to come. Behind the titles, poetry and vision, an exciting mind
at work. In her colours great simplicity, yet great depth. Her subjects are so often human
wastelands, junk, dereliction, the fringes of great cities. Yet she brings to them a passionate
concern, not for their welfare - that is not in her painting, she is not a romantic - but for
their simple existence, their life in the light of day. This means that her passionate concern is
directed with equal intensity at all things. Cabbages in a back yard in Winter, iron bed ends,
bicycle wheels, open stretches of land and sky, distant towns and cities, are reduced in, and
by, her eyes to the fragmentation of understanding, and are then transformed into paintings
that obey strictly egalitarian principles. All things are equal in Camille Souter’s world, and
the only inequality she has to contend with is the degree of her success in transforming vision
into the reality of a finished canvas. She has to contend with the difficulty of choosing what
to paint when all things lay equal claim on her attention. The easy landscape, the obvious
still life, these are not for her. And in this she is by no means unique. But whereas for many
artists, who choose to paint as she does, the result of picking on debris and decay - the butt
ends of life - is so often sombre and drab, with her the result is painting which sings with
light and colour. There is a gleam, a richness to her tones: her contrasts of colour are vivid, yet
controlled; and her composition - the placing of low nondescript buildings along a horizon,
the casual assembling of objects on a table - has just the right measure of flatness, of the
minor key, to keep within the bounds the splendid assurance of her paint, both in colour and
texture. She is a completely integrated artist, and this gives her great flexibility. As well as all
things being equal to Camille Souter all people are, too. And the titles of her paintings are
often like invitations; here are quite ordinary things for quite ordinary people to see. But how
well they have been gathered, and how well transformed.”
Garrett Cormican in his book on “Camille Souter : The Mirror in the Sea” states “For Souter,
all still lifes are essentially ‘ ... a glorification of life - what a wonderful world . What more
can you say about them ?”. Camille’s still life paintings are those in which she arranged the
objects herself - they “ made her feel like a ‘real painter’ “ as she had no formal training she
felt that this was what art students spent their time doing in art college .
€8,000 - 12,000

63

64
54 Camille Souter HRHA (b.1929)
Achill - Up the Brae
Oil, black enamel and spirit aluminium on paper, 48.2 x 72.4cm (19 x 28½”)
Signed, inscribed ‘Achill’ and dated 1960
Exhibited: Dublin, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, One Mans Meat: Sir Basil
Goulding Collection, 1961, Cat. No. 56
Belfast, Ulster Museum, Two Painters: Camille Souter & Barrie Cooke, Jan/Feb
1965, Cat. No. 25
Dublin, The Carroll Building Grand Parade, Two Deeply, One Hundred
Paintings by Barrie Cooke & Camille Souter, Cat. No. 18
Wexford, YMCA as part of Festival, Camille Souter Exhibition
Oct/Nov 1972, Cat. No. 16
Dublin, Douglas Hyde Gallery TCD, Camille Souter Retrospective, June/July
1980, Cat. No. 11
Dublin, The Taylor Galleries, From the Collection of Sir Basil Goulding,
December 1982, Cat. No. 52
Provenance: The Basil Goulding Collection sale, these rooms, March 2005, Cat. No. 66; where
purchased by the current owner
Who better than Sir Basil Goulding, Camille Souter’s biggest patron, to give us an insight
into the artist ? Not alone did he choose all the work for the 1961 Exhibition “One Man’s
Meat”, which featured Souter on the cover and included this work, but he also wrote a
short personal piece on each artist which is worth reprinting here over 50 years later :-
“Camille Souter is a painter of the most rotund delicacy. It must be very rare for an artist
to possess or attain to - and in this case they seem to coincide - powers of unfailing
sensitivity as transmitted by techniques of unfailing discrimination - and all without much
popular notice .
One way of verifying a statement of this extremity is to see the artist’s whole stock
of paintings: if almost none are exceptions, and they only partial, one may speak. It is
intriguing, by the way, to notice how inadequate materials, brown paper, newspaper, spirt
- aluminium, printers ink, bicycle enamel, etc in these few pictures
- are powerless to inhibit surely evocative artistry “.
€5,000 - 8,000

65

66
55 Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
St Martin’s Series
Gouache, 29 x 21cm (11.5 x 8.25”)
Signed with initials and dated 3/74
Provenance: Tom Caldwell Gallery Belfast
€800 - 1,200

67
56 Patrick Collins HRHA (1911-1994)
Menhirs
Oil on canvasboard, (shaped), 37 x 41cm (14½ x 16”)
Signed
Exhibited, Dublin, The Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Patrick Collins Exhibition, June/July 1965,
Cat. No. 12; where purchased by Dr & Mrs J.B. Kearney
Provenance: From the collection of Dr & Mrs J.B. Kearney and their sale these rooms December
2007, Cat. No. 23; where purchased by the current owner
€4,000 - 6,000

