Maurice MacGonigal PRHA (1900 - 1979) Unloading the Turf Boats, Kilmurvey Pier, Inis Mhór, Aran Islands Oil on board, 40 x 50cm (15¾ x 19¾'') Signed Maurice MacGonigal was born in Dublin...

Maurice MacGonigal PRHA (1900 - 1979) Unloading the Turf Boats, Kilmurvey Pier, Inis Mhór, Aran Islands Oil on board, 40 x 50cm (15¾ x 19¾'') Signed Maurice MacGonigal was born in Dublin and started his career at his uncle's stained glass design business. He took classes at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, and was awarded medals for his painting, particularly of landscapes. After a brief visit to the Netherlands to study, he returned to Dublin and became a respected teacher in the same art school where he had previously been trained. He exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy extensively between 1924 and 1968, in total showing over 200 paintings, and was made an academician there in 1933. He also exhibited regularly in the Royal Academy in London and the Royal Scottish Academy. ''Unloading the Turf Boats at Kilmurvey Pier, Inis Mhór, Aran Islands'' probably dates to 1954...the Islands having no natural peat bogs remaining due to erosion,all the fuel has to be brought in from the mainland,and that particular little pier is the main landing place for the most westerly part of the main island Inis Mhór or Inishmor... and not be to be confused with Arannmor off Burtonport Co.Donegal..that particular year was a very long dry summer so that the turf (peat)was of the highest quality..and unloading the turn from the hookers and pucans was a community effort requiring a large collaborative effort. For a painter the appeal is obvious,and the artist and his family were staying at the local ''big house'' Kilmurvey House home to the O'Flaherty Johnstons; adjoining the pier was the original house built by Robert Flaherty for his Movie, ''Man of Aran''. The flat limestone flags overlooking the little pier were an ideal perch for a painter who could sit there for hours drawing and painting and just sufficient wind to keep the midges at bay.(always a hazard for plein air painters). MacGonigal had been on the island painting in the 1930s,but this works dates from the 1950s, a time of long warm days and zephyr breezes. Ciarán MacGonigal

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