HARRY KERNOFF RHA (1900-1974) On Howth Head Oil on canvas, 66 x 95.5cms (26 x 38'') Signed, inscribed with title and dated 1935 verso Exhibited: 20th Century Irish Paintings, The National Gallery...

HARRY KERNOFF RHA (1900-1974) On Howth Head Oil on canvas, 66 x 95.5cms (26 x 38'') Signed, inscribed with title and dated 1935 verso Exhibited: 20th Century Irish Paintings, The National Gallery of Ireland, New Millennium Wing Opening, Dublin, January 2002-December 2003 The Collectors' Eye, The Model Arts & Niland Gallery, Sligo, January-February 2004, Cat. No. 14 ''The Moderns'' Exhibition Irish Museum of Modern Art Oct 2010 - March 2011 Cat. No. 45 A Celebration of Irish Art & Modernism, The Ava Gallery, Clandeboye, June- September 2011, Cat. No 25 Literature: ''The Moderns'' IMMA 2011 Full page illustration P 73 Born in London to Russian Jewish and Spanish parents, Harry Kernoff moved to Dublin at the age of fourteen and made it his home for life. Kernoff spent his days as an apprentice in his father's furniture business, taking night classes at the Metropolitan School of Art under Se?n Keating, and becoming the first night student to win the Taylor Art Scholarship in 1923. He first exhibited at the RHA just three years later, and continued to do so until the year of his death, becoming a full member of the academy in 1936. In that same year he held the first three solo shows at the Victor Waddington Galleries (the others being in 1937 and 1940). International attention came in 1939 when he represented Ireland at the New York World's Fair. Kernoff was active in many facets of the visual arts scene, designing setS and costumes for Dublin theatre productions, and executing portraits of literary figures and actors. He is best known through his many woodcuts and graphics which have been reproduced continually since their creation and many of his works have become somewhat iconic, with a firm place in modern Irish popular culture. ''On Howth Head'' is a masterful work which shows the artists interest in the juxtaposition of the sloping roof angles anchored by the verticals of the chimney stacks encircled by the sweep of the road and within this composition we have little vignettes such as a woman having tea in Doyles Tea Rooms,people picnicking on the headland or a woman putting out the laundry which imbue this work with a blend of nostalgia and social realism. Howth had become a popular destination for day trips from the city for Dubliners from the end of the 19th Century with the introduction of the railway with its beaches, walks over Howth Head and its fine views over Dublin Bay towards South Dublin and Wicklow beyond. Kernoff did a watercolour version of this work and several other works of Howth Village with its brightly coloured houses and views from Howth Head towards the Bailey Lighthouse during the mid- 1930's. While hanging in the National Gallery for the opening of the Millennium Wing this work was one of the most popular works with both staff and public alike.

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