68
57 William Crozier HRHA (1930-2011)
Red Skull
Oil on canvas, 59 x 43cm (23¼ x 17”)
Signed
In the early 1960s, Crozier started to introduce figures into his
landscapes, half skeleton and half man-like creatures, that were
to pervade his art for the next fifteen years. He saw this in part
as a reaction against the art of his generation that he felt had
become ‘limited in its aspirations’. Crozier said he wanted to
‘convey a sense of austerity and isolation, of emotional unease
and perhaps a suggestion of tragedy’ (Katharine Crouan (Ed.),
William Crozier, Lund Humphries, 2007, p.14). Commenting
on these pictures he said ‘I always thought of them as
portraits,even self portraits’ (Op.Cit, p.15) but they are also
without question a universal depiction of man. Crozier, having
spent several months in Paris at the start of his career, had
been particularly influenced by post-war existentialist thought.
He had lived through some of the greatest horrors of the 20th
Century, and during the 1960s with the Cold War at its height,
the question of man’s isolation and the condition of mankind
was at the forefront of his concerns as an artist. 1956 had
brought contemporary American art and in particular Abstract
Expressionism to the attention of the British public through
an exhibition at the Tate, and Crozier had undoubtedly been
influenced by the gestural painting style of this new generation
of artists. In the early 1960s he incorporated this in his landscape
painting with a reduction of colour, relying upon just primary
colours to create landscapes of high emotional drama.
Our thanks to Katharine Crouan whose writings formed the
basis for this catalogue entry.
€1,000 - 1,500

69
58 William Crozier HRHA (1930-2011)
Plant Room at Night
Oil on canvas, 80 x 100cm (31½ x 39¼”)
Signed, also signed and inscribed with title verso
Provenance: The Oliver Sears Gallery, Kinsale, October 2000, where purchased by the current owners
William Crozier studied at the School of Art in his hometown of Glasgow before dividing his time between travelling through
Europe, America and South Africa and his studios in West Cork and Hampshire. Examples of his work can be found in many
collections around the world, including the Crawford Municipal Gallery in Cork, Copenhagen Museum of Art, Dallas Museum
of Art, Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, Gdansk National Museum in Poland, The Victoria and Albert Museum, National Gallery
of Australia, National Gallery of Canada and Warsaw National Museum.
€5,000 - 8,000

70
59 Seán McSweeney HRHA (b.1935)
Shoreline
Mixed media, 23.5 x 31.5cm (9¼ x 12¼”)
Signed. Signed again, inscribed with title & dated ‘05 verso
€300 - 500
60 Breon O’Casey (1928-2011)
Two Blues
Acrylic on paper, 28 x 37cm (11 x 14½”)
Signed & dated ‘06. Signed again & inscribed with title verso
Provenance: The Mullan Gallery, Belfast
€250 - 350

71
61 Patrick Scott HRHA (1921-2014)
Green Fount
Tempera on linen canvas, 122 x 122cm (48 x 48”)
Signed, inscribed and dated ‘74 on canvas verso
Exhibited: Dublin, Taylor Galleries, 27th-31st August 1978, Cat. No. xx (label verso); where purchased by
the current owner
€6,000 - 8,000
The Roth Collection

72
62 Cecil King (1921-1986)
Intrusion (1973)
Pastel, 48.5 x 38cm (19 x 15”)
Signed
Exhibited: Kilkenny Arts Week, Cecil King Ten year Retrospective
Exhibition, 1975, Cat. No. 14; where purchased by Sir
Basil Goulding Dublin,
David Hendriks Gallery, From the Collection of Sir
Basil Goulding, December 1982, Cat. No. 31; where
€500 - 700
63 Cecil King (1921-1986)
Pendulum (1794)
Oil on canvas, 152 x 101.5cm (59¾ x 40”)
Exhibited: Dublin, Municipal Gallery, Cecil King Retrospective,
Oct/Nov 1981
Kilkenny Arts Week, Cecil King Ten year Retrospective
Exhibition, 1975, Cat. No. 48; where purchased by
current owner
€1,000 - 1,500

73
64 Cecil King (1921-1986)
Untitled (1985)
Oil on canvas, 101.5 x 101.5cm (40 x 40”)
Provenance: Private collection, Dublin
Exhibited: Dublin, Oliver Dowling Gallery, Dublin, October 1991, Cat. No. 15,
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Cecil King - A Legacy of Painting, February-May 2008, Cat. No. 74
Literature: Cecill King IMMA 2008 Full page illustration in Catalogue
€3,000 - 5,000

74
65 Francis Tansey (b.1959)
Bike Path Boogie Woogie II
Acrylic on canvas, 76 x 76cm (30 x 30”)
Signed with monogram and dated ‘94, also inscribed verso with
artists name and title
This painting was commissioned by the current vendor. It depicts
Venice Beach in California. The deep blue sky dominates the
background; it fades into a burning orange sunset over the sea,
which lies over the yellow sandy beach. The foreground depicts
bands of brightly contrasting colours. These represent the blazingly
dressed Californian people; cycling, roller-blading and walking
along the palm tree-lined seaside pathways of Venice Beach.
€1,000 - 1,500
65A Chung Eun-Mo (b.1946)
Abstract Composition
Oil on linen, 24 x 20cm (9½ x 7¾ “) shaped
Signed & dated 2011 verso. Artist’s reference C1116
€250 - 350

