Paul Henry RHA Landscape with Turf Stacks Oil on canvas, 51 x 61cm (20 x 24'') Signed Provenance: From the collection of Josephine O'Neill, sold in these rooms February 1970 where purchased by...

Paul Henry RHA Landscape with Turf Stacks Oil on canvas, 51 x 61cm (20 x 24'') Signed Provenance: From the collection of Josephine O'Neill, sold in these rooms February 1970 where purchased by current owner. Exhibited: 'Paul Henry Exhibition', Trinity College Dublin, 1973, Cat No. 20 'The Paintings of Paul & Grace Henry', The Hugh Lane Gallery, November 1991, Cat No. 60. Literature: Hugh Lane Gallery Catalogue, Illustrated page 39. This is a characteristic composition from Paul Henry's mid-to-late years on Achill Island. By now his attention is focused almost exclusively on the landscape per se, people, with only occasional exceptions, having disappeared from his pictures. The artist's growing concern with the landscape, and notably for its moods and the nature of the terrain, is clear to be seen in this picture. The compositional elements are simple, yet seductive: the heavy massing of the dark rain clouds emphasizes the surface qualities of the sodden ground; the soft light that infuses the middle and far distance and which is held in check by the comparative darkening of the foreground, itself a reflection of the clouds above, lends a gentle drama to the scene. The paint has been evenly applied throughout in carefully defined brushstrokes and the use of impasto is moderate. The composition, with menacing rain clouds slowly drifting across a barren landscape - save for the turf stacks, a reminder of a human presence - can be compared with a number of other picture by Henry of these years, of which Turf Bog Scene, 1916-19 (Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane), and A West of Ireland Bog, 1919-20 (Pyms Gallery, London) are good examples. In all of these pictures, with their limited palette and muted tones, the influence of Whistler, Henry's erstwhile teacher in fin de si?cle Paris is clear. There is a label on the reverse of Daniel Egan's Gallery, Dublin, probably as the framer. Also another label with '21'. Dated 1916-19 both on stylistic grounds and in consideration of the form of the signature. Landscape with Turf Stacks is numbered 455 in S. B. Kennedy's catalogue of Paul Henry's oeuvre to be published next spring.. Dr. S.B. Kennedy

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