WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART MONDAY 2 DECEMBER 2024 FROM 6PM

53 IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART · 2 DECEMBER 2024 AT 6PM 33 Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974) NEAR TRAMORE, COUNTY DONEGAL oil on canvas titled on reverse; also with “Del (deliver) to 58 Howard St./ 1st Floor” [McKelvey’s studio address from c.1936] in pencil on stretcher on reverse 20.25 by 24.50in. (51.4 by 62.2cm) Frame Size: 27 by 31in. (68.6 by 78.7cm) Provenance: Whyte’s, 26 November 2012, lot 80; Private collection; Whyte’s, 29 February 2016, lot 14; Private collection Exhibited: possibly exhibited as Tramore Bay, Co. Donegal, RHA, Dublin, 1949, catalogue no. 139 The setting for this work must be Tramore Strand, near Dunfanaghy, County Donegal, where McKelvey often worked from the mid-1920s onwards. Judged stylistically, however, this painting must date from the mid-to-late 1940s and it may be the Tramore Bay, Co. Donegal composition that was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1949. Prior to the late 1920s and early 1930s McKelvey’s style was much more representational, as his Children in a Park, 1922, or Evening, Ballycastle, c. 1924 (Ulster Museum), for example show (see S. B. Kennedy, Frank McKelvey, RHA, RUA: A Painter in his Time, 1993, plates 2 and 5 respectively); but thereafter his loose, Impressionist-derived manner took over (Kennedy, 1993, plate 36, illustrates the point) as can be seen here too. The free brushwork employed in the rendering of the sea, especially where it breaks upon the shore, and in the foreground, well exemplify these developments. The gentle hills and overall calm, fresh mood of the scene are also typical of McKelvey’s way of recording the Irish landscape. The title of the picture is inscribed in pencil on the reverse of the canvas along with his studio address [on stretcher]. Dr S.B. Kennedy €5,000-€7,000 (£4,200-£5,880 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot33