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WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
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May Guinness (1863-1955)
STILL LIFE
oil on canvas
with Arts Council of Northern Ireland exhibition label
on reverse
29 by 36in. (73.66 by 91.44cm)
In spring 2013 May Guinness formed part of an important
and exciting exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art
titled Analysing Cubism. It highlighted the strong
association between Irish female artists, Cubism and the
promotion of Modernist Art in Ireland.The present work, Still
Life, reflects Guinness’ avant-garde style and demonstrates
her radical reimaging of composition, form and colour in this
genre.
Among Guinness’ contemporaries exhibited in IMMA were
Mainie Jellett, Mary Swanzy, Evie Hone and Norah
McGuinness alongside their continental counterparts Pablo
Picasso, George Braque, Albert Gleizes and André Lhote.
It was in the company of Hone and Jellett that Guinness
travelled to France to study under Lhote from 1922 to 1925.
May Guinness first travelled to Paris in 1910 and, at the
outbreak of World War I, she relocated there to become a
military nurse in the French armed forces. She exhibited
regularly in Dublin throughout her career.Venues included
the RHA, IELA and the Dublin Painters Group. A memorial
retrospective was held the year after her death in 1955 at
the Dawson Gallery.
€
8,000-
€
10,000 (£5,930-£7,410 approx.)