IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART 9 MARCH 2026

55 IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART · MONDAY 9 MARCH 2026 AT 6PM 34 Basil Ivan Rákóczi (1908-1979) FISHERMEN oil on canvas signed lower right; signed again on reverse 12 by 16in. (30.5 by 40.6cm) Frame Size: 16.75 by 20.75in. (42.5 by 52.7cm) Basil Ivan Rákóczi was born in Chelsea, London in 1908 to a Hungarian father and Irish mother. He studied at the Brighton School of Art before enrolling in the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris. Rákóczi was proud of his Celtic and gypsy heritage which influenced his bohemian lifestyle and more particularly his practice. In 1933, he established the Society of Creative Psychology in London. There, Rákóczi would meet his life-long friend, artist Kenneth Hall, during one of the society’s meetings in 1935. That same year they set up The White Stag Group whose philosophy, which they called Subjectivist Art, was not associated with any particular style or set belief but rather encouraged an exploration of psychology and of modernist ideas. Advocating for peace at the dawn of WorldWar II, the White Stag Group relocated to Ireland in 1939 to avoid Hall’s conscription. The group’s first exhibition was held in Rákóczi’s flat in 1940. Among the artists associated with the group were Patrick Scott, Gerard Dillon, Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett and Louis le Brocquy among others. Rákóczi and Hall organised their soon-to-be most successful exhibition, the ‘Exhibition of Subjective Art’ in 1944. The exhibition was praised by the Irish Times for its freshness and opened a new door for modern art in Dublin. Leaving Dublin for Paris in 1946, Rákóczi continued exhibiting with the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. A retrospective of Rákóczi’s work with the White Stag Group was held in the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin in 2005. €1,500-€2,000 (£1,300-£1,740 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot34