Auction Date:2011 May 30 @ 18:00 (UTC+1)
Location:Royal Dublin Society, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Dublin, ., Ireland
Sean Keating PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977)
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD - "THAT WAS A GREAT BLOW"
oil on panel
signed lower right; numbered [4] on reverse
91 by 77cm., 36 by 30.2 5in.
Provenance:Acquired at the Dawson Gallery, Dublin, early 1950s; Thence by family descent to the previous owner; Whyte's, 30 April 2007, lot 90; Private collection
Exhibited:possibly exhibited at the RHA, Dublin, 1926, catalogue no. 42
Literature:Synge, J.M., The Playboy of the Western World, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1927
Seán Keating has become synonymous with the west of Ireland in general, and with the Aran Islands in particular. His association with the western seaboard began as early as 1913 and was further emphasised through a series of self-portraits for which the artist dressed in Aran clothing. There is no evidence that Keating ever met John Millington Synge, but in 1917 the artist exhibited a painting in the RHA titled The Outlandish Lovers, which was inspired by The Playboy of the Western World. Synge’s nephew, known as ‘Hutchie’, approached Keating in 1922 with a commission to paint twelve illustrations for a proposed deluxe volume of The Playboy of the Western World. In the event, ten of the twelve images were published. Sir John Lavery was called upon to inspect the first four illustrations, three of which form part of this collection of five (lots 33, 36 and 37). Lavery was greatly impressed by the realism, colour and artistic invention in the work, and he considered them of great importance to the craft of book illustration in Ireland at that time. The full set of paintings was to have been ready in 1926, but a delay on Keating’s part meant that the book was finally published as a numbered series of one thousand copies in 1927. The publication has since become a collectors’ item.
It was an important and prestigious commission, and Keating took his role as an illustrator of Synge’s work very seriously. As if to expand on Synge’s story, Keating chose scenes from the play that, for the most part, are not seen on stage. Perhaps most interesting of all is that Keating himself makes an appearance in the images as Christy Mahon’s father (lots 33, 36 and 37). Proving his commitment to the commission, the artist even posed entirely nude for the scene in which Christy’s father apparently awakes from the ‘dead.’ It is the only instance of a nude portrait of the artist in his entire career (lot 37). In order to plan the compositions in great detail Keating undertook a series of photographs using models from the school of art. He may also have taken sketches at the theatre because many of the actors of the day appear in the illustrations. Sara Allgood, sister of Molly for whom the role was originally written, appeared as Pegeen Mike in a production of The Playboy of the Western World staged in 1924. The features of the female model wrapping bandages around Christie’s head are very similar to Sara’s, but in this instance she is now the Widow Quin (lot 36). Barry Fitzgerald and F. J. McCormack, who took part in that same production in 1924, also make an appearance in Keating’s illustrations as ‘the hairy gallant fellows’ (lot 34). From 1926 until circa 1936 the role of Pegeen Mike was played by Eileen Crowe, who makes an appearance in Keating’s work in the guise of ‘Helen of Troy’, while a cast of likely-looking prophets, or Abbey actors, appear behind ‘the bars of paradise’ in order to get a look at her (lot 35). The artist makes another appearance as the figure to the left of the group of prophets.
Once the publishers had reproduced the images to the required scale, the original paintings were returned to the artist who exhibited them in various venues in the late 1920s. They are an unusual, witty and yet contextually important series of works that signal the nature and extent of the interconnection between the visual arts and literature in the early years of the Irish Free State.
Dr Éimear O’Connor HRHA
Clare and Tony White post-doctoral research fellow
TRIARC-Irish Art Research Centre, TCD.
Auction Location:
Royal Dublin Society, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Dublin, ., Ireland
Previewing Details:
The Clyde Rooms, Royal Dublin Society,
Anglesea Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
Saturday 28 May 10am to 6pm
Sunday 29 May 10am to 6pm
Monday 30 May 10am to 6pm
Guided tours of the exhibition will take place at 3pm on Saturday and Sunday, 28 and 29 May
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