72 by 60in. (182.9 by 152.4cm)

Title: CASTLE & TREE, 1988
Note: The significance of Basil Blackshaw to the visual culture of Northern Ireland cannot be underestimated. From as early as 1964 the Arts Council of Northern Ireland recognised this and major exhibitions of his work hosted by them have taken place every decade since the 1960s. The present landmark example was included in a major touring exhibition of his work in 1995, which travelled from Belfast to Dublin, Cork and many galleries in the United States. Castle & Tree, 1989, as Brian Ferran observes, falls into a period of Blackshaw's oeuvre (from 1985-1995) where, "… his painting ideas have crystallised into a new simplicity and power; suddenly there is both an urgency and a calm… [T]hese works are bravura exercises in the application of paint itself, of sensuous enjoyment in the juxtapositioning of texture and tone. These canvases are not hedonistic displays of virtuoso skill: they are motivated by a subject matter and guided by insight." Ferran cites the Castle & Tree series as evidence of the artist's growing "control of the medium" and a "discernible softening of form, a metamorphosis between subject and ground". (1) Blackshaw was born in Glengormley, Co. Antrim and his rural background informed much of his painting on topics such as horse-racing, dog-breeding and cock-fighting as well as Travellers, landscapes, and abandoned countryside buildings, the latter evidenced in the present example. Footnote: 1. Ferran, Brian, Basil Blackshaw - Painter, Nicholson & Bass Ltd., Belfast, 1995, p.120-121

oil on canvas

signed, titled and dated on reverse