75
66 Theo McNab (b.1940)
Room 6/5
Oil on canvas laid on board, 81 x 51cm (31¾ x 20”)
Signed, inscribed and dated ‘76 verso
Exhibited: Dublin, David Hendriks Gallery,
Theo McNab Exhibition, February 1977, where
€600 - 1,000

76
67 Joseph William Carey RUA (1859-1937)
Bantry Bay
Watercolour, 20 x 37cm (8 x 14½”)
Signed, inscribed and dated 1931
€300 - 400
68 Joseph William Carey RUA (1859-1937)
The Gobbins, Co. Antrim
Watercolour, 43 x 71cm (17 x 28”)
Signed, inscribed and dated 1935
€700 - 1,000

77
69 Alfred Downing Fripp RWS (1822-1895)
Interior of a Fisherman’s Cabin, Galway
Watercolour, 48 x 61.5cm (19 x 24¼”)
Literature : The National Library of Ireland version is illustrated in Irish rural interiors in Art 2006 by Claudia Kinmonth Fig 24 illustrated P 24
and in Whipping The Herring The Crawford Gallery 2006 P180 Full page illustration P181.
Alfred Fripp was born in Bristol, and studied at the British Museum and Royal Academy School. He exhibited regularly with the Royal Watercolour
Society (where he was secretary from 1870 to 1895), at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, and eight titles at Dublin’s Royal
Hibernian Academy between 1844 and 1853. Frederick Goodall encouraged him to visit Ireland, and together with Francis William Topham and
Mark Anthony they worked together during several visits to Galway from 1844 onwards. Their focus on poor rural Irish culture has resulted in a
unique legacy of related work. Fripp visited Ireland between 1844-53 and illustrated a book on Clonmacnoise in 1846. He exhibited several works
over the years with Galway titles.
A smaller version of this work , perhaps a study as it is dated a year earlier, turned up in Christies in London in 2005 and is now in the collection of
The National Library of Ireland. It was exhibited in the Crawford Gallery Exhibition Whipping the Herring in 2006 where
Claudia Kinmonth draws ones attention to the empty woven basket called a skib, which was the traditional substitution for a table where
people gathered around to eat the potatoes communally with their hands as symbolic of the household’s hunger. The dresser which
normally contained the families most prized possessions is nearly empty, no pot hangs from the fire and the skib is empty which are all symbolic of
the households poverty and hunger a portent of the coming great hunger.
We acknowledge with thanks Claudia Kinmonth’s various writings on the subject of rural interiors which formed the basis of this catalogue entry.
€2,000 - 4,000

78
70 Rose Maynard Barton RWS ASWA (1856-1929)
Gordon’s Statue
Watercolour, 26.5 x 16.5cm (10½ x 6½”)
Provenance: Previously in the collection of Lord Iveagh
Literature: Familiar London by Rose Barton, 1904 full page
illustration opposite page 120
This lot is a accompanied by a copy of the book Familiar London
painted by Rose Barton (1904)
Tipperary born Rose Barton began a long relationship with the
Royal Water Colour Society of Ireland in 1872 when she first
exhibited with them. Three years later she spent some time in
Brussels, taking painting and drawing classes, and in 1878 she
exhibited for the first time at the RHA. The following year she sat
on the committee of the Irish Fine Art Society.
After a spell of studying in London under Paul Jacob Naftel
(1817-91), her work was included in the Royal Academy show
in 1884. She continued to exhibit in London at venues such as
the Japanese Gallery, The Dudley Gallery, Grosvenor Gallery and
Clifford Gallery. In 1904 two of her works were included in Hugh
Lane’s Irish Art exhibition at Guildhall in London, and three were
shown at the RHA annual show. Barton’s watercolours, mainly
executed in Dublin and London, are distinguished by an emphasis
on the almost tangible atmospheric effects of weather conditions.
She became known not only through these original works but also
through her illustrated books of both cities.
€3,000 - 5,000

79
71 Rose Maynard Barton RWS ASWA (1856-1929)
St Patrick’s Cathedral
Watercolour, 27.5 x 18cm (10¾ x 7¼”)
Provenance: From the Collection of the Late Major Victor McCal
mont, Mount Juliet, Co. Kilkenny, Christie’s Dublin,
12th December 1990 (front cover illustration), where
purchased by the current owners
Exhibited: Rose Barton Retrospective, The Crawford Gallery,
Cork, Jan 1987
Fine Art Society, London, Feb/Mar 1987
Ulster Museum Belfast, Mar/Apr 1987
The Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, May 1987, Catalogue
No. 31
Irish Women Artists 1870-1970 Exhibition Cat No. 10
Literature: Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, full page
illustration p.13
€4,000 - 6,000

