Creating images of Ireland that are both memorable and iconic, Paul Henry’s depictions of landscapes have served for generations to remind people of the natural beauty of the West of Ireland, art historian and curator Peter Murray writes in the catalogue note to Mountain Landscape with lake and road. It comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art auction on April 14. The auction would normally take place at the RDS in Dublin with viewings in both London and New York. It has gone online instead at a time of pandemic.
Henry…. “delighted in capturing the colours and textures of distant mountains, turf ricks, quiet lakes and winding roads; elements of landscape that are everyday sights in rural Galway, Mayo, Donegal and Kerry” Murray writes. “Henry wove these into deceptively simple works of art that combine a sense of abstraction and painterly skill, qualities that brought him fame as one of Ireland’s leading artists of the twentieth century. Irrespective of whether their ancestry was Irish, collectors in America were often drawn to Henry’s work. This small painting was evidently exhibited in New York, probably in the 1940’s. Although now re-framed, the original light frame bore on the back a stamp, ‘Gramercy Book Shop Inc., 122 East 19th Street’. Founded in 1940 by Robert and Lorraine Wilbur, this well-known bookshop, specialising in European writers and also publishing prints by artists, later moved to Union Square.” This small work is estimated at €15,000-25,000.
