Collector’s Eye

The Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Sligo

The Hunt Museum, Limerick

Collector’s Eye an exhibition from a private collection

Collector’s Eye, an exhibition from a private collection 01

Introduction

It is a welcome opportunity to host this exhibition which

brings together outstanding examples of Irish painting and

sculpture from the mid-twentieth century.

We are very grateful to the collectors for making these works

available for exhibition to the Model Arts and Niland Gallery

and to The Hunt Museum, and we extend our thanks to

David Britton and Karen Reihill of The Frederick Gallery

who have been extremely helpful in facilitating the exhibition.

We would like to thank Martha Treacy at the Model Arts

and Niland Gallery and Naomi O’Nolan, Nora Hickey,

Fiona Davern and Joni Roche at the Hunt Museum.

Suzanne Woods, Model Arts and Niland GalleryVirginia Teehan, The Hunt Museum

15 January to 29 February 2004

Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Sligo

5 March to 1 April 2004

The Hunt Museum, Limerick

All works:

Private collection courtesy of the Frederick Gallery, Dublin

ISBN 0-9540352-5-9

Design: Martin Corr

Print: Nicholson & Bass

Reproduction: Image Creation

02 Collector’s Eye, an exhibition from a private collection

1. George Campbell, RHA, RUA (1917 -1979)

Woman in a Mantilla

Oil on board, 15” X 91/2”, signed

2. Patrick Collins, HRHA (1911 -1994)

Rock Fisherman, Donegal

Oil on board, 24” X 30”, signed

Patrick Collins was born in Dromore West, Co. Sligo, and was largely a self-taught artist, although he studied briefly at the National College of Art andDesign, Dublin. He worked in an insurance company for 22 years beforeturning to painting full-time. He won the National Award in the GuggenheimAward Exhibition in 1958. In 1982, a major retrospective was staged at theCrawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork and the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin.

Born in Arklow, Co Wicklow, Campbell moved to Belfast where he formed oneof a group of Northern artists during the war. He began painting in 1941 andwas virtually self-taught. Campbell travelled widely and toured France, Italy andSwitzerland in 1950 and 1951. He was awarded First Prize in the Belfast OpenPainting Exhibition in 1962, and his work is included in public collections inIreland and abroad.

3. William Conor, RHA, RUA (1884 -1968)

‘Beero’


4. Gerard Dillon, RHA, RUA (1916 -1971)

Italian Washer Women

Oil on board, 36” x 48”, signed

Gerard Dillon was born in Belfast and was largely self-taught. He began paintingin 1936 in London, before returning to live and work in Ireland from 1939 to1945. Dillon had his first one-man show in 1942 and, though he had returnedto live in London, exhibited regularly in Ireland between 1945 and 1968. Aretrospective of his work was held in Belfast and Dublin in 1972-3.

Denotes work not exhibited at the Hunt Museum

Conor was born in Belfast in 1881. From 1900-1904, he worked as anapprentice poster designer. In 1918, he began exhibiting at the RHA and fromthen until 1967 showed nearly 200 works. In 1957, the year he was electedPresident of the Royal Ulster Academy, the Committee for the Encouragement ofMusic and the Arts (CEMA), organised a retrospective exhibition of more than160 works, the largest individual show ever presented in the Province, at theBelfast Museum and Art Gallery.


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5. Gerard Dillon, RHA, RUA (1916 -1971)

The Jockey, c. 1950


6. Eva Henrietta Hamilton (1876 -1960)

The Canal Bridge

Oil on canvas, 301/4” X 25”

Most of Dillon’s paintings are devoted to the West of Ireland landscape. Thispainting depicts visitors to the Race day on Omey Strand. Dillon exhibited threeOmey Island paintings in the Victor Waddington Galleries in Dublin in 1951,and he probably painted them in 1950 when he was staying in Roundstone,Connemara, a mile or two south of Omey Island.