80
72 Mildred Anne Butler RA RWS (1858 - 1941)
The Gate to the Herbaceous Garden
Watercolour, 36.5 x 27cm (14½ x 10½”)
Signed
Provenance: Important Irish Art sale, these rooms, 15th March 1990,
Cat. No. 141, where purchased by the current owners
Exhibition: Irish Women Artists 1870-1970 Exhibition Cat No. 8
Literature: Irish Women Artists 1870-1970, full page
illustration p.10
A privileged upbringing allowed Mildred Anne Butler to travel to
London to study under Paul Jacob Naftel (1817-91) and later to
Paris where she joined the studio of Henri Gervex (1852-1929)
for a time. She exhibited at the Dudley Gallery in 1888 and in
1890 with the Royal Water Colour Society of Ireland. She was
included in the first exhibition of the Belfast Art Society, showed
five works at the RHA and in 1896 had the rare honour of being
included in the Royal Academy annual show where her presence
was vastly outnumbered by those of male artists. Butler’s work was
represented at Hugh Lane’s exhibition at Guildhall in London in
1904, and three years later had a show with Percy French, Claude
Hayes and Bingham McGuinness at the New Dudley Gallery.
€3,000 - 5,000

81
73 Mildred Anne Butler RA RWS (1858 - 1941)
Cattle in a Summer Pasture with Wild Flowers
Watercolour, 38 x 28cm (14¾ x 11”)
Signed
With a Royal Institute of Painters and Watercolours label
preserved verso “when daisies & buttercups gladdened my
sight like recumbent treasures of silver. Mildred Butler,
Kilmurry, Thomastown”
€4,000 - 6,000

82
74 Helen Colvill (1856-1953)
The Four Courts, Dublin, Fifty Years Ago
Watercolour, 33 x 47.5cm (13 x 18¾”)
Exhibited: Memorial Section to Helen Colvill Watercolour Society
of Ireland 1954 Cat. No. 52
€700 - 1,000
75 Helen Colvill (1856-1953)
View from the Baily, Looking South to Wicklow
Watercolour, 28.5 x 40cm (13 x 18¾”)
Signed
With a painting of a canal scene verso (unframed)
€500 - 600

83
76 Lady Kate Dobbin (1868-1955)
Inniscarra Abbey on the River Lee
Watercolour, 35 x 45cm (13¾ x 17¾”)
Exhibited: The RHA Annual Exhibition 1928 Cat.
No. 239
€600 - 1,000
77 Harry Scully RHA (c.1863-1935)
Buildings on a Quayside
Watercolour, 26 x 16.5cm (10¼ x 6½”)
Signed
€500 - 700

84
78 Maurice MacGonigal PRHA (1900 - 1979)
Unloading the Turf Boats, Kilmurvey Pier, Inis Mhór, Aran Islands
Oil on board, 40 x 50cm (15¾ x 19¾”)
Signed
Maurice MacGonigal was born in Dublin and started his career at his uncle’s stained
glass design business. He took classes at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, and
was awarded medals for his painting, particularly of landscapes. After a brief visit to
the Netherlands to study, he returned to Dublin and became a respected teacher in
the same art school where he had previously been trained. He exhibited at the Royal
Hibernian Academy extensively between 1924 and 1968, in total showing over 200
paintings, and was made an academician there in 1933. He also exhibited regularly in
the Royal Academy in London and the Royal Scottish Academy. “Unloading turf at
Kilmurvey Pier, Inis Mhór, Aran Islands.” probably dates to 1954...the Islands having
no natural peat bogs remaining due to erosion, all the fuel has to be brought in from
the mainland, and that particular little pier is the main landing place for the most
westerly part of the main island Inis Mhór or Inishmor...and not be to be confused
with Arannmor off Burtonport Co.Donegal..that particular year was a very long dry
summer so that the turf (peat)was of the highest quality..and unloading the turn from
the hookers & pucans was a community effort requiring a large collaborative effort.
For a painter the appeal is obvious,and the artist and his family were staying at the
local “big house” Kilmurvey House home to the O’Flaherty Johnstons; adjoining the
pier was the original house built by Robert Flaherty for his Movie, “Man of Aran”.
The flat limestone flags overlooking the little pier were an ideal perch for a painter
who could sit there for hours drawing and painting and just sufficient wind to keep
the midges at bay (always a hazard for plein air painters).
MacGonigal had been on the island painting in the 1930s,but this works dates from
the 1950s, a time of long warm days and zephyr breezes.
Ciarán MacGonigal
€8,000 - 12,000

85

86
79 Maurice MacGonigal PRHA (1900-1979)
Roundstone, Co. Galway
Watercolour, 39 x 26cm (15¼ x 10¼”)
Signed
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dubllin (label verso)
€600 - 800

87
80 Maurice MacGonigal PRHA (1900-1979)
Nightfall, Connemara
Oil on canvasboard, 35.5 x 45cm (14 x 17¾”)
Signed; inscribed with title verso
€2,500 - 3,500

88
81 Desmond Stephenson ARHA (1922-1963)
Self-Portrait
Oil on board, 52 x 42cm (20½ x 16½”)
Signed
€800 - 1,200
Portrait of Eamon De Valera - President of Ireland (1959-1973)
Pastel, 42.5 x 52cm (16¾ x 20½”)
Signed, inscribed ‘Ennis’ and dated Sunday 24th February 1957
€500 - 800

89
Connemara Lake
Oil on canvas, 49 x 59cm (19¼ x 23¼”)
Signed and dated 1962. Inscribed with title verso
€800 - 1,200

90
84 Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
A Rose (1936)
Oil on panel, 23 x 35.5cm (9 x 14”)
Signed
Exhibited: The Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition 1939 Cat. No. 255
Exhibited by Irish Artists presented by the Victor Waddington Galleries in Waterford and
Cork.
Paintings and Sculptures by Irish Artists presented by Victor Waddington Galleries RDS
Dublin May 1941
Jack B Yeats - National Loan Exhibition NCAD June - July 1945 Cat. No. 104
Irish Art from Private Collections 1870 - 1930 Wexford Arts Centre 1977 Cat. No. 40
Literature: Jack B. Yeats. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings Hilary Pyle 1992 Vol 1 p438 further
illustrated vol III p207
Jack B. Yeats by Bruce Arnold 1998 p278 - 280n illustrated p279
Provenance: Senator Joseph Brennan from the sale of whose collection purchased 1942 by John P. Rehill Snr,
This is one of a series of four paintings of roses begun by Jack B. Yeats in the late summer of 1936. All
are of the same proportion and three of them were shown together in the major Jack B. Yeats National
Loan Exhibition in Dublin in 1945. But each work is a separate study and they were never intended to
be shown together. Another The Rose in the Basin, (Private Collection, 1936) belonged to Kenneth Clarke
and was included in the exhibition of Yeats’s work that he curated at the National Gallery of London in
1942.
In 1936 when he began working on the series, Yeats wrote to the then director of the National Gallery
of Ireland Thomas Bodkin, an old friend, telling him that he had ‘painted a new subject for me – a rose’.
The flower had in fact appeared in an earlier work, the Scene Painter’s Rose, (Private Collection, 1927),
where a rose in a vase stands on a table in the artist’s studio, as a symbol of natural beauty in contrast to
the artificiality of the artwork.
In A Rose he concentrates on the flower, rather than its surroundings. At the centre of the composition is
the dark red form of the rose, drooping over the edge of a white basin on a mantelpiece. The blossom takes
on a theatrical quality contrasting dramatically with its muted backdrop. The apparent simplicity of this
traditional subject, a still-life painting of a flower, is challenged by the complex handling of colour and
light in the work. The white wall against which the bowl is placed is constructed of vibrant flecks of blue,
yellow, pink and green made from diverse brushstrokes. This suggests movement and life as opposed to
the solemnity of the dark sculptural rose. It is testament to Yeats’s ability as a painter that he can draw so
much drama from such a simple device. Samuel Beckett was much taken with the paintings when he saw
them on a visit to Yeats’s studio. He referred to this work, the first to be completed, as ‘the tyranny of the
rose’. There is in fact something tyrannical or at least compelling about A Rose which while full of potent
symbolism and beauty is at the same time fragile and transitory. The work subtly conveys both aspects of
the subject while retaining its integrity as a complex painting in its own right.
Dr. Róisín Kennedy
Dublin September 2014
€40,000 - 60,000

91

92
‘Lines to Philip Samson’ (The Boxer)
Pen and ink, 8 x 12cm (3¼ x 4¾”)
Signed with initials
Provenance: Waddington Galleries, London
Literature: H. Pyle, The Different Worlds of Jack B. Yeats, by Hilary
Pyle Cat No.1354, p.184
€1,500 - 2,500
86 Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871 - 1957)
Come Gather Round Me, Parnellites (1937)
Pen and ink, 18 x 16cm (7 x 6¼”)
Signed
Provenance: Victor Waddington, London
Literature: A Broadside, No. 1 (New Series) 1937 Edited by
Dorothy Wellesley and W.B. Yeats
Jack B Yeats - his cartoons and illustrations by Hilary
Pyle, 1993, Catalogue No. 2002, page 279
€1,500 - 2,500

93
“How Did You Get Here?” He Asked in Amazement
Illustration from ‘The Turf-Cutter’s Donkey’ by Patricia Lynch
Watercolour and ink, 19 x 26cm (7½ x 10¼”)
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin; Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Christies (Belfast) 30th May 1990, Lot. 319; Private
Collection, Dublin
Literature: The Different Worlds of Jack B. Yeats, by Hilary Pyle Cat No.1447, p.201
The Turf Cutter’s Donkey, Illustrated by Jack B. Yeats was published in London by Dent in 1934 and re-issued in an Irish
translation in 1944
€3,000 - 5,000

94
The Roth Collection 89 John Butler Yeats RHA (1839-1922)
88 John Butler Yeats RHA (1839-1922)
Portrait of a Lady, standing in a dark coat
Pencil, 17.5 x 9.25cm (7 x 3½”)
€2,000 - 3,000
Portrait of a Young Lady, seated
Pencil, 18 x 11cm (7 x 4¼”)
Signed
€2,000 - 3,000

