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IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART · 26 SEPTEMBER 2016 AT 6PM
The McClelland Collection
73
Elizabeth Rivers (1903-1964)
HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL
stone
signed with initials
10½ x 7½ x 5in. (26.67 x 19.05 x
Provenance:
Collection of George and Maura McClelland
Literature
The Hunter Gatherer - The Collection of George and Maura McClelland, The Irish Museum of Modern Art,
Dublin, 2004, p.134 (illustrated)
“Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil plays on the tradition of two sided heads from ancient archaeological sites.
In this piece she [Rivers] allows the marks of the chisel to form a pattern, reducing the realism of the
two heads to create a stylised composition that draws on her [Rivers’] cubist training, but which may
also reflect her knowledge of such double-headed figures as those on White Island in Fermanagh. The
subject, like many of her book illustrations reaffirms traditional moral teachings and proverbs. This is
especially true of Rivers’ work after WWII, when she saw Ireland as a kind of Norah’s Ark of security in the
midst of European chaos.”(1)
(1) Catherine Marshall in The Hunter Gatherer - The Collection of George and Maura McClelland, The Irish
Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2004, p.124
€1500-€2000 (£1280-£1710 approx.)
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