Eva Henrietta Hamilton was born in Co. Meath, and trained at the Slade Schoolof Art, London. Both Eva and her sister Letitia studied under William Orpen. Evaspecialised in portraiture, usually commissions, but during the 1930’s she turnedto landscapes.


7. Letitia M. Hamilton, RHA (1878-1964)

Roundstone Village, Connemara

Oil on canvas, 20” x 24” signed LMH.

8. Fr. Jack P. Hanlon (1913-1968)

The Wren, The Wren

Oil on canvas, 24” x 20”, signed

Letitia Hamilton studied under William Orpen at the Dublin MetropolitanSchools, in London, and later in Belgium, before travelling extensivelythroughout Italy and Yugoslavia. She was elected to the RHA in 1944. A notedpainter of landscapes of great variety, she exhibited widely in Ireland and theContinent.

Born in Dublin in 1913, Fr. Jack P. Hanlon won a scholarship to study inBelgium and Spain before studying in Paris and Dublin under Andre Lhote andMainie Jellett. He travelled extensively in France and Italy, exhibiting regularly.He was a founder member of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943.

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Denotes work not exhibited at the Hunt Museum*


9. Grace Henry, HRHA (1868-1953)

Misty Moonlight, c.1912

Oil on canvas, signed E G Henry

10. Paul Henry, RHA, RUA (1876-1958)

Attending the Lobster Pots, c. 1912-15


Grace Henry was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. After studying in Belgium andParis, she met and married the artist Paul Henry in 1903. They moved to Achill,Co Mayo in 1912 and to Dublin in 1920. She travelled extensively in Europe inthe early years of the twentieth century. A joint retrospective of the work of Pauland Grace Henry was held at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery in 1991.

Born in Belfast, Paul Henry studied at the Belfast School of Art, at the AcademieJulian in Paris and under Alphonse Mucha at the studio of James McNeillWhistler. In 1901, he moved to London, and he married Grace Mitchell, aScottish painter in 1903, and they lived in Achill, Co Mayo, before moving toDublin where he and others founded the Society of Dublin painters. His work isrepresented in most of the Irish public collections.


11. Derek Hill, HRHA (1916-2000)

The Olive Pickers

Oil on canvas, 24” x 29”, signed with monogram

12. Evie Hone, HRHA (1894-1955)

Four Elements, c.1924

Oil on canvas, 29” x 24” signed

Derek Hill was born in Southampton, England. From 1933 to 1939 he travelledextensively, studying and producing theatre designs in London, Munich, Paris,Vienna and the former USSR. From 1938 he concentrated on painting and livedmostly in Britain before moving to Donegal in 1954. Retrospectives of his workhave been held at both UK and Irish galleries. Hill’s work can be found in manypublic collections in Ireland and abroad.

A painter and stained-glass artist, Evie Hone studied in London, and in Pariswith Mainie Jellett, and travelled extensively on the Continent. She exhibitedextensively and received numerous commissions in Ireland and England. Shejoined the stained glass studios, An Tur Gloine, in 1933, and was a foundermember of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943.


13. Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)

Homage to Fra Angelico

Oil on canvas, 72” x 60”

14. Harry Kernoff, RHA (1900-1974)

On Howth Head, 1935

Oil on canvas, 26” x 38”, signed and dated

Mainie Jellett was born in Dublin and graduated from the MetropolitanSchool of Art, Dublin. She also studied under Walter Sickert at the WestminsterSchool of Art, London, and with Andre Lhote and Albert Gleizes, an artist whowas one of the major exponents of Cubist theory and practice. On her return toDublin in 1923, she exhibited some of the first abstract paintings to be seen inIreland. She exhibited regularly with the White Stag Group and was one of thefounder members of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art (IELA). A majorretrospective was held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, in 1992.

