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Click here to subscribeA collection of reference books mainly on Japanese Folk art to include Shiwan Wares exhibition catalogue 1979, Japanese Folk Toys, Shiwan Pottery, Modern Japanese Lacquer Art, Korean Chests by Michael Wickman, Japanese Ink-Painting by Ryukyu Saito, The Folk arts of Japan by Hugo Munsterberg, and the Pillow book of Sel Shonagon (&).
1699 THEVENOT, Melchisedech. - The Art of Swimming. Illustrated by proper figures. With advice for bathing. Done out of French. To which is prefixed a Prefatory Discourse concerning Artificial Swimming, or keeping one self above water by several small Portable Engines in cases of danger. London: 1699. 12mo. pp. [xxi], 60. Illustrated with thirty nine full page illustrations. A very good copy in later full sprinkled calf. Wing T 888. Published three years after the original French copy and not reprinted until well into the following century when a copy was to be found in the library of Benjamin Franklin, this is the earliest illustrated book on swimming in the English language. In his preface the anonymous translater who indicates that "engines" relates to corks and bladders etc argues for a related book on The Art of Diving. Monsieur Thevenot himself makes reference in his preface to swimmers recorded in Classical times, these including Mark Anthony who was on the point of yielding to Ptolomy at Alexandria when "he cast himself armed into the Sea and by swimming recover'd his Fleet". In the illustrated text proper the most improbable piece of advice comes in a chapter headed "To cut the nails of the toes in water", an art that enquiries amongst modern swimmers suggests has sadly been lost. Sweeney 5064.1 Provenance: The estate of Tony Sweeney
Clarice Cliff & Graham Sutherland - A Harrods 1934 Art In Industry `Modern Art for the Table` teacup and saucer, the interior wells with black floral decoration against a pink ground, the border edges with black banding and pink and black ribbon trails, printed Bizarre FIRST EDITION mark (hairline to the saucer).
Best (Thomas) A Concise Treatise on the Art of Angling, first edition, half-title, engraved frontispiece, 2 advertisement leaves at end, contemporary ink inscription "W.P." at head of half-title, frontispiece and title very lightly foxed, one or two other marks but a fine tall copy in modern russet morocco, gilt, by Brian Frost & Co. of Bath, covers with double gilt rule border, spine ruled and titled in gilt with five raised bands, g.e., [Thacher pp.52-53; W&S p.31], 12mo, for C.Stalker.H.Turpin, 1787. Best was Keeper of His Majesty`s Drawing-room in the Tower of London.
Shirley (Thomas) The Angler`s Museum; or, the Whole Art of Float and Fly Fishing, first edition, engraved portrait frontispiece, woodcut title-vignette of fish, portrait a little offset on title, lightly browned, ex-library copy with small ink and perforated stamps on title (across woodcut so fairly unobtrusive), modern crimson morocco with gilt rule border, by Frost & Co. of Bath, spine titled in gilt and with two raised bands, g.e., [ThacherW&S p.194], 12mo, for John Fielding, [1784]. The rare first edition. The portrait frontispiece shows "Mr. John Kirby, the celebrated angler", who was keeper of Newgate and died in 1804 at the age of 80.
Alain JACQUET « LE ZEBRE », 1966 Acrylique sur toile, triptyque 195 x 342 cm 60 000/70000€ Provenance : - Galerie Daniel Varenne, Genève - Collection particulière Expositions : - « Art Mirror », Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966 - « Camouflages et Trames », Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Nice, 2005, reproduit dans le catalogue de l’exposition page 111 Bibliographie : « Alain Jacquet », Duncan Smith, éditions Art Press, Paris, 1990, reproduit page 42 « En peinture, quand je fais de la Terre une surface carrée, puis quand je fais de cette surface un tore, j’arrive à un point très proche de celui où je me trouvais avec la sculpture. Car ce qui m’intéresse c’est de prendre la peau de la Terre, c’est-à-dire de la biosphère qui nous permet d’être là » Alain Jacquet
A good collection of ladies decorative brooches to include 1930's fairy, Gheko, leaf, Swan, pearl set, Art Deco , Flower all being vintage with some modern along with a gold coloured thimble and thread holder marked 'Park Lane,' an unusual rectangular shape and an Indian silver and enamel jewellery box.