95
The Roth Collection
90 John Butler Yeats RHA (1839-1922)
Portrait of a Bearded Gentleman, seated wearing a
wide brimmed hat
Pencil , 18 x 9.5cm (7 x 3¾”)
€2,000 - 3,000

96
91 Dermod O’Brien PRHA (1865-1945)
Violin Player
Pencil, 24 x 19cm (9½ x 7½”)
Provenance: Artist’s family by descent; Purchased through the
Frederick Gallery by John P. Reihill; Deepwell,
Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€400 - 600
92 Sir William Orpen RHA RA RI (1878-1931)
Drawing at the Slade
Pencil, 23 x 17.7cm (9 x 7”)
Provenance: John P. Reihill, Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Literature: Orpen Mirror to an Age by Bruce Arrnold 1981
illustrated p. 45
€500 - 700

97
The Roth Collection
93 Walter Frederick Osborne RHA ROI (1859-1903)
Fast Falls the Eventide (1888)
Pen and ink, 34 x 24cm (13½ x 9½”)
Signed. Signed, inscribed and dated ‘88 verso
Exhibited: Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland, Cat No. 29 (label verso)
Literature: Henry Blackburn Academy Sketches (1888) p.199
Walter Osborne by Jeanne Sheehy 1974 Cat. No. 202
Walter Osborne NGI 1983 illustrated p81.
€6,000 - 8,000

98
94 Sir William Orpen RHA RA RI (1878-1931)
The Master of those that Know
Pencil on paper, 18 x 22.5cm (7 x 9”)
Drawn on the notepaper of Oliver St. John Gogarty and from his
collection
This is a portrait of Henry Stuart McCran (Professor of Moral
Philosophy, T.C.D.)
Literature: Oliver St. John Gogarty, As I was going down Sackville
Street, New York edition, illustrated facing page 334
(photostat verso)
€1,000 - 1,500
95 Paul Henry (1876-1958)
The Storm c.1898-9
Charcoal on paper, 36 x 44 cm (14 x 17¼”)
Signed
Provenance: Private collection, London thence by descent
Exhibited: Goupil Gallery Salon, London, October-December, 1908 (130);
Goupil Gallery, London, March, 1909 (226);
Water Colour Society of Ireland, Mills’ Hall, Dublin, March, 1920 (122);
Paintings by Mr. & Mrs. Paul Henry, Magee’s Gallery, Belfast, 17-31 March, 1924 (23);
Paintings and Charcoals: Paul Henry RHA, Waddington Galleries, Dublin, 21 February-3 March, 1952 (29);
Paintings and Drawings by Paul Henry, The Studio, Sidmonton Square, Bray, until 8 November 1956 (27);
Paul Henry: Retrospective Exhibition, Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, and Belfast Museum & Art Gallery, Belfast, May-
July, 1957 (73);
Paul Henry: Paintings & Drawings, Shannon Free Airport, Limerick, August, 1957 (35)
Literature; S. B. Kennedy: Paul Henry, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2000, p.39; Paul Henry: with a catalogue of the
Paintings, Drawings, Illustrations, Yale, 2007, p.128, catalogue number 151
Reviewing Henry’s 1924 Belfast exhibition, Belfast’s News-Letter (18 March 1924) commented, possibly of this drawing, that it ‘conveys
a wonderful sense of elemental fury.... In the foreground are two tall gaunt, leafless trees, bending over before the onslaught of the storm
… and overhead the sky is filled with heavy onimous clouds.’ Priced at 12 guineas (£12.12) in the 1908 Goupil Gallery Salon exhibition
catalogue, this was considered a finished drawing and not merely a sketch. Although the literary reference in Kennedy, 2007, illustrates
another drawing, that reference now seems undoubtedly to refer to this work. Dated c.1898-9 on the form of the signature.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy, October 2014
€8,000 - 12,000