Harry Kernoff was born in London, and in 1914 his family moved to Dublin. He studied at night at the Metropolitan School of Art under Sean Keating.Kernoff exhibited extensively between 1926 and 1958, representing Ireland atthe New York World’s Fair in 1939. He designed sets and costumes for Dublintheatre productions, and illustrated many books with woodcut images. Aretrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Hugh Lane MunicipalGallery of Modern Art in 1976.

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15. Louis Le Brocquy, HRHA (b.1916)

Boy with Flowers

Watercolour, gouache & ink on paper, 111/2” x 83/4”, signed

16. John Luke, RUA (1906-1975)

The Dancer and the Bubble, 1947

Tempera, 12” x 163/4”

Louis Le Brocquy was born in Dublin, but in 1938 he left Ireland and hisgrandfather’s business, to become a painter. Self-taught, he studied paintings inmuseums in London, Paris, Venice and Geneva. He returned to Dublin in 1940and helped found the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943. He has exhibitedinternationally, receiving major prizes, and his works are found in mostimportant museums and galleries of the world.

John Luke was born in 1906 in Belfast and studied at the Belfast School of Art. After distinguishing himself by gaining several prizes, he arrived in Londonwhere he became a pupil of Henry Tonks at the Slade School of Art. On hisreturn to Belfast at the end of 1931, Luke began exhibiting at the RHA and inBelfast.


17. Maurice MacGonigal, PRHA (1900-1979)

The Luck Penny


18. Norah McGuinness, HRHA (1903-1980)

The Customs House, Dublin- from the South Quays, 1954

Oil on canvas, 27” x 36”, signed and dated

MacGonigal is renowned for his landscapes of the West of Ireland. He has hadnumerous solo exhibitions in Dublin, and his work is included in the publiccollections of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, the UlsterMuseum and the Arts Council of Ireland. From 1965-1969, he was President ofthe RHA and was Professor of painting at the National College of Art and Designfrom 1965-1969.

Born in Derry, Norah McGuinness studied at the Metropolitan School of Art,Dublin and at the Chelsea School of Art, London. She also studied in Parisunder Lhote. She designed sets and costumes for the Abbey and Peacocktheatres and illustrated books for several authors. Elected HRHA in 1957, shewas President of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art from 1944-1971, andrepresented Ireland at the 1950 Venice Biennale. There was a retrospective ofher work in Trinity College, Dublin in 1968.


19. Frank McKelvey, RHA, RUA (1895-1974)

Children in the Park


20. Colin Middleton, RHA, MBE (1910-1983)

The Holy Land

Oil on canvas, 101/2“ x 12”, signed

Frank McKelvey was born in Belfast in 1895 and attended the Belfast School ofArt. He exhibited regularly at the RHA and at the Glasgow Institute of Fine Art.In 1947, he was included in the exhibition of prominent Ulster artists held inUlster House in London, and in 1951, he was chosen to participate in thecontemporary Ulster Art Exhibition at the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery.

Colin Middleton was born in Belfast in 1910 and attended the Belfast School ofArt. On the death of his father he took over the family’s firm, but continued topaint. In 1943, a major solo exhibition of his work was held at the BelfastMuseum and Art Gallery. In 1953, he began teaching at the Belfast College ofArt, where he remained for 16 years. He exhibited regularly in Dublin andBelfast, and a major exhibition was held of his work at the Irish Museum ofModern Art in 2001.

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21. Roderic O’Conor, RHA (1860-1940)

Head of a Breton Peasant Girl, c.1893

Oil on board, 113/4” x 71/2”

22. Seated Woman with Roses, c.1923-25

Oil on canvas, 213/4” x 18”

Born in Co. Roscommon, Roderic O’Conor trained at the Dublin MetropolitanSchool of Art, and at the RHA Schools. In 1883 he travelled to Antwerp,enrolling at the Academie Royale des Beaux Arts. He moved to Pont-Avenwhere he introduced what has become a hallmark of his work at that period -parallel stripes of pure colour. Retrospectives of his work have been held inParis, London, Belfast and Dublin.

