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Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) - CONNEMARA LANDSCAPE, c.1930

Currency:EUR Category:Art / General - Paintings Start Price:NA Estimated At:60,000.00 - 80,000.00 EUR
Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) - CONNEMARA LANDSCAPE, c.1930

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Auction Date:2011 Oct 10 @ 18:00 (UTC+1)
Location:Royal Dublin Society, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
Artist: Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958)
Title: CONNEMARA LANDSCAPE, c.1930
Medium: oil on canvas board
Signature: signed lower right; with original Rathbone Canvas Board [Winsor & Newton, Ltd., 37 - 40 Rathbone Place, London, W.1.] label on reverse; with remains of Combridge label and inscription [18 & 20 Grafton St., Dublin & 1a Duke St., Dublin] on reverse
Dimensions: 30 by 41cm., 12 by 16in.
Provenance: Provenance:Combridge Gallery, Dublin; Where purchased by the present owner's family c.1930
Exhibited: Exhibited:Combridge Gallery, Dublin, August or November 1930
Literature: Literature:Kennedy, Dr. S.B., Paul Henry: with a catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings, Illustrations, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, p.248 catalogue no. 742 (illustrated)
Note: In original black frame by Combridge.
Aptly titled ‘Farewell – Grace 1929-1933’ chapter nine in Dr. S.B. Kennedy’s foremost text on Paul Henry discusses in depth these tumultuous years of the artist’s career, many of which were spent on Achill. In his personal life, he notes the break-up of the artist’s marriage to his first wife, Grace; a drawn-out affair and the stresses, both financial and emotional, which took their toll on him.
Professionally, Henry’s reputation was secure at this juncture, due in part to the mass distribution of posters based on his works which have now become lasting images of the Irish landscape. Kennedy’s catalogue entry for this work notes it was exhibited in Combridge’s either in August or November of 1930 and he places the work in context by noting that these were “…the first of two one-man shows he held that year in Dublin at Combridge’s Gallery, which was to be his regular Dublin venue for the next twenty years. Other exhibitions in what was a busy time included mixed shows in Toronto, in October, and the Fine Art Society, London, in November. Also in October he was elected an academician of the Ulster Academy of Arts, an accolade that brought him much pleasure and helped to keep alive his contacts in Belfast.” (Kennedy, p.69)
In an examination of Lakeside Cottages (Kennedy, catalogue no. 795), a contemporary to this oil, in chapter nine Kennedy reflects on the development of the artist’s style at this stage: “Characteristically he retains his familiar compositional format, that is, a two-part division of the picture plane with much attention given to the sky and to cloud formations. Of particular note is his understanding of the landscape borne through the experience of living in such places, a consciousness of the soft subtle terrain and dankness of the bog, the meagre lifestyle of the people it supports and the paucity of any crops grown there, the moody stillness of the scene with its suggestion of a life unchanged for centuries. His handling of paint is adroit, forms and structures being set-down directly, described with great economy of means and with little re-painting or changes in concept. This stage of development was to last until the late 1930s.” (Kennedy, p.72)