99

100
96 Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940)
Étude de Femme (c.1915-17)
Oil on canvas, 54.5 x 66cm (21½ x 26”)
Signed. Atelier stamp verso
Signed on middle bar of stretcher “No.9 Roderic O’Conor ‘Etude de Femme’
Exhibited: Salon d’Automne, 1919 (1420); Modern British Paintings, Crane Kalman Gallery, London, 1969
(2), ill.; London
Roderic O’Conor 1860-1940, Retrospective Exhibition, Barbican Art Gallery, London; Ulster
Museum, Belfast; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, 1985 Cat.
no. 66.
Provenance: Hotel Drouot, Paris, Vente O’Conor 7 février, 1956, Crane Kalman Gallery, London, 1969;
Mr.J. P. Reihill, Deepwell Blackrock.
Literature: Roderic O’Conor 1860 -1940 by Roy Johnston 1985 illustrated p89, Roderic O’Conor 1860-1940, by
Jonathan Benington Cat. No. 195 p.213 Dublin, 1992
The young woman who is the subject of this painting by Roderic O’Conor is believed to be Renée Honta. She
was born in 1894 in the south west of France in the historic city of Pau, which is situated near the Pyrenees
close to the border with Spain. Little is known about her early life or her reasons for leaving the parental home
to travel to Paris, but Renée was to play an important role in O’Conor’s life, initially as his model and mistress
and then as his constant companion, later his wife in 1933. O’Conor included the painting in a group of nine
works which he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in 1919, the year which marked the return of the Salon to
the Paris exhibition calendar following its temporary suspension during World War I.
In this painting Renée, then in her early 20’s, is depicted in a relaxed pose lying on what appears to be a wooden
seat or long bench with a wooden arm rest. Her upper body is probably being supported by a concealed
cushion covered with a draped blue and white patterned fabric, which appears frequently in O’Conor’s studio
paintings. She appears comfortable in her surroundings, and the subtlety of her smile and facial expression seem
to indicate a relaxed relationship with the artist, who, when this portrait was painted, was thirty four years older
than she was.
O’Conor has composed his figure on the diagonal and has added interest to his composition through the
introduction of a specific anatomical contrast between the angularity of her arms and the subtle rhythm of her
reposing body. He has also made the most of the contrast between light and dark areas through an increase in
values in the painting of her upper body and arms, which he has set off against the dark area of the bench and
studio wall beyond. Additional visual contrast is introduced through variety in the paint application, which
ranges from the dark background stain quickly scrubbed into the canvas to the energy of the brush marks
defining the fabric of Renée’s dress in the bottom right corner of the painting. The expressive wet on wet
technique and blending of the paint directly on the canvas is typical of O’Conor’s painting technique at this
period in his career.
Dr. Roy Johnston
€60,000 - 80,000

101

102
Le Châle Bleu or The Blue Shawl (1920-21)
Oil on canvas, 64.75 x 54.5cm (25½ x 21½”)
Signed. Atelier stamp verso. Inscribed on middle bar of the stretcher, ‘No.3 Roderic O’Conor ‘Le
Châle Bleu’
Exhibited: Paris, Salon d’Automne, 1921 (1778)
Provenance: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente O’Conor, 7 février 1956; with Blache, Versailles, 16
December 1973 and 28 April, 1974: Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London: Mr. J. P.
Reihill,Deepwell, Blackrock
Literature: Roderic O’Conor, 1860-1940, by Jonathan Benington Cat. No. 231 p.218,
Dublin,1992.
In the Salon d’Automne exhibition of 1921, Roderic O’Conor showed a group of five paintings,
three of which were still lifes. His other two exhibits were especially interesting because of their
subject matter. One was this portrait of a quite meditative Renée Honta and the other was a rather
unflattering self-portrait in which O’Conor depicted himself as a full length figure, standing at his
easel and looking very much his age, which was then sixty-one. It was the first and only occasion
on which O’Conor showed two distinctly different and separate paintings of himself and his
youthful mistress in the same exhibition, thereby drawing attention to the considerable difference
in their ages. As was often the case with O’Conor, his motives on that occasion were not clear.
For this sensitive portrait of Renée Honta, O’Conor chose to seat her close to the studio window,
which was the main light source in his Montparnasse studio. Her serene and rather contemplative
expression suggests that O’Conor worked on the portrait over a period of time and may have
required more than one sitting in order to achieve a good likeness. The palette knife technique
which he has used throughout the painting gives the work a special character and relates it back
to much earlier portraits of Breton peasants which he painted during his first visit to Pont-Aven,
circa 1887.
O’Conor’s ability to successfully manage and control the thickly applied paint in this portrait
shows his considerable versatility and skill as a painter, a characteristic of his working methods
which impressed his closest friends. As he progressed into the 1920’s his subject matter changed
and he painted a series of ambitious still life paintings in which he further refined and developed
his palette knife technique to emphasize the play of light and shade, as he demonstrates in this
painting.
Dr. Roy Johnston
€20,000 - 40,000

