WHYTE'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2024 AT 6PM

32 18 Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) KEEL BAY, ACHILL, c.1910-15 oil on panel signed lower right; with John Magee label on reverse 11 by 13.75in. (27.9 by 34.9cm) Frame Size: 14 by 17in. (35.6 by 43.2cm) Provenance: John Magee, Belfast, 1961; Private collection Literature: Kennedy, Dr S.B., Paul Henry: Paintings, Drawings and Illustrations, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, p.181, possibly as catalogue no. 412 Keel Bay Achill 1910-1915 The scene is the village of Keel (An Caol) in Achill Co Mayo overlooking the strand known in Gaeilge as Trá Mór, the big beach. Paul Henry and his wife Grace arrived in Achill in 1910 from London and stayed at The Amethyst belonging to the Barrett family in the village of Keel. In his autobiography Henry personifies Achill, referring to houses “huddled close together as if for warmth and companionship”. He hears the island speaking to him and fell in love with the village of Keel and its changing moods. He decided to stay in Achill and paint. He wrote that Keel ”never looked the same from one day to another. When it was windless (which was seldom on that wild coast), and the sun shone and the workers were busy in the fields it lay beside the sea, calm and peaceful. It was gay and lively during spring and harvest with people going about their chores. In rain it gave one the impression of a flock of speckled hens huddled together, and during the great gales that swept over it, it cowered, the cottages crouching low among their sally gardens while the wind boomed overhead, and the devouring sea was at the doors snarling among the rocks.” 1 This small oil painting on panel is typical of the quick sketches Henry did when he first arrived on the island, attempting to adapt his art training from Belfast and Post Impressionist Paris to capture the changing beauty before him. He works from a height behind the village, quickly dividing the panels with lines sloping to a point off to the right to create the foreground. The horizon line and the slope of the distant Minion Cliffs meet off to the top left to form the background and the line of the crescent of the beach echoes the horizon and the slope of the houses. The bright warm colours of the rye straw thatch and grass are used to bring the foreground forward. White is added to allow the strand to fade behind alongside the cool blue of the Atlantic. Purple pushes the cliffs away, dark against a grey blue sky. White is applied generously to the round clouds, the gable walls and the waves sparkling at the water’s edge. Kennedy sees this painting as possibly exhibited in Belfast in 1915 and referred to in The News Letter on 15th March 1915. 2 Paul and Grace exhibited regularly in Belfast from 1911, their fifth exhibition being held in the Carlton Restaurant in Donegal Place. This delightful little painting, one would 3 like to think, provided some joy to viewers during the gloom of the First World War and the strains of the suspended Home Rule issue. Dr Mary Cosgrove, September 2024 1 Paul Henry “An Irish Portrait” 1951, p.56 2 Kennedy S. B.., Paul Henry 2007, p. 181. 3 ibid., p. 42. 3 €60,000-€80,000 (£50,420-£67,230 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot18