WHYTE'S IMPORTANT IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART MONDAY 22 MARCH 2021 AT 6PM

36 25 Harry Kernoff RHA (1900-1974) SET OF FOUR MASQUERADE COSTUME DESIGNS, 1928 watercolour, pen and ink; (4) each signed, dated and titled in lower margin 9.50 by 7.25in. (24.1 by 18.4cm) Frame Dimensions: 14 by 12in. (35.6 by 30.5cm) Some rubbing of the paper visible by left arm of figure in ‘Goon Fancy Dress’. Some slight staining visible on very close inspection. Otherwise good condition. Provenance: Adam’s, 1 April 2015, lot 12; Private collection All of equal dimensions and framed uniformly. Individual titles, Carmen, Charles Period, Scroll and Goon Fancy Dress. A set of twelve similar works sold through Whyte’s on 26 April 2005 as lot 59 for €33,000. On the set of twelve it was noted that these designs were most likely the basis of a large oil composition, titled Mascarade [sic], which was shown at the RHA in the spring of 1929 as catalogue no. 221, £175- 0-0; his highest priced exhibit at the time. Later that same year Kernoff again exhibited a work titled Masquerade in his show at the Civic Theatre in Dun Laoghaire’s town hall (catalogue no. 1, £100-0-0). Despite the reduction in price, the work or works were evidently considered important by the artist himself, and it is believed that Kernoff intended for the group of individual watercolours to hang in the foyer of the Abbey Theatre - an ambition ultimately never realised. A further two works from the series, both dated 1928, were donated by the artist’s sister to the National Gallery of Ireland in 1975 (NGI 3183 and 3184). €4,000-€6,000 (£3,450-£5,170 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot25