Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) – Travelling People 1945
This striking oil on hardboard by Louis le Brocquy is among the leading lots at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art on May 25. The estimate is €100,000-€150,000. The Traveller series which le Brocquy began in 1945 represented a breakthrough for the artist whose work over the decades involved a varied and deepening exploration of the human condition. For him, the Traveller group experienced exclusion based in prejudices for their difference from settled communities, and for their adherence to their nomadic way of life. Lot 45 at Whyte’s is one of the more significant examples from the series.
The auction, with works by Paul Henry, Jack Butler Yeats, Colin Middleton, Aloysius O’Kelly, Letitia Hamilton, John Luke, Kathleen Fox, Patrick Hennessy, Basil Blackshaw, Daniel O’Neill, John B. Vallely, Peter Curling, Cecil Maguire and many others, is now on view in Dublin.