Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (b.1932) Blue Red with Broken Tail Oil on canvas, 96.5 x 71cm (37.9 x 27.9'') Signed and inscribed verso Tom Caldwell Gallery label verso Provenance: From a Private...

Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (b.1932) Blue Red with Broken Tail Oil on canvas, 96.5 x 71cm (37.9 x 27.9'') Signed and inscribed verso Tom Caldwell Gallery label verso Provenance: From a Private Dublin Collection ''Cock breeding was such a natural thing in the country'' Said Basil Blackshaw. Among that Northern fraternity was Paddy Heaney, father of poet Seamus Heaney. Heaney's ''Black'' by Blackshaw bears testimony to the Heaney progeny. Cock's were part of a colourful tapestry in the farmyard in the North in the 60s, 70s and 80s. ''Blue Red with Broken Wing'', while capturing the quintessence of the power, pride and arrogance, of the cock, exposes us to its vulnerability too. Blackshaw simply doesn't just portray the prowess of his subject. In paintings such as 'Lame Dog' 1985 'The Fall' 1983, 'Bull Dog', 'Bad Dog' and 'Dog with Muzzle' the artist ascribes ongoing susceptibility of a subject quite often to hurt injury and wound. ''Blue Red with Broken Wing'' is one of a line or breed of fighting cock very familiar to Blackshaw. He is encyclopaedic when speaking of black reds, blue reds, duck wing and other breeds. ''Blue Red with Broken Wing'' is incontrovertible evidence to this fact in the artist's sculpturing of the stature of the bird. Eamonn Mallie, November 2008

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