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Harry Kernoff RHA (1900-1974)
THE METRO, PARIS, 1931
oil on board
signed lower right; signed, titled, dated and with artist’s address [13 Stamer Street Dublin] on reverse;
also with Apollo Gallery label on reverse
24 x 29½in. (60.96 x 74.93cm)
Provenance:
Adam’s, 28 May 2003, lot 52;
Private collection
Filled with bright vibrant colour, The Metro, Paris, evokes a leisurely sunny day spent in the French
capital. In the foreground, two figures sip green and red liqueurs, while the face of a man in straw boater
is concealed. Overhead, the fringe of the café’s awning hangs down, with the word ‘cognac’ clearly
legible. Beyond the café, tram tracks and overhead wires criss-cross the composition: in the distance a
man alights from the Line 5, and a larger, red metro moves across the metal aerial track. To the right of
the composition, an Art Nouveau-style entrance can be seen, with the name Jean Jaurès visible in red
lettering. Elsewhere, the composition is populated with characters typical of Kernoff’s urban scenes, such
as the woman walking purposefully with a fresh baguette under her arm, or the poodle, complete with
an elaborate red bow.
Kernoff had first visited Paris in 1923, using part of his £50 scholarship from the Taylor Bequest Awards
to fund a trip abroad. However, it seems likely that he visited the city again in 1931: a pencil sketch
in the National Gallery of Ireland is signed and dated July 1931, and in 1932, he exhibited six Parisian
watercolours at The Gallery, 7 Stephen’s Green. This collection included Canal, Jean-Jaurès, Paris, 1931
(Whyte’s, 28 November 2011). (1) 1931 was an auspicious year for the artist: a large painting, Jupiter
and the Muses, was accepted to the Royal Academy, London, and received press coverage in Ireland
and Paris. (2) In March of the same year, the artist’s first solo exhibition in London had taken place at the
Gieves Gallery, Old Bond Street.
At the 1932 Dublin exhibition, and at a further London show in 1938, Kernoff exhibited a work titled
The Metro, Jean Jaurès, however the low catalogue prices suggest that these were smaller watercolour
paintings. (3) A work titled Metro, Paris 1931 was also exhibited at the Harry Kernoff Memorial Exhibition
at Municipal Gallery (now the Dublin City Gallery the Hugh Lane) in 1976-77, listed as a watercolour
measuring 11.4 by 16 inches. (4) It was not unusual for the artist to complete multiple versions of the
same composition, in different media, and so it is possible that a watercolour version of this painting is
extant. In 1957, Kernoff exhibited a work of the same title priced at £65, suggesting a larger painting in
oils - such as the present work. The style and execution of The Metro, Paris is redolent of other works from
the 1930s - particularly the economical use of paint - and is a characteristic example of his work.
Dr Kathryn Milligan
ESB Fellow
ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art
National Gallery of Ireland
August 2016