Maurice MacGonigal, PRHA (1900-1979) The Luck Penny Oil on board, 63.5 x 28cm (25 x 11'') Signed, inscribed with other title verso ''The Farmer'' Provenance: From the collection of the late Agnes...

Maurice MacGonigal, PRHA (1900-1979) The Luck Penny Oil on board, 63.5 x 28cm (25 x 11'') Signed, inscribed with other title verso ''The Farmer'' Provenance: From the collection of the late Agnes and Jack Toohey Exhibited: The Dawson Gallery ''The Collector's Eye'' Exhibition, Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Jan/Feb 2004, The Hunt Museum March/April 2004, Cat. No. 17 Literature: ''The Collector's Eye'' 2004, illustrated p10; ''Reading 20th Century Irish Art'' by Nora Hickey, The Hunt Museum 2004 MacGonigal is best remembered as a painter of the West of Ireland, its people and landscapes. He spent long period painting in Connemara, Sligo and Achill. He began his artistic training with an apprenticeship in the stained glass studio of his uncle, Joshua Clarke, father of stained glass artist Harry Clarke, RHA (1889-1931). He later studied painting at the Metropolitan School of Art, under, among others, Sean Keating, PRHA (1889-1977). He became Professor of Painting in the National College of Art and Design and President of the Royal Hibernian Academy. In an RTE interview broadcast in the 1970's MacGonigal stated: 'Our job...is to paint and interpret the forms and patterns of the life around us'. ''The Lucky Penny'' displays MacGonigal's intimate knowledge of the people of the West, in this case a couple during the decisive moment of a sale at a cattle fair. The bargain having been struck, the traditional luck penny is about to be returned to the purchaser. A luck penny is a small sum returned to the buyer 'for luck' by the person who receives the sale. The picture tells the story in a very compact and ecomonical manner.

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