Adams
Lot 58
Harry Clarke RHA (1889 - 1931) Hilda Luvia – Lady playing a theorbo Watercolour and pencil, 34.5 x 27.5cm (13½ x 10¾") Signed and dated 1921Provenance: Albert Ernest Wood KC (1873 - 1941), Marino, Killiney, Co. Dublin (now known as Abbey Lea, residence of H.E. The Ambassador of Australia), thence by descent to the current owners.Harry Clarke, perhaps most famous for his intensely coloured jewel-like stained glass and for his dramatic black & white illustrations and graphic work, could also, with consummate ease, create delicate pastel-coloured images such as this illustration. Although the colour palette may be less familiar, the exquisite drawing of the delicate female musician has all the hallmarks of Clarke’s finesse. It is thought that this pencil and watercolour image dates to c.1921 and may have been submitted to Hodder and Staunton, though ultimately not used, for the Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault (1922), a publication for which Clarke provided twelve colour plates. The watercolour was exhibited at the sixth exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland in September 1921 and was jokingly titled, in Joycean mode, Hilda Luvia. The leading authority on Clarke, the late Dr Nicola Gordon Bowe, interviewed the artist’s friend, Victor Wood, who explained that the title was derived from an incident when Clarke, walking across Butt Bridge, saw a barge tied up below with the inscription ‘Hilda I Luv Yer’ painted on her side. The title of the drawing is a blend of this with ‘Anna Livia’, the river’s familiar Dublin name, which reflects not only Clarke’s irreverent sense of humour but also his ease with combining disparate references – something that is apparent in the imagery of the watercolour itself. Clarke depicts the musician in a vast skirt which occupies a third of the picture, its volume rivaling the mountain peaks behind. The floral details on the skirt’s fabric recall the designs he had made for sets of handkerchiefs commissioned by Sefton’s of Belfast a few years earlier. The musician is shown playing a theorbo, a member of the lute family which was popular during the Baroque music era (1600–1750) as part of a small basso continuo group or as a solo instrument as depicted here. While the instrument may be associated with the Baroque period, the style of skirt came into fashion in the eighteenth century, and the bobbed hairstyle more common in nineteenth or twentieth century though notably the unevenness of the hair cut is at variance to the sophistication of her costume. In the background one can see a fairy tale hilltop town with ogee domes and spires, but the spindly, bleak tree hints at the orient with its Japonisme style. This illustration shows Clarke in eclectic mode, happy to draw on a range of sources, influences and eras, and whip them into a delicate confection. Dr David Caron November 20231. See Bowe, Nicola Gordon, Harry Clarke, the Life and Work 2015 ed.), p. 192. 2. Recounted to Nicola Gordon Bowe by Victor Wood in 1976 (Albert Wood, father of Victor, had bought the picture at Clarke's London exhibition in 1925). See Bowe, Nicola Gordon, Harry Clarke, the Life and Work (2015 ed), p. 344.