Paul Egestorff (1906-1995) The Alarum (1949) Gouache, 30.5 x 22.5cms (12 x 9") Signed Exhibited: "Paul Egestorff Exhibition", Grafton Gallery Exhibition, September 1949, Cat. No. 4; "Paul Egestorff Retrospective Exhibition", European Modern Art, May 1990, Cat. No. 37; The White Stag Group, Irish Museum of Modern Art, July-October 2005, Cat. No. 36; "The White Stag Group", Adams Clandeboye, October/November 2011, Adams Dublin January/February 2012, Cat. No. 16 Born in London, to a German father and an Irish mother, Egestorff was educated in Germany and whilst there began to take lessons in drawing. Much influenced by the Expressionist movement in Germany, he came to Dublin about 1922 and studied under Mainie Jellett who revolutionized his work. He was a member of the Watercolour Society of Ireland. Egerstorff is included in the current exhibition at IMMA "Analysing Cubism"
**A COMPOSITE BLUED AND GILT WESTERN EUROPEAN CAP-A-PIE FIELD ARMOUR, CIRCA 1550-80, WITH LATER DECORATIONcomprising Italian close helmet with one-piece skull rising to a high roped medial comb and struck at the nape with a maker`s mark involving a monogram, visor, upper bevor and bevor attached to it by common pivots and secured in each case by a spring-catch (the visor restored, the upper bevor associated and the spring-catches and pivots replaced), the visor pierced beneath its stepped and centrally-divided vision-slit with fourteen circular ventilation holes and fitted at its right with a lifting-peg also serving as the release for its spring-catch (broken), the prow-shaped upper bevor pierced at its left and right sides respectively with thirteen and fourteen circular ventilation-holes in rosette formation, and two rounded gorget-plates front and rear (those at the rear associated, those at the front restored using old metal), German breastplate of `deep-bellied` fashion formed of a medially-ridged main plate fitted at its neck-opening with an integral collar of two lames (restored), at its stepped arm-openings with movable gusset (restored) in each case pierced with a pair of holes for the attachment of a besague, at the right of the chest with a rigid lance-rest (restored), and at its flanged lower edge (patched) with an integral fauld of three lames (restored) supporting long tassets each of seven lames (associated and in part modified to fit their present context), the lowest lame of the left tasset struck with the Vienna arsenal-mark and the fauld pierced with a hole to receive a one-piece-German codpiece (patched at its upper edge), backplate formed of a main plate fitted at its neck-opening with an integral collar of two lames (restored) and flanged outwards at its lower edge to receive a culet of three lames (restored, probably using old metal), two large asymmetrical German pauldrons (not a pair) each formed of six lames (several showing patching and plugging, and one removed from between the fourth and fifth of the right), a pair of fully articulated Italian vambraces each formed of a one-piece turner (the left with some plugged holes), a tubular upper cannon, a winged bracelet couter of three lames and a tapering tubular lower cannon opening at the rear, German mitten gauntlets each formed of a flared and obtusely-pointed one-piece cuff closed by a riveted join at the inside of the wrist, four metacarpal-plates, a knuckle-plate decorated with a roped transverse rib, four finger-plates and a hinged thumb-defence of four scales (the metacarpal-plates and the finger-plates associated and reworked to their present context, the knuckle plates-and thumb-defences restored), short cuisses each of four lames terminating in a winged poleyn of four lames (the left cuisse and the first three lames of its left poleyn restored), and a pair of full-length tubular greaves each formed of a separable front and rear half (the front of the right and the rear of the left restored) and furnished with an integral sabaton of four lames connected by strips of Oriental mail to rounded toe-caps (restored), the main edges of the armour formed with file-roped inward turns, the couters and poleyns each decorated on the points and wings respectively of their main plates with raised quatrefoils and confronted volutes (the quatrefoils of the couters and the volutes of the poleyns later), and the remainder of the armour decorated overall with recessed borders and vertical bands (the bands later except on the codpiece), all gilt on an overall heat-blued ground (the gilding and bluing later) See note at front of catalogue for information concerning stands ProvenanceDr. Bashford Dean, Riverdale, New York, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 26th October 1950, lot 110JWHA Inv. No. 2879.a-oExhibitedMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York, prior to 1950Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 6 January-21 February 1966New England Museum of Science, Boston Massachusetts, 1-11 December 1966 Winterfest, Boston `Art of the Armorer`, Flint Institute of Art, Missouri, 1 December 1967-1 April 1968Worcester Pressed Steel Co., for New England Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts, 2-6 December 1968 Lowe Art Museum, Miami, Florida, 1 December 1979-13 January 1980`Road Warriors: Knight Riders`, Norton Museum of Art, , West Palm Beach, Florida, 24 June-4 September 2000LiteratureStephen V. Grancsay, The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1961, p. 60 (ill.)The inside of the right greave inscribed `Toe-caps, waste [sic.] armor / parts of cuissards, 1 knee, 1 back / of lower leg modern. /Restored by R. Bartel 1916`. The rear of the lance-rest is similarly inscribed on its rear, `piece faite par / Julien Arrechea / 1916`.Raymond Bartel subsequently became armourer to William Randolph Hearst at St Donat`s Castle, Glamorganshire, Wales.The recessed vertical bands that decorate codpiece were clearly the inspiration for the embellishment of the remainder of the armour. The embossed volutes on the couters served as the inspiration for those of the cuisses, and the embossed quatrefoils of the cuisses, for those of the couters.