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23. Daniel O’Neill (1920-1974)

Early Morning


24. Basil Rakoczi (1908-1979)

Rocky Alley, Dublin

Oil on board, 201/2”x 27”, signed

Daniel O’Neill was born in Belfast. He trained as an electrician, and worked inthe Belfast shipyards before turning to paint full time around 1945. He spentmany years living abroad and exhibited both nationally and internationally. Hereturned to Ireland in the early 1960’s. The artist is represented in the collectionof the Ulster Museum, which held a retrospective of his work in 1952.

Basil Rakoczi was born in England. In about 1933 he founded the Society forCreative Psychology and, with the approach of war, he settled in Dublin withsome artist friends in 1940 and formed the group of modernist painters knownas the White Stag Group. They exhibited regularly in Dublin, before returning to England after the war.

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25. Nano Reid (1900-1981)

Friday Fare, 1945


26. Elizabeth Rivers (1903-1964)

Halloween Children, c.1948-51


Born in Drogheda, Co. Louth, Nano Reid trained at the Metropolitan School ofArt, Dublin, followed by study in Paris and London. She exhibited at the RHA,with the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, the Dublin Painters and later with theIndependent Painters group. In 1950, Reid, along with Norah McGuinness ,represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale.

Wood-engraver, figure-painter and illustrator, Elizabeth Rivers was born inEngland and studied at Goldsmiths College and AA Schools in London and alsoin Paris at Andre Lhote’s studio. In 1935 she moved to the Aran Islands whereshe lived and worked from 1935-1941. In 1946, she lived in Dublin and workedwith Evie Hone at her stained glass studios. She was one of the founders of TheGraphic Studio, in Dublin. A major retrospective of her work was held at theHugh Lane Municipal Gallery in 1966.


27. George Russell (AE), RUA (1867-1935)

The Big Oak at Raheen

Oil on canvas, 21” x 32”, signed with monogram

28. William Scott, RA (1913-1989)

Still Life, 1951

Oil on canvas, 451/4” x 601/4”

George Russell (AE) was born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh. When the family movedto Dublin in 1878, he attended evening classes at The Metropolitan School ofArt and at the RHA Schools. He was a founder member of the United Arts Clubin 1905, and from 1923-1930, he edited the Irish Statesman. He is representedin nearly all of the Irish collections.

Born in Scotland of Irish parents, Scott returned with his family to EnniskillenCo. Fermanagh in 1924. He trained at the Belfast School of Art and at the RoyalAcademy, London. He has exhibited widely throughout the world and has amajor international reputation. He represented Great Britain at the VeniceBiennale in 1958, and at the Sao Paulo Bienal in 1961, where he was awardedthe International Artist’s Prize.


29. Estella Solomons, HRHA (1882-1968)

Woman in a Red Tie

Oil on canvas, 24” x 20”

30. Camille Souter (b.1929)

Green and Red Caravan on the River Dargle, 1973

Oil on paper, 221/2” x 291/2”, signed

Estella Solomons was born in Dublin in 1882. She trained at the RHA Schoolsunder Osborne, at the Metropolitan School of Art under Orpen, and at theChelsea School of Art, London. She was an accomplished portraitist and hersitters included Jack B. Yeats, Thomas Bodkin, George Russell (AE), and the poet Austin Clarke. Solomons exhibited regularly at the RHA, and at the Hackett Gallery, New York.

Camille Souter was born in Northampton, England in 1929. Three years laterthe family moved to Ireland. A self-taught artist, during the 1950s she travelledin Italy before settling first in Co Wicklow, then Achill Island, County Mayo. In 1980 a mid-career retrospective exhibition of her paintings was held at theDouglas Hyde Gallery and the Ulster Museum, and in 2001, a retrospective wasorganised by the Model Arts and Niland Gallery. Her work is represented inmany of the public collections of Ireland.


