38
Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901-1980)
Estimate:
€10,000 - €15,000
Sold
€19,000
Live Auction
Important Irish Art - 26 November 2018
Size
25.50 by 20in. (64.8 by 50.8cm)
Description
Title: STILL LIFE WITH BASKET AND PLANT, 1951
Note: A Free Spirit, Irish Art notes, "Around 1950, Norah McGuinness was producing dark illustrative scenes of Dublin streets. In style, these complemented her illustrations for Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Shelbourne, which was published in 1951. However, that year also saw the break from the heavy graphism of the late forties into a semi-abstract style which established a closer relationship with the mainstream of British and European painting. The new manner developed through a subject matter which was less emotionally charged. It was found in the still-lives of fruit and plants. The lighter palette and free-hand linear notation of such works is at once reminiscent of late Picasso, while at the same time, it locates McGuinness within the tradition of Mary Swanzy and May Guinness. Elements of [the present work] Still-life with Basket and Plant, particularly the suggestions of an iron balustrade recall Matisse, although the comparison can be better sustained by referring to the remarkable fluency of the work. In it is flexible modernity, the picture anticipates McGuinness' Dublin Bay landscapes of the 1960s."
Note: A Free Spirit, Irish Art notes, "Around 1950, Norah McGuinness was producing dark illustrative scenes of Dublin streets. In style, these complemented her illustrations for Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Shelbourne, which was published in 1951. However, that year also saw the break from the heavy graphism of the late forties into a semi-abstract style which established a closer relationship with the mainstream of British and European painting. The new manner developed through a subject matter which was less emotionally charged. It was found in the still-lives of fruit and plants. The lighter palette and free-hand linear notation of such works is at once reminiscent of late Picasso, while at the same time, it locates McGuinness within the tradition of Mary Swanzy and May Guinness. Elements of [the present work] Still-life with Basket and Plant, particularly the suggestions of an iron balustrade recall Matisse, although the comparison can be better sustained by referring to the remarkable fluency of the work. In it is flexible modernity, the picture anticipates McGuinness' Dublin Bay landscapes of the 1960s."
Medium
oil on board
Signature
signed and dated lower right; inscribed on Pyms Gallery label on reverse
Provenance
Pyms Gallery, London;Private collection
Literature
McConkey, Kenneth, A Free Spirit, Irish Art 1860-1960, Antique Collectors' Club in association with Pyms Gallery, London, 1990, p.208 (colour plate no. 82)