**A COMPOSITE SOUTH GERMAN INFANTRY ARMOUR IN THE `BLACK-AND-WHITE` FASHION, PARTLY NUREMBERG, CIRCA 1570-90comprising burgonet with a one-piece skull formed with four facets, rising to an acute point and fitted at the brow with an obtusely-pointed pivoted peak (patched at its upper edge), at the nape with a separate plate flanged outwards at its lower edge to receive a one-piece neck-guard, and at each side with a hinged cheek-piece decorated at its centre with an embossed rosette and flanged outwards at its lower edge to continue the line of the neck-guard, `Almain` collar formed of two lames front and rear (the top one in each case associated) and fitted at each side with a spaudler (likewise associated) of seven lames, breastplate formed of a medially-ridged main plate projecting forward over the belly, struck at the neck with the quality-control mark of the city of Nuremberg, and fitted at its arm-openings with moveable gussets, and at its lower edge with a fauld of two lames, the lowest of which (partly disarticulated) is struck with the Vienna arsenal-mark and supports on straps two long tassets each of six lames terminating just above the knees, and one-piece backplate flanged outwards at its lower end to receive a culet of one lame, circular besagues (modern), each decorated at its centre with a large embossed rosette matching those of the burgonet, two vambraces (not a pair) each formed of a tubular upper and lower cannon (the inner plate of the left lower cannon restored) linked by internal leathers (those of the left partly disarticulated) to an intervening winged bracelet couter decorated with a roped medial rib, the upper cannon in each case surmounted by a turner of two lames (the uppermost restored), and gauntlets (the right restored) each formed of a short rounded-ended tubular cuff fitted with a separate inner plate, five metacarpal-plates, a knuckle-plate decorated with a roped transverse rib, a finger-plate, scaled finger-defences and a hinged thumb-defence of five scales, the main edges of the armour formed with roped inward turns accompanied,, except in the case of the burgonet, besagues and cannons of the vambraces, by recessed borders burnished bright against a blackened ground (refreshed), along with the rosettes of the burgonet and besagues, and the roped ribs of the turners and coutersSee note at front of catalogue for information concerning stands ProvenanceDr. Bashford Dean, Riverdale, New York, sold American Art Association, New York, 23rd November 1928, lot 146JWHA Inv. No. 608.a-k
Cigarette cards: A modern album containing 11 sets & 3 part-sets of `L` size cards, various manufacturers inc Pattreiouex, Will`s, Churchman & Gallaher`s. Sets include Pattreiouex, British Railways, Winter Scenes, Holiday Haunts by the Sea, The Bridges of Britain, Our Countryside, Britain from the Air, Beautiful Scotland, Will`s, Round Europe, Churchman`s, Holidays in Britain, Gallaher, Art Treasures of the World etc (all gd/vg)Part-set`s, Pattreiouex, Sights of London, Sights of Britain Series 1, Sights of Britain 2nd Series & Coastwise (set)
