WHYTE'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART MONDAY 27 MAY 2019 AT 6PM

71 Colin Middleton MBE RHA RUA (1910-1983) MISS KITT mixed media on board signed in monogram lower right 25 by 30in. (63.5 by 76.2cm) Provenance: Whyte’s, 16 September 2003, lot 40; Private collection Unlike a number of his close contemporaries such as Nevill Johnson, Gerard Dillon and Arthur Armstrong, Colin Middleton appears to have used collage very rarely, which makes it all the more remarkable that it is handled here with such skill and confidence. Middleton builds up layers of painted and glazed newspaper that integrate well with the heavily worked and highly abstracted image of the two figures. These are flattened and broken down into loosely geometric shapes in a manner typical of his innovative and experimental approach to the figure from the later 1950s. This was very much of its time; artists such as William Scott and Louis le Brocquy were producing work in the later 1950s and early 1960s that is not dissimilar. Middleton’s own depictions of the figure were often dominated by a Picasso-esque visual playfulness and the pieces of newspaper cut up and used here, while possibly an accidental choice, do create an unusual and light- hearted atmosphere, carrying a variety of political news, sports reports, film listings and more unexpected and amusing messages, such as “This is Miss Kitt / The Girl / Who Likes / To Travel”, which is in a part of one of the figures and perhaps related to it. Dickon Hall, 2003 €8,000-€12,000 (£6,900-£10,340 approx.) Click Here for Large Images & To Bid Lot 71