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

82 52 Patrick Collins HRHA (1910-1994) SALMON OF KNOWLEDGE, 1984 oil on canvas signed and dated lower right 34 by 42.50in. (86.4 by 108cm) Frame Size: 38 by 46.5in. (96.5 by 118.1cm) Provenance: Apollo Gallery, Dublin, c.1988; Private collection In the late 1970s, Patrick Collins returned to settle in Ireland after being based in France for six years or so. Renowned as a painter of an almost mythical rural Ireland, of bogland and water, smallholdings and livestock, everything moulded by a soft, misty light, he had during his time in France developed a renewed interest in line. This stemmed largely from his growing appreciation of Chinese painting. The work he made suggests that he identified with the importance it placed on empty space in a composition, and its calligraphic immediacy. These qualities are evident in this lively, kinetic treatment of a staple of Irish myth, the story of the legendary salmon that was the repository of all the knowledge in the world, and the young Fionn Mac Cumhaill. Collins concentrates on the salmon or, perhaps, salmon plural, as the leaping form of the fish to the right is echoed across the expanse of the composition in an evocation of flowing water, striving and energy. Patterns of movement generated by both fish and water are formalised in crisp, curling lines. The painting is a celebration of nature and natural processes. The artist’s boyhood experience of running wild in the Sligo countryside imbued him with a lifelong love of the natural world, animals and rural life. These feelings were perhaps accentuated by teenage years spent in an orphanage in Dublin. When he went on to work as an insurance clerk in the city, he nurtured ambitions to be a writer, even as he tentatively explored an alternative artist path, visiting the Municipal Gallery and trying his hand at painting. From 1950, he exhibited at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, leading to a solo show at the Ritchie Hendriks Gallery. He was recognised as a major voice in contemporary Irish painting and an exceptional interpreter of the Irish landscape and character. His work is represented in all the major public and private collections. In 1987 he became the first member of Aosdána to be honoured as a Saoi. The following year Trinity conferred an honorary doctorate. Aidan Dunne, November 2024 €8,000-€12,000 (£6,720-£10,080 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot52