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Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958)
IN THE WEST OF IRELAND, c.1938
oil on canvas
signed lower right
14½ by 17½in. (36 by 43cm)
Provenance:
Purchased by the current owners’ great aunt when travelling in Ireland in the 1938;
Thence by descent
Travelogue entry from 1938 by a family member accompanying their great aunt on a trip to Ireland read: ‘We had the
delight of seeing a number of Paul Henry’s paintings of Connemara scenery. Grandin bought an original painting, but I was
contented to get one of the prints - not a signed one either.’
The execution of this work is characteristic of Paul Henry’s later work. Compositionally the sky dominates the scene; the
clouds have been briskly indicated, the existential act of painting predominating.The mountains, which have little modeling
to indicate the direction of light, halt the eye’s recession; while the foreground, with its turf stacks and probable bog water,
has been briskly set down, the reeds in the foreground indicating the clarity with which Henry could record a scene.
Throughout the colours are clear, crisp and un-muddied, reflecting the manner in which Henry conceived things in his mind-
an influence from his erstwhile teacher, James MacNeill Whistler-before executing them on the canvas. As had been the
artist’s practice for some time, the painting would have been made in the studio from sketches done earlier. It is impossible
to identify the setting with assurance, but it may be the landscape around Maam in Connemara.
In the West of Ireland
is dated c.1938 and is numbered 1248 in S. B. Kennedy’s ongoing cataloguing of Paul Henry’s oeuvre.
Dr S.B. Kennedy
September 2014
€
45,000-
€
55,000 (£36,000-£44,000 approx.)