Cigarette cards: A modern album containing 10 sets & 3 part-sets all `L` size cards, various manufacturers inc Player`s, Carreras, Will`s Millhoff & Sarony. Sets include Player`s, Kings & Queens of England, Old Hunting Prints, British Butterflies, British Naval Craft, Old Naval Prints, Will`s, Famous British Authors, The King`s Art Treasures etc (gen gd/vg)Others, Player`s, Famous Beauties (set), British Regalia (set), Will`s, Old Inns 2nd Series (25/40), Millhoff, Art Treasures (9/50), Sarony, Celebrities & their Autographs (9/100
Cigarette cards: Modern album containing 10 sets & 14 part-sets or type cards, inc Carreras, Orchids `L` size (set), Churchman`s, Famous Golfers (3), Italian Art 1st & 2nd Series (sets), Prominent Golfers (4), Gallaher`s, Dog`s, `L` size, Hill`s, The Railway Centenary, `L` size (set), Views of Interest, Views of London etc (mixed condition, poor/gd)
Cigarette cards: A modern album containing 7 sets & 2 part-sets from various manufacturers inc Churchman`s, Cricketers (set), Morris`s, Actresses, b&w, unnumbered (set), Hill`s, Decorations & Medals, (Hill back) (set) etc (gen gd/vg)2 part sets, Ogden`s British Birds & their Eggs (49/50 missing no 9, Gallaher, British Birds, (40/48 missing 41-48), Gallaher, Art Treasures of the World `L`, Churcman, Wings over the Empire, Hill`s Views of Canada `L`, Ogden`s Colour in Nature
‡Beric Young (1902-1963)The Cobb, Lyme RegisTwo, both signed and dated 50 and 53Both watercolour37 x 54cm; 14½ x 21¼in and similar (2)Provenance:One only - The Royal Institute of Painters in WatercoloursExhibited:The other - Art Exhibitions Bureau, Modern Trends in Watercolours II++One with 2 or 3 small blemishes otherwise both good condition
Unused collection in five boxed printed Lindner albums from 1901 to 2009 contained in two cartons incl. 1927-28 Battle of Navarino set, 1930 Centenary of Independence set, 1930 Arkadi Monastery 8d, 1933 Zeppelin set u/m, 1933 Aeroespresso set, 1934 perf 11½ Athens Stadium u/m, 1939 Cession of Ionian Islands set, 1946 Tsaldaris 250d imperf pair with offset on reverse u/m, 1940 Youth Organisation Air set, 1947-51 Restoration of Dodecanese Islands set, 1951 St. Pauls Travels in Greece set u/m, 1951 Reconstruction set, 1952 Birthday set u/m, 1953 National Products set, 1954 Ancient Greek Art set, 1954 North Atlantic Treaty set u/m, 1954 `Enosis` set, 1955 Pythagorean Congress set u/m, 1956 and 1957 Royal Family sets u/m, 1957 Greek Ports set u/m, the later issues virtually complete with booklets, commemoratives, definitives, miniature sheets and sheetlets etc, mainly fine part o.g. to u/m, also some used issues in mixed condition in album and on pages plus a group of modern fdc`sCountry: GREECE
Unusual and diverse collection in album entitled "My All World Favourite Stamps etc", much modern thematic material incl classical art and royalty but noted also (unused unless stated) Japan 1925 Imperial Silver Wedding set of 4, Sarawak 1947 set of 15 on registered airmail fdc, Kelantan 1951-55 set of 21, Saudi Arabia 1975 King Faisal 40p miniature sheet, Egypt 1938 Farouk`s 18th Birthday £E1 used on piece, Zanzibar 1899-1901 set of 17, Iran 1929 set of 16, 1956-57 and 1957-58 sets of 17, and Hong Kong 1903 $10 used, cond varies but much is fine (Scores)Country: MIXED LOT
Harris (John). Lexicon Technicum: or, an Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts themselves, 2 vols, 5th ed., 1736, two engraved portraits, 23 engraved plates including some folding, a few minor fold tears, contemp. panelled calf, modern reback and corner repairs, folio (2).
