Whyte's Important Irish & International Art 26 May 2014 - page 138

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Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958)
KEEL VILLAGE, ACHILL ISLAND, 1911
oil on canvas
signed lower left
18 by 20in. (45.72 by 50.80cm)
Provenance:
Private collection;
Adam’s, 28 May 2003, lot 86;
Whence purchased by the present owner
Exhibited:
‘Paintings by Mrs. Frances Baker, Grace Henry, Paul Henry, Casimir Dunin-Markiewicz and George
Russell (AE), Leinster Hall, Dublin, 16-21 October, 1911, catalogue no. 35 or 36
Literature:
Kennedy, S.B., Paul Henry, Paintings Drawings Illustrations, Yale University Press, New Haven &
London, 2007, catalogue no. 342, p.162 (illustrated)
In original Waddington frame.
The form of the signature, with dots between the two words of the artist’s name and after the word Henry,
signify that this composition must have been painted shortly after the artist arrived on Achill Island in
August 1911.The village of Keel, where in his autobiography, An Irish Portrait(1951), he tells us he settled, is
seen from the high ground to the north-west, the long and graceful sweep of Trawmore Strand dominating
the middle distance.The scene has been rendered with remarkable economy of means, therebeing only
moderate impasto, but a great sense of fluidity, in the handling of the paint. As is characteristi c of Henry’s
painting at this time the brushwork is rigorously descriptive of form and structure and the use of subtle
blues and greys to emphasise the recession of the landscape is a foretaste of the strong Whistlerian
influence that would soon emerge in his painting.The use of upright brushstrokes, as seen in the near
foreground, is characteristic of other Henry pictures of this time.There is an almost identical, but smaller,
composition of the same title and period to this in the Ulster Museum, Belfast. Nowadays the village of Keel
is larger, although not substantially so, so that the main thrust of the landscape can clearly beseen. Henry’s
excitement at his new-found surroundings is also evident in his rendering of the landscape.
Dr SB Kennedy
February 2013
€50,000-€70,000 (£42,700-£59,800 approx.)
WHYTESSINCE 1783
,
WORKS BY Nano Reid!
SALMON FISHING ON THE BOYNE by Nano Reid
Lot 60 in Whyte's Important Irish & International Art 26 May 2014
Estimate: €25,000-€35,000"
BATHERS AT MORNINGTON, c.1945 by Nano Reid
Lot 63 in Whyte's Important Irish & International Art 26 May 2014
Estimate: €4,000-€6,000 " !
THE HEAD AT CLOGHERHEAD, c.1940 by Nano Reid
Lot 62 in Whyte's Important Irish & International Art 26 May 2014
Estimate: €700-€900
BOATS AT CLOGHERHEAD, c.1933 by Nano Reid
Lot 61 in Whyte's Important Irish & International Art 26 May 2014
Estimate: €1,000-€1,500
ISLAND DWELLERS by Nano Reid
Lot 65 in Whyte's Important Irish & International Art 26 May 2014
Estimate: €2,000-€3,000"