Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958)
Clare Island from Achill (c. 1912-15)
Oil on canvas, 31.5 x 43cm (12½ x 17'')
Signed

Provenance: Hector Boyd Hanna (1886-1982), Belfast; thence by family...

Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958)
Clare Island from Achill (c. 1912-15)
Oil on canvas, 31.5 x 43cm (12½ x 17'')
Signed

Provenance: Hector Boyd Hanna (1886-1982), Belfast; thence by family descent.

Literature:Similar to a picture of the same title reproduced in S. B. Kennedy,Paul Henry: with a catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings, Illustrations, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2007, catalogue number 380, reproduced in colour, p. 173.

 

 

Hector Hanna attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (Inst.) from 1900 to 1905. Paul Henry also attended Inst. for two years, from September 1891. After graduating from Oxford in 1909 Hanna became assistant to Professor Robert Henry, Pauls brother, in the Department of Latin at Queens University in Belfast. He returned to Inst. as a master in 1916 and was appointed Headmaster of the Classical Department in 1930. The Hanna family believe that their grandfather, Hector Hanna got to know Paul Henry through Pauls brother Robert and that having lent the young artist some money repaid by the receipt of this painting amongst others which would have been typical of Henry. It has remained in the Hanna family since then. Clare Island from Achillis numbered 1316 in S. B. Kennedys ongoing catalogue of Paul Henrysoeuvre.

Many of Paul Henrys best characteristics are on show in this painting; Whistlerian and monochromatic in execution, he creates a strong atmospheric effect with virtually no detailing and an even film of paint. The early morning light and complete absence of human references underpin the composition with the cloud and distant cliffs providing a singular focal point and the smooth texture of the surface punctuated by the dappled reflection of the clouds in the water. The sense of stillness, of the island almost hovering on the distant horizon, is typical of Henrys work at this early date.

 

Move the last line about the cat raisonne down below it and then finish with

 

We would like to thank Dr SB Kennedy for his help in cataloguing this lot.

 

 

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