*Cemmick (David, 1955-). A fine modern foundry bronze sculpture of a dodo by Cemmick & Wylder Fine Art, limited edition number. 1 of 12, finely detailed throughout, 58cm (22.75 in) high, signed and numbered, mounted on a substantial rectangular slate base, 61cm (24in) overall heightThe Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is now sadly extinct, once a flightless bird indigenous to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Little is known about the Dodo but paintings and written accounts appeared from the 17th century onwards, the first account written by Dutch sailors in 1598. It is believed that the readiness of food (fruit) and absence of predators on the island was a contributing factor to it becoming flightless, which ultimately led to its extinction as the bird became preyed upon by hungry sailors and their domesticated animals which had been introduced to the island. The last recorded sighting of the Dodo was in 1662 but fossil remains have enabled scientists to create a pattern of its size and weight, i.e. 3 ft 3 ins tall and 10-18 kg in weight.. (1).
McDonald (Alexander). A Complete Dictionary of Practical Gardening: Comprehending all the Modern Improvements in the Art..., 2 vols., printed for George Kearsley, 1807, forty-nine (of 61) hand-col. eng. plts. and thirteen b & w plts. (correct), some staining, browning, and foxing, mainly to text, marbled endpapers, a.e.g., modern tan calf, attractive gilt dec. spines with contrasting leather labels, 4to. issen 479. (2).
FOLLOWER OF JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER VENICE a pair^ watercolour and bodycolour^ 8.5 x 12.5cm^ a red chalk drawing of a sculpted bust by Nathaniel Smith^ signed and dated 1825 and four other drawings by various hands^ 17th/19th century^ including a pen and ink drawing of a Bishop Saint (7) ++The pair of drawings loosely laid down onto modern mounts in gilt frames. These and several others provenanced to David Ker Fine Art London
Roderic O`Conor (1860-1940)NATURE MORTE, c.1909oil on canvassigned and dated upper left; signed, titled and dated on reverse; with original price [15.00 frs] and numbered [5] on reverseLandscaPortraite18 by 22in., 45 by 55cm.M. Zeitline, Paris;The Collection of Mervyn & Pat SolomonSalon d`Automne, Paris, 1909, no. 132; `Roderic O`Conor Room`, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 1995-2000Johnston, Roy, Roderic O`Conor Vision and Expression, 1996, p.48-49This group of eleven oil paintings and etchings by Roderic O`Conor spans thirty years of the artist`s career, encompassing many of his favourite subjects and deploying the entire repertoire of expressive gestures and marks and the high-keyed palette for which he has become famous. The collection moves in time as well as place: from the windswept rocky coastline of Finistère in 1893 (see lots 42 & 44), to the shaded, tree-lined roads near Barbizon in 1902, to the life models and domestic objects of O`Conor`s Parisian studio, and finally to the craggy peaks of the Côte d`Azur. There is even a work that melds the normally distinct genres of figure and landscape, namely the lithograph Two Women in Profile in a Landscape (lot 42), the descriptive title of which belies its innovative conception and its boldly simplified forms.O`Conor`s experimental rigour pervades this entire group of works - he was never a man to go for the easy option of academic realism. With their impulsive, whipped lines, the four etchings evince the clash of the elements on the storm-torn coast of Brittany, an alien and barren terrain that acquires, at the hands of O`Conor, the appearance of a lunar landscape. When he positions the horizon line lower down the copper plate, he manages to make even the clouds appear tortured. At this early date (1893), the Irishman was looking to Van Gogh for inspiration, especially the rhythmic bands of pure colour that energised the Dutchman`s St Remy and Arles landscapes. In 1908 O`Conor would pay verbal tribute to Van Gogh`s paintings as wonderful examples of expression of character pushed to the point of hallucination." Just a few years earlier, on a visit to Montigny-sur-Loing, he articulated the foliage, sky and grassy bank of his oil painting, Avenue of Trees (lot 39) with alternating stripes of colour, just as he had done a decade earlier in Pont-Aven.Whilst the predominant mood of these early works might be characterised as controlled anarchy, at least in the handling of paint, O`Conor was also capable of extracting subtlety and understatement from his colours. This is nowhere more apparent than in Chrysanthemums (lot 38), dating from 1896, when he was rethinking his art in the solitude of the little Breton town of Rochefort-en-terre. Here the feathery touch and carefully orchestrated colour harmonies (red predominating) recall no-one so much as Auguste Renoir, who visited Pont-Aven with his family in 1892 and was eulogised in the exchange of letters between Armand Seguin and O`Conor later in the decade. Similarly, the way O`Conor contrasts the softly blended brushstrokes describing the limbs and torso of the nude in Nu allongé (lot 37) with a more painterly approach in the foreground recalls Renoir`s late paintings of bathers.O`Conor`s affinity for the primitive life Brittany offered sometimes found an echo in pictures from his early years in Paris. In Nature morte (lot 36) of 1909, hand-painted Breton faïence, a white napkin and some fruit are partnered with an English posset pot, creating a homely assemblage that recalls, in its carefully articulated geometry, Cézanne`s famous admonition to "treat nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone." A few years later in date, the small panel painting Montagne Sainte-Victoire (lot 43) demonstrates how the lure of the South, as celebrated in Cézanne`s landscapes of his native Aix-en-Provence, became too much for O`Conor to resist. Here, using colour modulations at the expense of detail, he achieves the monumental, notwithstanding the small scale. In the years following the WWI, O`Conor continued to paint female models and still lifes, albeit without returning to the Post-Impressionist idiom of his pre-war years. This new development is demonstrated to good effect in Seated Model (lot 40), where the dramatic transverse lighting and the use of the palette knife to accentuate the modelling of forms are in keeping with the methods of the so-called École de Paris - painters such as Dunoyer de Segonzac, Chaïm Soutine and Maurice de Vlaminck. In the background of O`Conor`s portrait one can just glimpse his cast of Daumier`s bronze sculpture, Les emigrants, as if by way of homage from one dedicated interpreter of the human clay to another.Jonathan BeningtonFebruary 2013"
Aloysius C. O’Kelly (1853-1936)ENGLISH PEASANT CHOPPING SWEDES, c.1887-1888oil on canvassigned lower right; with original label preserved on reverse, numbered [38]Portrait27 by 20in., 67.5 by 50cm.The Collection of Mervyn & Pat SolomonAloysius O`Kelly (1853-1936) was born in Dublin as Aloysius Kelly, and immigrated to London in 1861, where he adopted the prefix O`. O`Kelly belonged to a Fenian family. His older brothers, James, Charles and Stephen, were all Fenians, and sculptors (trained by their uncle, John Lawlor, the well-known Irish sculptor in London). O`Kelly lived a life of art and sedition, operating as a painter and activist in Ireland, Britain, France and the United States, as well as in outposts of the empire, such as Sudan and Egypt. His connections to the shadowy world of Irish republican politics permeated his work. Aloysius was closest to James, who was instrumental in building up the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Britain, was active in the Land League, was elected Member of Parliament for Roscommon in 1880 and a key figure in securing Charles Stewart Parnell`s agreement for the New Departure. The most radical Irish artist of his era, O`Kelly was prolific and eclectic: Realist in Ireland, Naturalist in France and Orientalist in North Africa, forging all the time new connections between art and anti-colonial politics.O`Kelly was accepted by the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1874, to the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), a not inconsequential achievement. He also studied with the portraitist, Joseph-Florentin-Léon Bonnat (1833-1922). He was one of the first Irish artists to go to Brittany, to Pont-Aven, and later Corncarneau. There he mixed with the American colony blending academic, realist and plein-air elements into an innovative mode of rural Naturalism. From France, O`Kelly returned to Ireland in the early 1880s, as `Special Artist` to The Illustrated London News, giving visual expression to the harsh realities of Irish rural life. Here the Freeman`s Journal declared him `the most important of modern artists`, and of `exceptionally high rank` (2 June 1888). His Mass in a Connemara Cabin (National Gallery of Ireland, 1883) had the distinction of being the first painting of an Irish subject ever exhibited in the Paris Salon. In North Africa, O`Kelly painted many typical scenes, but tended to avoid the emblems of Orientalism, scenes of extremism and characterisations of incompetence that might justify colonial domination. His North African and Middle Eastern paintings reveal a predominantly ethnographic interest. His adoption of the name Oakley in Cairo also points to political activism, leading to a dangerous adventure in which he and his brother, James, followed their friend, Edmond O`Donovan, the Fenian and internationally renowned journalist, to Sudan in 1883/4, where they allied themselves with the forces of the Mahdi. As well as being a work of artistic merit, the watercolour, Edmond O`Donovan as an Orientalist (lot 49), is thus an important political painting.O`Kelly maintained family contacts in England where he painted English Peasant Chopping Swedes (opposite, lot 45) c.1887/8. In 1895, he left for the US from but returned regularly to France for the summers. Here he painted the Brittany paintings presented in this sale (see lots: 46,47, 51 & 52) in the early years of the twentieth century. And in 1897, he came back to Ireland in an (unsuccessful) attempt to offer himself as a candidate for election as MP for South Roscommon. In New York he executed a number of portraits of prominent Irish-American politicians, painted views of the city, as well as traveling around the art colonies of America, resulting in many landscape studies of Maine. He returned to Ireland again in 1926, aged seventy-three, still pressing his case for the establishment of a national school of painting. There followed a final sojourn in Brittany, before he returned to America where he died in 1936. Professor Emeritus Niamh O`SullivanFebruary 2013Aloysius O`Kelly exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and Institute of Painters in Oil Colours, London; Walker Gallery Liverpool; Manchester City Art Gallery; Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin; National Academy of Design, Water Color Club (as a member), American Watercolor Society, and Society of American Artists, New York; Art Institute Chicago; Corcoran Gallery, Washington; Boston Art Club; and at the Paris Salon.
