46
62
Paul Henry
KEEL VILLAGE,
oil on canvas
signed lower le
18 by 20in. (45.
Provenance:
Private collecti
Adam’s, 28 May
Whence purcha
Exhibited:
‘Paintings by M
Russell (AE), Lei
Literature:
Kennedy, S.B.,
P
London, 2007, c
In original Waddi
The form of the si
signify that this c
August 1911.The
seen from the hig
the middle distan
moderate impast
painting at this ti
blues and greys t
influence that wo
foreground, is ch
composition of t
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excitement at his
Dr SB Kennedy
February 2013
!
50,000-
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70,0
WHYTES
SINCE 1783
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52
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)
DEATH OF PROCRIS, 1929 oil on canvas signed lower right; with James Bourlet & Sons framing
label on reverse; with Musée de Strasbourg exhibition label on reverse; with inscribed Irish Art
Exhibition label on reverse detailing artistʼs address [36 Fitzwilliam Sq., Dublin] and price [£15-15-0];
with Corporation of Dublin, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art Parnell Sq., exhibition label on reverse;
with IMMA exhibition label also on reverse
27 by 47in. (68.58 by 119.38cm)
Provenance: Acquired from the artist by James White (former director of the National Gallery of
Ireland, 1964-1980); Thence by descent to the present owner
Exhibited: ʻExposition Europe 1925ʼ, Musée de Strasbourg, 14 May - 15 September 1970, catalogue
no. 78 as Death of Procris, 1929 (loaned by owner); Irish Art Exhibition, Brussels, May 1930 as
Painting; ʻMainie Jellett Retrospective Exhibitionʼ, Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin, July - October 1962,
catalogue no. 6; ʻMainie Jellettʼ, IMMA, December 1991 to March 1992, catalogue no. 94
Literature: Arnold, Bruce, Mainie Jellett and the Modern Movement in Ireland, Yale University Press
New Haven & London, 1991, p. 112 (illustrated)
Mainie Jellett has been described as the cornerstone of twentieth century modern art in Ireland1,
and is a pioneer of abstract cubism. Her formal education as a painter, at the Metropolitan School of
Art in Dublin where she was exposed to the influence, among others, of William Orpen, followed by
the Westminster School of Art in London, then run by Walter Sickert, provided a grounding for her
understanding of the representation of the body. However, it was her experience in Paris, working
with advocates of Cubism, André Lhote and Albert Gleizes, that facilitated her development of an
increasingly stylised representation of the human figure and to her tendency towards abstraction.
In Paris, Jellett was familiarised with various forms of Cubist representation from the object-based,
almost monochromatic analytical method as practised by Picasso and Bracque to Orphist
experiments with abstraction and brilliant colour. However, it was the theories of rotation and
translation advocated by Gleizes that provided the basis for Jellettʼs first abstract works. Much of he
output is distinguished by her characteristic use of colour, of the tonal variation which demonstrates
the inventive and subtle chromatic range that is evident in Death of Procris. By the late 1920s, when
this painting was carried out, Jellett had developed a distinctive and identifiable method of
representation and this painting is one of the finest examples of her work of this period. While the
distillation of form shows her abstract tendencies, in many of her paintings she retains elements of
figuration. In this work, the two protagonists in the story, while refined to their essentials of line and
plane, can nonetheless be clearly discerned. Stylistically, the repeated curved lines and the
geometry of the flat planes demonstrate her awareness of Art Deco.
Jellett wrote extensively about art, and as early as the 1920s was emphasising the role of flatness in
modern painting. She was also familiar with the history of art, and her knowledge of earlier periods
including the artists of the Renaissance and its legacy, is evident in her essays.2
