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41

Camille Souter HRHA (b.1929)

Currency:EUR Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 12,000.00 EUR
Camille Souter HRHA (b.1929)
Camille Souter HRHA (b.1929) GLEESALIA, COUNTY MAYO, 1963 signed lower centre; inscribed gallery label on reverse oil, enamel and aluminium paint on paper, mounted on board 57 by 39cm., 22.5 by 15.5in. Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin, whence purchased by the present owner Exhibited: ROSC, 1967 In 1959, Camille Souter settled on Achill Island. Throughout the 1950s her work was characterised by its use of experimental painting techniques and unusual media. In Achill this trend reached a crescendo, with the artist beginning to use very fluid aluminium and enamel paints for the first time. These paints were not only cheap but happened to be far more readily available on the island than artist's quality oil paint. By 1962 Souter had left Achill and moved to Calary Bog, Co. Wicklow. The sixties were among the most stable years in her career, with serious collectors such as the late Sir Basil Goulding beginning to acquire her work in substantial numbers. In Achill, the artist had virtually abandoned the strong lines of her early style for a more fluid, and random application of paint. While living in Calary they made a re-appearance, literally drawing one's attention to particular aspects of the land. Gleesalia Co. Mayo is therefore, something of a transitional piece, bridging the gap between her very loose paintings of Achill and later works in which drawing played a more significant role. Souter continued to visit the island and nearby areas annually. This work, along with a number of others, was based on the mainland to the north, near Belmullet. The title is in fact misspelled, referring, as it does to the small village of Geesala (Gaoth-Saile) or Gweesalia. It was, the artist recalls, a "rather lovely" area in those days, though "apparently it is all bungalow blitz now". It is not immediately obvious what the painting describes. It would be easy to mistake it for a non-representational abstract work. On closer scrutiny, it seems to depict the gable-end of a house and an adjacent garden. The organic shape in the foreground has been executed with the confidence of a virtuoso. The loosely applied aluminium paint, with touches of black underneath, contrasts beautifully with the warmer shades of the painting. It almost certainly represents a piece of driftwood or bog oak, which at the time were often used as garden ornaments. According to the artist, the perfect placing of these objects belied the notion that the Irish were primarily a literary people, lacking visual awareness. Garrett Cormican, January 2002 Garrett Cormican was exhibition advisor and artist's biographer for the recent retrospective exhibition of Camille Souter held in the RHA. He is currently working closely with the artist on a new publication concerned with her work.€10000-€12000 (IR £7800-£9400 approx.)
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