Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974) A Fair Day, Donegal Oil on canvas, 51 x 68.5cm (20 x 27'') Signed This characteristic McKelvey composition conveys all the excitement and atmosphere of a...
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974) A Fair Day, Donegal Oil on canvas, 51 x 68.5cm (20 x 27'') Signed This characteristic McKelvey composition conveys all the excitement and atmosphere of a country fair. The artist told a previous owner of the picture (letter of 9 January 1969) that it was 'probably painted in Donegal, one of the few places left where one can happily see this kind of life.' He continued, saying that the location 'may not be topographical', as he considered it more important that the design or composition should conform to that which he had in mind at the time. The figure groups, he said, were made from sketches done on the spot together with colour notes 'or anything helpful in capturing the spirit of the scene.' 'I am happy to know that the picture is giving pleasure,' he concluded. The clear division of the composition into distinct areas of recession - the foreground, containing the narrative and darker in tone, contrasting with the sunlit middle distance and the greys and blues of the landscape and hills beyond - is also characteristic of McKelvey's precisely considered compositional technique in which nothing was left to chance. The handling of the paint, with light, but assured flicks of the brush-note, for example, the foliage of the tree at the left hand side and the grass of the foreground - and the subtle, but theatrical use of chiaroscuro, show McKelvey's debt to Impressionism. Moderate impasto has been used throughout. The picture represents an event which, alas, has all but disappeared from the Irish scene. Dr. S.B.Kennedy