Aloysius C. O’Kelly (1853-1936)FISHING BOATS AT CONCARNEAU, FRANCEoil on boardsigned lower rightLandscaPortraite9 by 12in., 22.5 by 30cm.The Collection of Mervyn & Pat SolomonAloysius O`Kelly (1853-1936) was born in Dublin as Aloysius Kelly, and immigrated to London in 1861, where he adopted the prefix O`. O`Kelly belonged to a Fenian family. His older brothers, James, Charles and Stephen, were all Fenians, and sculptors (trained by their uncle, John Lawlor, the well-known Irish sculptor in London). O`Kelly lived a life of art and sedition, operating as a painter and activist in Ireland, Britain, France and the United States, as well as in outposts of the empire, such as Sudan and Egypt. His connections to the shadowy world of Irish republican politics permeated his work. Aloysius was closest to James, who was instrumental in building up the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Britain, was active in the Land League, was elected Member of Parliament for Roscommon in 1880 and a key figure in securing Charles Stewart Parnell`s agreement for the New Departure. The most radical Irish artist of his era, O`Kelly was prolific and eclectic: Realist in Ireland, Naturalist in France and Orientalist in North Africa, forging all the time new connections between art and anti-colonial politics.O`Kelly was accepted by the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1874, to the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), a not inconsequential achievement. He also studied with the portraitist, Joseph-Florentin-Léon Bonnat (1833-1922). He was one of the first Irish artists to go to Brittany, to Pont-Aven, and later Corncarneau. There he mixed with the American colony blending academic, realist and plein-air elements into an innovative mode of rural Naturalism. From France, O`Kelly returned to Ireland in the early 1880s, as `Special Artist` to The Illustrated London News, giving visual expression to the harsh realities of Irish rural life. Here the Freeman`s Journal declared him `the most important of modern artists`, and of `exceptionally high rank` (2 June 1888). His Mass in a Connemara Cabin (National Gallery of Ireland, 1883) had the distinction of being the first painting of an Irish subject ever exhibited in the Paris Salon. In North Africa, O`Kelly painted many typical scenes, but tended to avoid the emblems of Orientalism, scenes of extremism and characterisations of incompetence that might justify colonial domination. His North African and Middle Eastern paintings reveal a predominantly ethnographic interest. His adoption of the name Oakley in Cairo also points to political activism, leading to a dangerous adventure in which he and his brother, James, followed their friend, Edmond O`Donovan, the Fenian and internationally renowned journalist, to Sudan in 1883/4, where they allied themselves with the forces of the Mahdi. As well as being a work of artistic merit, the watercolour, Edmond O`Donovan as an Orientalist (lot 49), is thus an important political painting.O`Kelly maintained family contacts in England where he painted English Peasant Chopping Swedes (opposite, lot 45) c.1887/8. In 1895, he left for the US from but returned regularly to France for the summers. Here he painted the Brittany paintings presented in this sale (see lots: 46,47, 51 & 52) in the early years of the twentieth century. And in 1897, he came back to Ireland in an (unsuccessful) attempt to offer himself as a candidate for election as MP for South Roscommon. In New York he executed a number of portraits of prominent Irish-American politicians, painted views of the city, as well as traveling around the art colonies of America, resulting in many landscape studies of Maine. He returned to Ireland again in 1926, aged seventy-three, still pressing his case for the establishment of a national school of painting. There followed a final sojourn in Brittany, before he returned to America where he died in 1936. Professor Emeritus Niamh O`SullivanFebruary 2013Aloysius O`Kelly exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and Institute of Painters in Oil Colours, London; Walker Gallery Liverpool; Manchester City Art Gallery; Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin; National Academy of Design, Water Color Club (as a member), American Watercolor Society, and Society of American Artists, New York; Art Institute Chicago; Corcoran Gallery, Washington; Boston Art Club; and at the Paris Salon.
