WHYTE'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART MONDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2018 AT 6PM

51 Patrick Collins HRHA (1910-1994) THE QUEEN’S BATHING PLACE oil on board signed lower right 24 by 29.50in. (61 by 74.9cm) Provenance: Adam’s, 30 May 2001, lot 26; Private collection Exhibited: David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, June to July 1972, catalogue no. 22; David Hendriks at Cork Arts Society, March 1973, catalogue no. 27; Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast, December 1974, catalogue no. 4 Literature: Collins lived in France from 1971 to 1976, a desperately lean period for him financially in which he produced little work, especially during the first three years when he lived in Paris. However, he did manage to create enough paintings for a one-man show in Dublin in 1972, Queen’s Bathing Place among them. These paintings are characterised by a livelier spontaneous touch than seen in earlier work. The grey mists seem to evaporate, giving way to a bright, fresh light that reveals airy, pastel colours. Apart from the occasional French subject, Collins continued to draw most of his motifs from Irish-based memories, myth and imagination. His art springs from memory, thrives on it. Queen’s Bathing Place is most likely imaginary, perhaps alluding to a fairy queen. Barely visible at the centre of the painting is a tiny ethereal figure, possibly on a barge. Two boats are positioned vertically at the sides, while the horizontal ribbed shapes at the top and bottom suggest smaller, simpler boats. Consistent with the subject, the forms float in a cool green watery space. Rather than representing a theme literally, Collins worked more like a poet, condensing, abstracting and interpreting fragments from memory. In Queen’s Bathing Place Collins suspends the picture in a rectangle that hovers a few inches from the perimeter, a device strongly associated with him. This ‘frame- within-a-frame’ has the effect of separating the subject from the reality of its surroundings, moving it from the concrete observed world into the realm of the imaginary. This picture is typical of the way Collins liked to organise his compositions: some shapes align with the perimeter, while others gravitate towards the centre. The strong visual pull between edge (the boats) and centre (the figure and barge) makes the composition seem to rotate. Queen’s Bathing Place has the delicate buoyancy of Collins’ French period. Although it has shed the sombre tonality of preceding years, this painting continues to reflect the ongoing concern of the artist for light and atmosphere, with its translucent colours muted by diffused sunlight and the edges of shapes softened as if veiled by a transparent mist. Dr Frances Ruane HRHA November 2018 €10,000-€ 15,000 (£8,850-£13,270 approx.) Click Here for Large Images & To Bid Lot 51