18
Gerald Leslie Brockhurst RA (1890-1978)
Estimate:
€5,000 - €7,000
Sold
€11,000
Live Auction
Irish & International Art Auction
Size
14 by 10in. (35.6 by 25.4cm)
Description
Title: PORTRAIT OF OLIVER DUANE ODYSSEUS GOGARTY (KNOWN AS 'NOLL')
Note: Oliver St. John Gogarty (1878-1957) was an Irish poet, author, surgeon, athlete, politician, and well-known conversationalist. He was a onetime friend of James Joyce and served as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in Joyce's novel Ulysses.Gogarty was active in the Sinn Féin movement from its very inception, having first met Arthur Griffith in 1898. During the War of Independence, he plotted escapes of prisoners, and sheltered volunteers on the run in his home and transported them in his car. Gogarty took the pro-Treaty side in the Civil War, became a Senator of the Free State, and, as such, he narrowly escaped being assassinated by Anti-Treaty forces.Although a highly qualified surgeon and barrister, Gogarty turned to writing as a career - he won medals at the Tailteann Games and the Olympic Games and had 17 of his poems published in the Oxford Book of Verse. He also wrote fiction, including As I Was Walking Down Sackville Street. In 1939 he emigrated to the USA, where he died in 1957.In August 1906, Gogarty married Martha Duane of Connemara. In July 1907 his first son, Oliver Duane Odysseus Gogarty (known as "Noll") was born, followed by Dermot (born 1908) and Brenda (born 1911), and in 1917 Gogarty purchased Renyvle House, a large country house in Renvyle, Connemara. Both Oliver and his son Noll were painted by Sir William Orpen, in 1911 and 1913 respectively, the latter shown at the RHA the same year. A portrait in oil of all three siblings at Renvyle, Connemara with the Twelve Pins in the Background by English artist Gerald Leslie Brockhurst was painted in 1916 and "slashed" by the IRA during the Civil War. Brockhurst was a celebrated portrait painter - whose sitters included Marlene Dietrich and the Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson) - who lived in Ireland between 1915 and 1919. The portraits in watercolour of Noll and Brenda (lots 18 & 19) probably date to this period and likely correspond to the illustrious oil painting. Gogarty later commissioned Brockhurst to do a portrait of him for use as a frontispiece for his book, Elbow Room, Cuala Press, Dublin (1934). An etching and drypoint (edition of 100) of this portrait was sold through these rooms 17 May 2008, lot 485 and can be found in the collection of the RA, London. See lot 23 for a bust of Oliver St. John Gogarty's granddaughter, Clare, by his daughter Brenda.
Note: Oliver St. John Gogarty (1878-1957) was an Irish poet, author, surgeon, athlete, politician, and well-known conversationalist. He was a onetime friend of James Joyce and served as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in Joyce's novel Ulysses.Gogarty was active in the Sinn Féin movement from its very inception, having first met Arthur Griffith in 1898. During the War of Independence, he plotted escapes of prisoners, and sheltered volunteers on the run in his home and transported them in his car. Gogarty took the pro-Treaty side in the Civil War, became a Senator of the Free State, and, as such, he narrowly escaped being assassinated by Anti-Treaty forces.Although a highly qualified surgeon and barrister, Gogarty turned to writing as a career - he won medals at the Tailteann Games and the Olympic Games and had 17 of his poems published in the Oxford Book of Verse. He also wrote fiction, including As I Was Walking Down Sackville Street. In 1939 he emigrated to the USA, where he died in 1957.In August 1906, Gogarty married Martha Duane of Connemara. In July 1907 his first son, Oliver Duane Odysseus Gogarty (known as "Noll") was born, followed by Dermot (born 1908) and Brenda (born 1911), and in 1917 Gogarty purchased Renyvle House, a large country house in Renvyle, Connemara. Both Oliver and his son Noll were painted by Sir William Orpen, in 1911 and 1913 respectively, the latter shown at the RHA the same year. A portrait in oil of all three siblings at Renvyle, Connemara with the Twelve Pins in the Background by English artist Gerald Leslie Brockhurst was painted in 1916 and "slashed" by the IRA during the Civil War. Brockhurst was a celebrated portrait painter - whose sitters included Marlene Dietrich and the Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson) - who lived in Ireland between 1915 and 1919. The portraits in watercolour of Noll and Brenda (lots 18 & 19) probably date to this period and likely correspond to the illustrious oil painting. Gogarty later commissioned Brockhurst to do a portrait of him for use as a frontispiece for his book, Elbow Room, Cuala Press, Dublin (1934). An etching and drypoint (edition of 100) of this portrait was sold through these rooms 17 May 2008, lot 485 and can be found in the collection of the RA, London. See lot 23 for a bust of Oliver St. John Gogarty's granddaughter, Clare, by his daughter Brenda.
Medium
watercolour and pastel
Signature
signed lower right
Provenance
Commissioned by the sitter's father, Oliver St John Gogarty;Thence by family descent to the sitter's sister, Brenda Williams (n�e Gogarty);Thence to her daughter, Clare Williams;Her estate sale;Where purchased by the present owners
