Louis le Brocquy – Reconstructed Head of a Child UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This artwork by Louis le Brocquy is entitled Reconstructed Head of a Child. It comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International art auction at the RDS in Dublin on April 30. The catalogue note explains how an isolated human presence emerged from le Brocquy’s paintings in the 1950’s, until he felt he had exhausted the idea. This feeling led to the destruction of a year’s worth of work.
Then, inspired by a display of decorated Polynesian heads at the Musee de l’Homme in Paris, he found a new way of painting the human head, which is viewed by both Celts and Polynesians as a box that held the spirit prisoner. So he set out to paint the head in a new way, to paint it in pursuit of an archaeology of the spirit. Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) was one of Ireland’s leading artists. He produced a celebrated series of heads including literary figures like Yeats, Joyce and Beckett. This one is estimated at 80,000-120,000.
The catalogue lists 147 lots. Viewing at the RDS gets underway next Friday.