Aloysius C. O’Kelly (1853-1936)TREESoil on boardsigned lower rightPortrait12.5 by 9in., 31.25 by 22.5cm.The Collection of Mervyn & Pat SolomonAloysius O`Kelly (1853-1936) was born in Dublin as Aloysius Kelly, and immigrated to London in 1861, where he adopted the prefix O`. O`Kelly belonged to a Fenian family. His older brothers, James, Charles and Stephen, were all Fenians, and sculptors (trained by their uncle, John Lawlor, the well-known Irish sculptor in London). O`Kelly lived a life of art and sedition, operating as a painter and activist in Ireland, Britain, France and the United States, as well as in outposts of the empire, such as Sudan and Egypt. His connections to the shadowy world of Irish republican politics permeated his work. Aloysius was closest to James, who was instrumental in building up the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Britain, was active in the Land League, was elected Member of Parliament for Roscommon in 1880 and a key figure in securing Charles Stewart Parnell`s agreement for the New Departure. The most radical Irish artist of his era, O`Kelly was prolific and eclectic: Realist in Ireland, Naturalist in France and Orientalist in North Africa, forging all the time new connections between art and anti-colonial politics.O`Kelly was accepted by the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1874, to the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), a not inconsequential achievement. He also studied with the portraitist, Joseph-Florentin-Léon Bonnat (1833-1922). He was one of the first Irish artists to go to Brittany, to Pont-Aven, and later Corncarneau. There he mixed with the American colony blending academic, realist and plein-air elements into an innovative mode of rural Naturalism. From France, O`Kelly returned to Ireland in the early 1880s, as `Special Artist` to The Illustrated London News, giving visual expression to the harsh realities of Irish rural life. Here the Freeman`s Journal declared him `the most important of modern artists`, and of `exceptionally high rank` (2 June 1888). His Mass in a Connemara Cabin (National Gallery of Ireland, 1883) had the distinction of being the first painting of an Irish subject ever exhibited in the Paris Salon. In North Africa, O`Kelly painted many typical scenes, but tended to avoid the emblems of Orientalism, scenes of extremism and characterisations of incompetence that might justify colonial domination. His North African and Middle Eastern paintings reveal a predominantly ethnographic interest. His adoption of the name Oakley in Cairo also points to political activism, leading to a dangerous adventure in which he and his brother, James, followed their friend, Edmond O`Donovan, the Fenian and internationally renowned journalist, to Sudan in 1883/4, where they allied themselves with the forces of the Mahdi. As well as being a work of artistic merit, the watercolour, Edmond O`Donovan as an Orientalist (lot 49), is thus an important political painting.O`Kelly maintained family contacts in England where he painted English Peasant Chopping Swedes (opposite, lot 45) c.1887/8. In 1895, he left for the US from but returned regularly to France for the summers. Here he painted the Brittany paintings presented in this sale (see lots: 46,47, 51 & 52) in the early years of the twentieth century. And in 1897, he came back to Ireland in an (unsuccessful) attempt to offer himself as a candidate for election as MP for South Roscommon. In New York he executed a number of portraits of prominent Irish-American politicians, painted views of the city, as well as traveling around the art colonies of America, resulting in many landscape studies of Maine. He returned to Ireland again in 1926, aged seventy-three, still pressing his case for the establishment of a national school of painting. There followed a final sojourn in Brittany, before he returned to America where he died in 1936. Professor Emeritus Niamh O`SullivanFebruary 2013Aloysius O`Kelly exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and Institute of Painters in Oil Colours, London; Walker Gallery Liverpool; Manchester City Art Gallery; Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin; National Academy of Design, Water Color Club (as a member), American Watercolor Society, and Society of American Artists, New York; Art Institute Chicago; Corcoran Gallery, Washington; Boston Art Club; and at the Paris Salon.
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