16
WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
18
Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958)
AN ACHILL BOG, c. 1928-1930
oil on canvas
signed lower right; titled in another hand in pencil on stretcher verso; with Dawson Gallery
framing label also on reverse
11.50 by 13.50in. (29.21 by 34.29cm)
Provenance:
Given as a wedding present to the previous owner’s parents, 1936;
Thence by descent;
Adams, 30 March 1994, lot 24;
de Vere‘s, 20 November 2001, lot 243;
Private collection
Literature:
Kennedy, S.B.,
Paul Henry, Paintings Drawings Illustrations
, Yale University Press, New Haven &
London, 2007, p. 240, catalogue no. 688 (reproduced)
One cannot know for sure where the setting for this scene may be, but despite the title it must be in
Connemara. As is well known, Henry lived on Achill Island from 1910 until 1919, when he moved to
Dublin. But from 1917 he was employed as a Paymaster for the Congested Districts Board, his
autobiography,
An Irish Portrait
, London, 1951, pp. 83-4, noting his work here. His duties for the Board
were not onerous, but they allowed him to travel more widely than hitherto so that increasingly he drew
upon the areas around Ballycroy, Bangor Erris and Pollatomish in north County Mayo for his subject
matter. His practice thereafter was to make sketches as he journeyed and these he used later for
compositions. His handling of this picture is characteristic of his work in the late 1920s, although the
overall tonal key is brighter than many of his works from that time. In the sky the paint has been fairly
evenly applied to the canvas, with little overpainting or other changes, while on the distant mountain
there is more impasto and a clear direction of the fall of light.The middle distance is similarly treated. But
the foreground, with its warm tones, heavier impasto, briskly executed brushwork and the upward thrust
of the turfstacks which link the foreground with the middle distance, shows the exuberance of Henry at
the height of his powers.
There is a label on the reverse of the Dawson Gallery, Dublin, as the framer. The title is written in pencil on
the back of the stretcher, but in whose hand is unknown. Dated 1928-30 on stylistic grounds.
Dr S. B. Kennedy
September 2013
€
30,000-
€
40,000 (£25,640-£34,190 approx.)