103

104
Landscape with Red Haystacks (1932)
Oil on board, 38 x 46cm (15 x 18¼”)
Exhibited: Possibly Copenhagen, Winkel and Magnussen, Gauguin Og Hans Venner (Gauguin and His Friends), 1956, (104) as Landskab med
Kornstakke
Provenance: Mr. J. P Reihill, Deepwell, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Literature: Roderic O’Conor 1860-1940, by Jonathan Benington Cat. No. 302 p.225 Dublin 1992.
In 1956, sixteen years after his death in France, a painting by
O’Conor was included in an exhibition titled Gauguin and His
Friends which was assembled in Copenhagen by the auction house,
Winkel and Magnussen. The similarity of subject matter between
O’Conor’s painting in that exhibition, Landscape with Cornstack,
and Landscape with Red Haystacks suggests a possible link between
them, but this has not been positively verified.
Of all the rural sites made famous by French artists in the mid-nineteenth
century, the most significant was the small village of
Barbizon, situated on the edge of the great forest of Fontainebleau
and a short journey from Paris. Barbizon had attracted landscape
artists such as Millet, Rousseau, Daubigny, Dupré and Corot, who
were drawn by the beauty of the forest and the dappled light which
filtered through the trees.
In 1932, Roderic O’Conor, at the age of seventy-two, accompanied
by his model and close companion, Renée Honta, left Paris
temporarily to paint in the country, choosing to stay at Chailly-en-
Bière rather than at Barbizon, which had become a popular tourist
destination. Apart from a visit to Cassis in the summer of 1913,
most of O’Conor’s painting activity in Paris had been centered on
studio-based subject matter and he probably felt the need to return
to landscape themes and a closer connection to nature.
Chailly was just three kilometres from Barbizon and provided a
more tranquil and suitable location for his needs at that time. There
was also an artists’ inn at Chailly, called L’Auberge du Cheval Blanc,
whose proprietor had developed a reputation for being sympathetic
to the activities of visiting artists who came to paint in the Barbizon
environment. The dining room at the inn was filled with paintings
donated by artists in lieu of payment for their accommodation.
Some of O’Conor’s friends who were in contact with him queried
his decision to paint in the Barbizon area at Chailly, claiming that
it had lost its relevance as an artists’ colony and that the area had
become a magnet for ill-informed tourists. Even his friend Joseph
€20,000 - 30,000
Milner-Kite, who had studied with him in Antwerp, suggested that he
might be back on the bus to Paris within a few days.
Chailly’s location on the fertile plain of Bière and its distinctive flat
landscape provided the background for several O’Conor paintings in
which haystacks became the primary subject matter. He may have
been influenced by Monet’s 1890-91 grainstack series painted in
Normandy at Giverny. Whereas Monet was exploring the effects
of light and seasonal change upon a variety of grainstacks, O’Conor
appears to have only been interested in their shapes, the colors and
their relationship to the surrounding landscape. O’Conor was in the
last decade of his life when he painted Landscape with Red Haystacks.
The scene is lightly painted with well diluted oil pigment, quickly
sketched as if to capture the immediacy of the moment. The tracks
in the field lead the viewer into the composition and hint at recent
activity, probably associated with building the haystacks, which are
set against a belt of dark green trees running across the picture plane
in the center of the painting. The blue-gray pigment which O’Conor
introduced into the upper right corner creates a darkened sky and
suggests an impending storm.
Some of O’Conor’s friends who were in contact with him by letter
queried his decision to paint in the Barbizon area at Chailly, claiming
that it was no longer relevant as an artists colony and that the area
had become a magnet for ill-informed tourists. Even his English
friend and painter Joseph Miner- Kite, who had studied with him
in Antwerp, suggested to him that he would probably be back on the
bus to Paris within a few days (i). However, judging from the number
and range of his Chailly paintings, several of which include well
worked views of its 12th century Eglise de Saint Paul, it is evident that
O’Conor’s time in the area was well spent and he must have returned
to Paris in a much refreshed mood as a direct result.
(i) The letter was found in 1982 in a private collection in Nueil-sur-
Layon in the west of France where O’Conor died on 18 March, 1940.
Dr. Roy Johnston

105

106
99 William John Leech RHA (1881-1938)
Grey Bridge, Regent’s Park
Oil on canvas, 77 x 97cm (30¼ x 38¼”)
Signed
Exhibited : The Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition 1959 Cat. No. 16
Provenance : The Dawson Gallery where purchased by Mr James J. Stafford . Later with the Godolphin
Gallery, Dublin July 1979 where purchased by Mr & Mrs Roth and thence from the estate of
William Roth.
Leech’s “Regents Park” series was one of his longest comprising over twenty known works and stretching in
time from 1935 over the following 25 years. The location was one the artist returned to many times when
he could not travel to France. Just a short walk downhill from his studio at Steele’s Studios Leech found
subject matter he could sketch plein air and then work up into exhibition pieces back at the studio.
In fact a nearly identical but much smaller work to this from the McClelland Collection had been exhibited
a year earlier at the RHA and was included in the Leech retrospective “An Irish Painter Abroad” in The
National Gallery of Ireland in 1997.
Writing about that work in the catalogue Denise Ferran writes :-
‘The Bridge, Regents Park’ is painted in a silverly light with York Bridge, a high horizon- band of subdued
umber tones, merging into the soft blue-grey tones of the background. In the foreground, the river reflects
the cool grey of a winter sky which mingles with the muddy browns and greens of the still water. All
the edges of objects, solid or reflected, are blurred and softened; the top of the bridge is masked by the
overhanging grey- green leaves of a weeping willow.
We acknowledge Denise Ferran whose writings on Leech formed the basis of this catalogue entry.
€20,000 - 30,000

107
The Roth Collection

Adam's Fine Art Auctioneers - Important Irish Art 1st October 2014

Adam's Fine Art Auctioneers - Important Irish Art 1st October 2014

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (8)

Similar to Adam's Fine Art Auctioneers - Important Irish Art 1st October 2014

Similar to Adam's Fine Art Auctioneers - Important Irish Art 1st October 2014 (20)

More from Adam's Fine Art Auctioneers

More from Adam's Fine Art Auctioneers (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Adam's Fine Art Auctioneers - Important Irish Art 1st October 2014