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Seán Keating PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977) SELF PORTRA
Currency:EUR
Category:Everything Else / Other
Start Price:NA
Estimated At:40,000.00 - 60,000.00 EUR
Auction Date:2005 Feb 22 @ 18:00 (UTC)
Location:Ireland
Seán Keating PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977) SELF PORTRAIT AT THE HACIENDA, circa 1947-1950 signed lower right oil on board 91 by 105cm., 36 by 41.5in. With a second, incomplete self portrait on reverse. Sean Keating inherited the knowledge and craft of self-portraiture from William Orpen, his teacher at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin from 1911 to 19141. For the duration of his professional career, Keating’s artistic fascination with his changing face occupied him on a consistent and regular basis2. In order to undertake a self-portrait, he habitually used a mirror, which may go some way to explain the steadiness of his rather serious gaze in the present painting. Self Portrait at the Hacienda is typical of Keating’s oeuvre, although the setting is unexpected and somewhat distinctive. The building in the sunny background seems typical of a Spanish hacienda3. Surprisingly perhaps, the location is likely to be North Africa. In late 1947 and again in 1948, Keating sailed with Irish Shipping Ltd on board The Hazel, in order to broaden his artistic horizons4. Irish Shipping Ltd was set up in 1941 to ensure that Ireland could import and export essential goods during World War II and, as such, the vessels did not carry passengers5. Keating was given a temporary job; that of ‘purser’ for the duration of both journeys, as legally he had to have something ‘official’ to do. While on board he made good use of his time, undertaking many sketches and drawings of the crew, the ship and the varied and colourful landscape while travelling around the coast of Spain and towards Tunisia in North Africa. Many of his drawings were made on old maritime maps, an early and very useful form of recycling. The journey to North Africa was undertaken by The Hazel in order to collect shipments of phosphate stone from Sfax in Tunisia that were brought back to Ireland and used in the manufacture of much needed fertiliser. Self Portrait at the Hacienda is most likely to have been based on sketches gathered on these journeys around the coast of Spain and North Africa, given that there may not have been enough room on board ship for large pieces of hardboard6. The self-portrait on reverse apparently illustrates Keating in practice, in front of the mirror deciding whether or not to wear his trilby hat and what to do with his dark cravat. As for his rather unusual clothing, if comparison is made with a calendar Keating painted for Irish Shipping in 1947 illustrating the crew working on deck, it seems that he may have portrayed himself in the ‘on board’ uniform of the company7. In most other self-portraits Keating wears his ubiquitous dark Aran jumper and blue báinín cap, so it is manifest in this double sided painting that the visual message is unmistakably quite different. In the main image, having decided to wear his hat, Keating has situated himself in front of a red tiled building common to Spain and her territories in North Africa. He adds further to the significance of the image through the visually interesting addition of a Spanish Majolica jug from which he takes either wine or water. Keating was adept at painting allegories and parables8; therefore, the significance of the water or wine may be multi-layered, alluding to religion, the heat of the North African landscape and the benefit of the sunshine on the grape harvest9. But further, Keating also seems to stand as the proud explorer of places further east, posed in slight shadow, trilby hat and unusual uniform, with his back to the sunshine, an artistic paragon to Irish industry and travel, the rather large cigarillo in his right hand adding a slight touch of wittiness to the occasion. The sunlit hacienda and blue sky stand in contrast to Keating’s self image. He appears as though posed inside, perhaps at a window, giving some credibility to the notion that the painting was made using previously collected sketches, in the studio on his return home. Prior to travelling with Irish Shipping, Keating often included Spanish references and allusions in many of his paintings such as Don Quixote , Irish Romanesque and Aran Fisherman and his Wife. But there is another little known connection between Keating and the Spanish mainland. His wife May spent a number of her early school years in Spain. She returned to Ireland in 1916 with fluent Spanish and a love of her adopted country. We could therefore conceivably consider Self Portrait at the Hacienda as an artistic acknowledgement of May’s early life, and a proud moment for Keating, given that he too managed to see Spain and indeed further afield through the auspices of Irish Shipping Ltd. Furthermore we can also consider the work as an illustration of Keating’s love of machinery, modernity and travel. During the late 1920s he portrayed the machinery and modernity of the electrification of the Irish Free State, otherwise known as the Shannon Scheme, and he travelled to New York in 1939 to take part in the World Trade Fair10. In the 1950s he travelled to Geneva to install a large, commissioned mural in the International Labour Offices. He frequently travelled around Ireland in order to install his work to a satisfactory level. Moreover, given that Keating portrayed the people of the Aran Islands and the west of Ireland with consistency throughout his career, it is not inconceivable to suggest that he is, whether wittingly or not, visually referencing historical, political and religious affiliations with Spain. 1 In 1915 Orpen portrayed Keating as the Man from the West (Limerick City Gallery), a brooding image that seems to reflect the mood of the First World War, and again the same year in The Holy Well (NGI). 2 It is interesting to note too, that Keating used his own image in most of his religious work, as Christ in his three sets of Stations of the Cross, and variously as a saint or onlooker in other works. 3 The hacienda is common to Spain, Central and Southern America and areas of North Africa. 4Keating travelled with Irish Shipping on two occasions, 1947-48 and again in 1952 on board The Hazel. 5 The first ship purchased by Irish Shipping Ltd was a Greek vessel which was, interestingly, given the setting of this painting, abandoned in Spain after being grounded in heavy storms. She was captained from Spain by a Captain Moran, and with a full cargo of grain, she left for Dublin on 1 October 1941. On arrival in Dublin, the ship was renamed The Irish Poplar. From that point, many newly commissioned ships were called after Irish trees (eg. The Larch, The Oak, The Spruce and The Hazel). 6 Keating made sketches that he would frequently reuse; hence, many of his models appeared not to age. He used a sketch of Sfax in Algeria for the landscape in his painting The Scapular Vision (1949), Gort Muire Conference Centre, Ballinteer, Dublin. Furthermore in 1950 he exhibited a painting titled The Long Voyage Home, Captain Clarke on the ‘Hazel’ at the RHA, priced at £75.00. This is most likely the painting that was exhibited in ‘Sean Keating PRHA, 1889-1977’ at the RHA in Dublin in 1989, titled for the exhibition as Captain Clarke ISL 1948, oil on board, catalogue no. 73. The use of board would suggest a similar date range for Self Portrait at a Spanish Mission. Keating also made a calendar for Irish Shipping which was based on the sketches made on his journey. 7 This is not a conclusive point, and it may also be that Keating has portrayed himself in typical Mediterranean wear. 8 It is useful to consider, with regard to allegories and parables, An Allegory (NGI) and Night’s Candles are Burnt Out (Oldham Municipal Gallery). John Dowling, art critic with Ireland Today, considered Keating’s Slan Leat a Athair, shown in the RHA in 1943 to be a “parable in paint”. 9 Indeed it may be that the owner of the hacienda possessed vineyards, tobacco plants or even a winery. 10 It was at the World Trade Fair in 1939 that Keating won the IBM international award for his painting, Race of the Gael (NGI). Furthermore, he also installed a large mural on the theme of Irish Life in the Irish Pavilion at the Trade Fair, which was shamrock shaped and designed by Michael Scott. Eimear O’Connor, January 2005 Postgraduate Researcher Presently engaged in writing a thesis on Sean Keating titled Seán Keating, A New Perspective. University College Dublin.
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