IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART 9 MARCH 2026

30 15 James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1877-1944) COTTAGES BY THE SEA oil on canvas signed lower right 15 by 20in. (38.1 by 50.8cm) Frame Size: 22.75 by 27.75in. (57.8 by 70.5cm) Provenance: Cynthia O’Connor Gallery, Dublin, 1995; Private collection; Whyte’s, 17 February 2004, lot 61; Private collection Exhibited: ‘Cynthia O’Connor Gallery Paintings for the 30th Irish Antique Dealers’ Fair’, Royal Dublin Society, 1995, catalogue no. 12 (illustrated) James Humbert Craig was born in Belfast in 1877, the son of a tea-merchant who had married a Marie Metzenen of Switzerland. Craig’s early interest in art may have stemmed from his mother’s side, as there was said to have been a painting tradition in her family. He was virtually a self-taught artist and earned popular renown for his impressionistic scenes of Donegal, Antrim and Connemara. His works first appeared at the RHA in 1915, and he was a constant contributor there up until his death, showing 130 works in all. In 1925 he became an associate of the RHA and in 1928 a full member. He was also an academician of the Ulster Academy of Arts. Overseas he exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1928 and at the Royal Academy in 1935 and 1937. His work has been widely reproduced in the form of lithographic posters and calendars. During the 1930s Craig showed more than 200 paintings with the Fine Art Society in London, preferring the opulent Victorian gallery to that of the stuffier confines of the Royal Academy. Established in 1886, the Society pioneered the concept of the one-man show; Whistler, Seargent and Sickert all exhibited there. He also was represented at the 1932 Olympic art exhibition in Los Angeles. Craig is recorded as having been granted at least three solo exhibitions with the Society in 1933, 1935 and 1937. He was also included in many of their group exhibitions, including the 1928 exhibition of Irish artists in which Paul Henry, E. L. Lawrensen and Crampton Walker were also represented. Craig died in Antrim in 1944. Following his death memorial exhibitions of his work took place in the Municipal Technical College, Derry, Belfast Museum and Art Gallery, Combridge Galleries, Belfast and at the Oriel Gallery, Dublin. Examples of works by James Humbert Craig can be found in the National Gallery of Ireland, Crawford Municipal Gallery and in the Ulster Museum. €5,000-€7,000 (£4,350-£6,090 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot15