46
WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
60
Nano Reid (1900-1981)
SALMON FISHING ON THE BOYNE, c.1950
oil on panel
signed lower left; with exhibition label affixed on reverse
24 by 48in. (61 by 122cm)
Provenance:
James Adam & Sons, 29 March 1995, lot 36 as
Fishermen
;
Private collection
Exhibited:
‘Nano Reid and Gerard Dillon’, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, 6
November to 10 January 2009 (loaned by present owner)
Literature:
Ed., Coulter, Dr. Riann and NicGhabhann, Niamh,
Nano Reid and
Gerard Dillon Curated by Riann Coulter,
Highlanes Gallery,
Drogheda, 2009 (edition of 1,000), p.16-17 (illustrated)
Salmon Fishing on the Boyne
is an extremely important work within
Nano Reid’s oeuvre. It is both a scene of everyday life in mid-century
Ireland and a valuable historical record of a particular time and place.
Born in Drogheda in 1905, Nano Reid studied and worked in Dublin,
London and Paris before she eventually settled back in her home town.
During the 1950s Reid painted several works inspired by Drogheda
including
Where the Ships Unload, Old Town by the River
and the large
mural she painted for her family’s pub.That mural, now in the
Drogheda Municipal Collection and on display in the Highlanes Gallery,
is stylistically similar to
Salmon Fishing on the Boyne
and dates from
the same period c. 1950.
Although
Salmon Fishing on the Boyne
was not intended to be
documentary and includes the Modernist distortions of scale and
perspective that were typical of Reid’s work in this period, it still
constitutes a valuable record of a traditional way of life. For centuries
salmon fishing was an important source of food and revenue for those
who lived along the Boyne.There were around forteen fishing stations
on the river and while it is difficult to identify the exact location of this
scene, it may be an area of the river bank close to the town centre,
which is known as The Ramparts. According to Leo Boyle, Boyne salmon
fishermen had a particular method of working which involved two
men. One man stayed on shore holding a rope attached to the net,
while the other rowed out into the river with the other end of the net.
Once the whole net was spread out, the boatman rowed back to shore
and the two men pulled the net to shore, trapping fish as it went.
1
In Reid’s painting the catch has been hauled in.Two fishermen are
inspecting (or mending) the net, while a third man pulls a rope through
the water.Two small row boats are moored nearby and more can be
seen across the river.The chimney-like structures on the far shore
resemble the lime kilns that were a historic feature of this area.
Despite the years that she spent in Dublin, Reid always attributed her
initial interest in art to Drogheda and the Boyne. In 1974 she told the
journalist Martin Dillon,
What started me off was an interest in the prehistoric Irish remains.
An interest grew up around all that and the natural thing was to
paint it. ... I looked around me more and painted what appealed to
me in an emotional way.The thing is I have to have a subject that I
feel about and the only ones I feel about are those places (Boyne
Valley).There is no use in trying to paint a place I have no feeling
for.The essence of a place is very important to me.
2
In addition to its subject matter
, Salmon Fishing on the Boyne
is
successful in purely formal terms.The composition is unusual but
balanced and there are notable formal elements such as the group of
swans, whose dynamic bobbing is echoed and emphasised through
the reflections in the river and the hatching of the fishing net. Curves
flow through the composition from the outline of the shore to the
boats, nets, rope and men’s baggy trousers.The shape of the boats
echoes the fish and the fishermen’s flat caps.The warm palette
dominated by yellows, pinks and blues, contradicts those critics who
have condemned Reid’s use of earthy greens and browns in later
paintings including
Cave of the Firbolg
(Collection Arts Council of
Ireland). Ultimately,
Salmon Fishing on the Boyne
proves that, despite
being so firmly rooted in a particular place, Reid could produce work of
universal appeal.
Dr Riann Coulter
April 2014
1
Leo Boyle, Salmon Fishing on the Boyne River, A Brief Synopsis of the Boyne
River Salmon Fishery,
, accessed 16/4/2014.
2
Nano Reid interviewed by Martin Dillon, BBC Northern Ireland, 1974.Transcript,
Reid Archive, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda.
€
25,000-
€
35,000 (£20,660-£28,930 approx.)
