Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958)
A Connemara Cottage 1925-30
Oil on board, 35.5 x 40.5cm (14 x 16")
Signed. Inscribed with title verso

Provenance: Originally acquired directly from the artist in...

Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958)
A Connemara Cottage 1925-30
Oil on board, 35.5 x 40.5cm (14 x 16")
Signed. Inscribed with title verso

Provenance: Originally acquired directly from the artist in February 1931 by a contemporary of Paul Henrys at Methodist College, Belfast and thence by descent to the present owner

Literature: S. B. Kennedy, Paul Henry: with a catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings, Illustrations, Yale University Press, Newhaven & London, 2007, catalogue number 640, p. 229, reproduced

Exhibited: Four Irish Artists: J. Humbert Craig, Paul Henry, E. L. Lawrenson, J. Crampton Walker, Fine Art Society, Bond Street, London, November 1930, catalogue number 14

The original owner of this picture was a contemporary of Paul Henry at Methodist College, Belfast. A label on the reverse reads: 18. A CONNEMARA COTTAGE, written in the artists hand. There is another label of James Bourlet on the reverse with the inscription No. A47155.

There is moderate impasto, briskly executed. The Blue Lake (771, Kennedy, 2007), writing of the latter picturewhich is virtually identical in composition to this oneHenry enclosed a photograph of the picture. On the back of the photograph he noted: This is a very good thing and a favourite of mine but you can judge better than I of what you want. The photograph I regret to say does not give much idea of the colour which is warm and rich.

This painting dates from shortly after Henry left Achill Island to settle with his second wife, Mabel Young, at Carigoona Cottage in County Wicklow. After the trauma of leaving Achill, this was a very happy time for Henry, who often toured to the West in these years and made sketches for future paintings, little notes, as he called them. While it is a fine picture, it is not possible to identify the setting.

Dr SB Kennedy, August 2017

 

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