Page 50 - Whyte's Irish & British Art 4th March 2013 (Use full screen from menu for best Viewing)

50
WHYTESSINCE 1783
,
65
Rudolph Ihlee
(1883-1968)
BRIDGE, ALGIERS, 1926
oil on canvas
signed and dated lower left; numbered
2604 on reverse; with James Bourlet &
Sons [Nassau St., Dublin] also on reverse
24.50 by 29.25in. (62.23 by 74.30cm)
Provenance lots 65 and 66:
A gift from the artist to the present
owner’s family, Co.Wexford c. late 1930s;
Thence by descent to the present owner
A graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art,
London born Rudolph Ihlee formed part of an
innovative group of artists in the first decade of
the 1900s which included Augustus John,
William Crampton Gore, Stanley Spence, Henry
Tonks, John Currie and William Orpen. Ihlee left
Slade School in 1910 and exhibited with the
New English Art Club that year, becoming a
member nine years later. He showed at the
Royal Scottish Academy and with the Royal
Society of British Artists two years later.Two solo
exhibitions at the Carfax Gallery followed in
1914. After the First World War Ihlee painted in
Brittany and later settled in the medieval artists’
hub, Collioure, on the French border with Spain.
In the 1920s he painted in Spain and in North
Africa.The present works record his time in
Algiers. Ihlee later returned to England settling
in Peterborough. In 1926 he had a solo show at
Chenil Galleries, Chelsea (a gallery established
by Orpen’s brother in-law). Rudolph Ihlee died
in 1968 and ten years later a retrospective
exhibition of his work was hosted by the Graves
Art Gallery and the Belgrave Gallery, London. His
work can be found in the Victoria & Albert
Museum, Manchester City Art Gallery, the British
Government Art Collection among others.
The Kernoff-esque treatment of the composition
and flattened space of these north African
scenes recall the Irishman’s take on Dublin,
while the depiction of light echoes the
obsessions of Lavery during histime in this
exotic part of the world.The present works have
been in a single private collection in Wexford,
where Rudolph Ihlee stayed for a period during
the late 1930s. His time in Ireland does not
appear to be recorded but for the interesting
provenance provided here.
€1,000-€1,500 (£900-£1,300 approx.)
66
Rudolph Ihlee
(1883-1968)
WORKERS, ALGIERS, 1924
oil on canvas
signed and dated lower left; numbered
[2408] on reverse
24.50 by 29.25in. (62.23 by 74.30cm)
€700-€900 (£600-£780 approx.)