WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
67
80
Frank McKelvey RHA
RUA (1895-1974)
NEAR TRAMORE, COUNTY
DONEGAL
oil on canvas
with title inscribed on reverse; also
with “Del (deliver) to 58 Howard
St./1st Floor” [McKelvey’s studio
address from c. 1936] in pencil on
stretcher on reverse
20.25
by 24.50in. (51.44 by
62.23
cm)
Exhibited:
possibly exhibited as
Tramore Bay,
Co. Donegal,
RHA , Dublin, 1949
catalogue no. 139
The setting for this work must be
Tramore Strand, near Dunfanaghy,
County Donegal
,
where McKelvey often
worked from the mid-1920s onwards.
Judged stylistically, however, this
painting must date from the mid-to-
late 1940s and it may be the
Tramore
Bay, Co. Donegal
composition that was
exhibited at the Royal Hibernian
Academy in 1949. Prior to the late
1920
s and early 1930s McKelvey’s style
was much more representational, as his
Children in a Park, 1922
,
or
Evening, Ballycastle, c. 1924
(
Ulster
Museum), for example show (see S. B. Kennedy,
Frank McKelvey,
RHA, RUA: A Painter in his Time, 1993
,
plates 2 and 5 respectively);
but thereafter his loose, Impressionist-derived manner took over
(
Kennedy, 1993, plate 36, illustrates the point) as can be seen here
too.The free brushwork employed in the rendering of the sea,
especially where it breaks upon the shore, and in the foreground,
well exemplify these developments.The gentle hills and overall
calm, fresh mood of the scene are also typical of McKelvey’s way of
recording the Irish landscape.The title of the picture is inscribed in
pencil on the reverse of the canvas along with his studio addrress.
Dr S.B. Kennedy
October, 2012
€
5,000-
€
7,000 (
£4,000-£5,600 approx)
81
James Humbert Craig
RHA RUA (1877-1944)
FORESHORE, NEAR CUSHENDUN,
COUNTY ANTRIM
oil on board
signed lower left; with Pearson &
Westergaard Fine Art [Glasgow]
label on reverse
12
by 16in. (30.48 by 40.64cm)
Provenance:
Pearson & Westergaard Fine Art,
Glasgow;
Private collection
€
2,000-
€
3,000
(
£1,600-£2,500 approx)