George Russell Æ (1867-1935) Apparell'd in Celestial Light Oil on canvas, 54.6 x 81.3cm (21½ x 32) Signed with monogram Exhibited: Oriel Gallery, Dublin, George Russell Æ, May 1996, Catalogue...

George Russell Æ (1867-1935) Apparell'd in Celestial Light Oil on canvas, 54.6 x 81.3cm (21½ x 32) Signed with monogram Exhibited: Oriel Gallery, Dublin, George Russell Æ, May 1996, Catalogue No.25. Literature: Exhibition catalogue, George Russell Æ, Dublin, Oriel Gallery, 1996, p.30, No.25, illustrated on the cover. George William Russell was born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh in 1867. He studied at the Metropolitan Art School in Dublin. He had a number of exhibitions at the Leinster Lecture Hall and the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin as well as showing further afield in Chicago and New York. In his time, he was better known ‘to his contemporaries as a writer and editor on social as well as literary subjects, rather than a painter.’ (Ireland’s Painters, 299) In this painting, clothed or bathed in heavenly light, could reference the Latin origin of the word ‘apparel’ from ‘parãre,’ ‘to prepare’ indicating the celestial glow of import that might prepare a figure for a given vision. A poet and essayist, Russell was consequently highly literate in his painting - symbolism, metaphors, literary referents would all be equally present in his work. The sirens in Homer’s The Odyssey spring to mind. There is a bewitching quality to the scene, further enhanced by Russell’s writing ‘…and I wish to convey… how some apparitions of that ancient beauty came to me in wood or on hillside or by the shores of the western sea.’ (AE The Candle of Vision, London, 1918, 32). Also Joseph Holloway has commented, ‘The strange figures that peopled many of his canvasses seemed creatures of the mists out of which they emerged with almost mysterious indefiniteness and beauty of another world.’ (‘A Dublin Playgoer’s Impressions,’ 1904, 382) Characteristic of Russell, the faces of the figures see limited delineation. The invisible emanation or ‘aura’ of this painting, aptly in Greek meaning ‘breeze,’ here at the seashore, engages and almost captures the eye. It is so bright that it feels as if one is looking directly into sunlight. One should never look too long but it is difficult to disengage. Russell stated ‘…if I paint, something begins to glow and glow under my fingers.’ (A Memoir of AE, London, 1937, 189.) This insistent hold that the painting has on the viewer is furthered through the depth of the composition. The artist has cleverly layered the cliffs in three groupings to the left to lead the eye into the work after it has viewed the figures and action. It is both a scene of movement (figures within the water and two secondary figures in the middle ground with their backs turned) and quietude (female figure seated in foreground). The palette is very bright yet not overly colourful. It relies largely on a typically impressionist colour range. Colours are reminiscent of Monet in particular. In terms of expression and treatment of figure and composition, I believe the closest practitioner to Russell is Edward Burne Jones (1833-1898). Hilary Pyle has cited the Barbizon School and particularly Corot as an influence on Russell and while this is certainly the case, Corot’s compositions and his application of paint is so much tighter and more regimented than Russell’s. Burne Jones focuses primarily on the female form and a vignette of action. Figures’ features are loose and the brushstrokes on the canvas weave are visible. Light is important and either bathes the entire composition or highlights primary elements within. In terms of his focus and what he hopes his paintings will reveal, Burne Jones has said that they are ‘of something which has never been and never will be - in a light more beautiful than has ever shone on a land such as can never been described or conceived, but only longed for.’ (Edward Burne Jones, Taschen, 1994) This focus of Edward Burne Jones’ appears to also capture the essence of ‘Apparell’d in Celestial Light.’ Marianne O’Kane Boal May 2015

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