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Nano Reid (1900-1981) WHERE OENGUS ÓG MAGNIFICENTLY DWELLS signed lower right; inscribed and with...

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Nano Reid (1900-1981) WHERE OENGUS ÓG MAGNIFICENTLY DWELLS signed lower right; inscribed and with...
Nano Reid (1900-1981)
WHERE OENGUS ÓG MAGNIFICENTLY DWELLS
signed lower right; inscribed and with original Arts Council/An Chomhairle
Ealaíon label on reverse
oil on board
61 by 76cm., 24 by 30in.
Provenance:
Collection of Sir Basil Goulding;
Dr & Mrs J. B. Kearney, Cork;
Private collection, Dublin
Exhibited:
Irish Exhibition of Living Art, Dublin, 1963, catalogue no. 53 (£120-0-0);
’Nano Reid’, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast, 1964, catalogue no. 4;
‘Nano Reid Retrospective’, Municipal Gallery, Dublin and Ulster Museum, Belfast,
November 1974 - February 1975, catalogue no. 72
This painting, shown at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1963, is a
representative example of the themes and processes which typified the work of
Nano Reid at the time. Reid is best known for her landscapes and, within the
genre, she periodically made reference to pre-Christian themes, particularly
those associated with the Boyne Valley. The title of this painting refers to the
traditional link in local folklore between Oengus óg, a character in Celtic
myth, and the megalithic burial site at Newgrange. The characteristic earthy
tones and free, expressionistic handling of paint convey the tactile qualities
of rich soil and lush growth, and provide the background to the focal point of
the image: the entrance to the passage grave with its identifiable entrance
stone carved in a swirling geometry and the aperture designed to permit a shaft
of sunlight to enter the tomb at the winter solstice. Popular legend associated
Oengus óg, appropriately, with sunlight, love and death. The iconography of
death and fecundity, to symbolise the cycles of nature, was known in modern art
by mid century. Seán Ó Faoláin once described Nano Reid as "a poetic visionary,
writing in code about things behind the seen surface, an imagination nurtured in
the Boyne Valley whose rich uplands and ancient stones silently murmur ancestral
memories"1
1 Seán Ó faoláin, ‘Introduction’, Nano Reid: A Retrospective Exhibition, The
Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and The Arts Council of Northern Ireland,
Dublin and Belfast, 1974, p.3
Dr Yvonne Scott
Trinity College Dublin, October 2003
€10,000-€12,000 (£7,000-£8,400 sterling approx.)