Rudolph Ihlee (1883-1968)WORKERS, ALGIERS, 1924oil on canvassigned and dated lower left; numbered [

Rudolph Ihlee (1883-1968)

WORKERS, ALGIERS, 1924

oil on canvas

signed and dated lower left; numbered [2408] on reverse

LandscaPortraite

24.5 by 29.25in., 61.25 by 73.125cm.

A gift from the artist to the present owner`s family, Co. Wexford c. late 1930s;Thence by descent to the present owner

A graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art, London born Rudolph Ihlee formed part of an innovative group of artists in the first decade of the 1900s which included Augustus John, William Crampton Gore, Stanley Spence, Henry Tonks, John Currie and William Orpen. Ihlee left Slade School in 1910 and exhibited with the New English Art Club that year, becoming a member nine years later. He showed at the Royal Scottish Academy and with the Royal Society of British Artists two years later. Two solo exhibitions at the Carfax Gallery followed in 1914. After the First World War Ihlee painted in Brittany and later settled in the medieval artists` hub, Collioure, on the French border with Spain. In the 1920s he painted in Spain and in North Africa. The present works record his time in Algiers. Ihlee later returned to England settling in Peterborough. In 1926 he had a solo show at Chenil Galleries, Chelsea (a gallery established by Orpen`s brother in-law). Rudolph Ihlee died in 1968 and ten years later a retrospective exhibition of his work was hosted by the Graves Art Gallery and the Belgrave Gallery, London. His work can be found in the Victoria & Albert Museum, Manchester City Art Gallery, the British Government Art Collection among others. The Kernoff-esque treatment of the composition and flattened space of these north African scenes recall the Irishman`s take on Dublin, while the depiction of light echoes the obsessions of Lavery during his time in this exotic part of the world. The present works have been in a single private collection in Wexford, where Rudolph Ihlee stayed for a period during the late 1930s. His time in Ireland does not appear to be recorded but for the interesting provenance provided here.