31. Mary Swanzy, HRHA (1882-1978)

The Sleeping Sailor


32. Anne Yeats (1919-2001)

The Letter Writer


Mary Swanzy was born in Dublin, and attended May Manning’s Studio inDublin. In 1906, she travelled to Paris to study under Delacluse. On her returnto Ireland she held several solo shows in Dublin. In 1914, she first exhibited atthe Salon des Independents, becoming a committee member in 1920. A largeretrospective of her work was held at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery ofModern Art in 1968.

Anne, daughter, of the poet W. B. Yeats, studied at the RHA Schools from 1936-1940 and was a stage designer for the Abbey Theatre from 1940-1946. Shejoined the Committee of the Irish Exhibitions of Living Art in 1947 and was theirsecretary for many years. She exhibited extensively and there was aretrospective of her work at the RHA in January/February, 1995.


33. Jack B. Yeats, RHA (1871-1957)

They Love Me

Oil on board, 14” x 18”

Jack B. Yeats was the son of the portrait painter John Butler Yeats and the brotherof the poet W. B. Yeats. After spending most of his childhood in Sligo, Yeatsstudied art in London but for the most part was self-taught. He settled in Co.Wicklow in 1910 and exhibited in over 160 group exhibitions and had morethan 60 solo shows. Internationally, he is the most well known of Irish artists.

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34. Jerome Connor (1876-1943)

Bust of a Pikeman

Bronze, 11”h

35. Gerda Frömmel (1931-1975)

Marble Head, 1970

Marble, 131/2”h

Jerome Connor was born in Co. Kerry. The family emigrated to America whenConnor was a young boy. He exhibited regularly in the US, receiving manycommissions including the marble Walt Whitman Memorial and the RobertEmmet statue for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. In July 1925, hesettled in Dublin to start work on the ‘Lusitania’, a memorial for Cobh.

Gerda Frömmel was born in Czechoslovakia of German parents. After the warher parents returned to Germany and Gerda studied sculpture at the art schoolsof Stuttgart, Darmstadt and Munich. She settled in Ireland in 1956 and exhibitedwith the Irish Exhibitions of Living Art and the Dawson Gallery. There was aretrospective of her work in 1976 at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery ofModern Art, Dublin.

36. F.E. McWiliam

Belfast Bomb Victim (1972)

Bronze, 121/2”h

Frederick Edward McWilliam, born in Banbridge Co. Down, was a sculptorworking with various metals. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art andtaught at the School from 1947-1968. He exhibited with the British SurrealistGroup, and joined the London Group in 1949. Among McWilliams’ manycommissions were The Four Seasons for the Festival of Britain in 1951. The Tate Gallery held a retrospective of his work in 1989.


37. Melanie Le Brocquy, HRHA (b.1919)

St. Patrick Overthrowing Crom Cruach, 1941

Bronze, 30”h

38. Albert Power, RHA (1881-1945)

Mother and Child

Bronze, 9”h

Melanie Le Brocquy was born in Dublin and trained at the National College ofArt, Dublin, the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Geneva and at the RHA Schools, Dublin.She has exhibited frequently in Ireland and, in 2000, the RHA Gallagher Galleryheld a retrospective exhibition of her work.

Born in Dublin, Albert Power attended the Metropolitan School of Art, where histutors were John Hughes and Oliver Sheppard. He won a series of prizes andwas a frequent exhibitor at the RHA. His commissions included bronzesculptures of Irish public figures and several monuments in Dublin.

39. Imogen Stuart, RHA (b. 1927)

Waiting, 2001

Bronze

Born in Berlin, Imogen Stuart studied with the expressionist sculptor OttoHitzberger and attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. She came toIreland in 1950 and has been a regular contributor to RHA, IELA and all othermajor exhibitions since then. A retrospective of her work took place at the RHAin 2002.

Sligo Borough CouncilSligo County Council

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Collector’s Eye