Archive of Letters etc by Limerick Antiquarian Westropp (T.J.) An important file of Letters, (with some other papers) dating between 1884 and 1903, written by the Limerick antiquarian scholar T.J. Westropp of 77 Lr. Leeson St., Dublin, to his cousin Lt. Col. William Kiely Westropp of 6 Sherrcliffe Rd, Folkestone, Kent. The letters (approx. 22) are written in his distinctive clear neat hand and mainly comprise genealogical information on the Westropp family especially material for the entry in a forthcoming edition of "Burke's Landed Gentry". There are also comments - generally frank and often witty - on family members (especially following the death of their cousin Sir Michael Westropp in 1890), as well as politics and masonic matters. His letter of 7 April 1893, for instance, reflects his views on the Second Home Rule Bill; 'I was delighted to see you were fighting to save us from ruin, ruffianism, Roman supremacy, cornerboys, priests' nominees, sharking politicians and civil war. We are fighting here but sore weary; if a miracle does not open the voters' eyes in Great Britain we are about done for.' Thomas Johnston Westropp (1860 - 1922) belonged to a landowning family of Co. Limerick. His life was devoted to studying Irish antiquities, particularly the prehistoric and medieval remains of his native county and of Clare (one of his letters includes two sketches of shiela-na-gigs). He was the author of some 300 articles in local and national journals, meticulously researched, written and illustrated; 'in contrast to that of most of his contemporaries, Westropp's work is still frequently used by modern scholars.' (Liam Irwin in D.I.B.). His correspondent Lt. Col. Wm. Kiely Westropp (1846 - 1905) was an officer in the 68th Durham Light Infantry and served in Bhutan and Afghanistan. As an Archive, w.a.f. (1)
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The Playwrights gives his view of the State of Irish Theatre & Outlines the Case for a New Departure FRIEL, Brian, dramatist [1929-2015]. An important typescript signed letter, 5 pp, with a manuscript postscript, December 1974, from his home near Lifford, Co. Donegal, to the Abbey actor Pat Laffan (a member of the Actors Equity council) and the theatre designer Bronwyn Cassin, giving a frank view of the state of Irish theatre, and outlining the case for a new departure. The letter arises from discussions in an Equity subcommittee of which Friel and Laffan were members. 'My first concern, probably my only concern', Friel says, 'is the state of theatre in Ireland today. I think we are on the verge of a new direction .. Do we think automatically in terms of how best the Abbey can be reformed and made the vehicle for these new concepts, or do we attempt the new excursion without the inhibition of an existing place ..? The decision I have come to is that the Abbey, even a reformed Abbey, cannot [be] the incubator. It has evolved into an institution of such magnitude that necessarily most of its energy is consumed with keeping alive and keeping open. Before it even begins to think of what kind of plays it ought to do .. it is concerned .. with its capital, its publicity, its expenditure, its intake, its public, its cleaners, its caterers .. These are not the problems that are exercising me. Nor were they the problems of Yeats-Gregory-Fay .. 'Our concern .. is to forge a new Irish drama .. The new voice I think I detect and the new direction I know to be necessary are the things that engage me now, and these could not find accommodation in Abbey Street. Even if the Abbey could be restructured .. the whole Abbey enterprise would be too lavish and too expensive to nurture a new and delicate and uncertain idea ... 'When I come to a writing-down of what form the new Irish drama will take, of course I falter. I have no precise answers .. He says it will not be a Gaelic-speaking or a poetic drama, because both of these are elitist in practice and theatre is by definition vulgar, of the vulgus. It has nothing at all to do with politics because they are trivial, of no importance whatever. 'What I envisage is a small group of actors, writers, designers who are drawn together out of mutual concern and interest; a vague but very real awareness that what is taking place on Irish stages bears very little relationship to either the imaginative or the day-to-day life we inhabit; a recognition that what it is to be Irish must be shaped and presented; a knowledge that the old seam of realism-naturalism is exhausted; a conviction that we cannot grab a theory from England or Germany or the U.S. or wherever .. a belief that these new definitions .. will evoke a response at first from tiny audiences but later from greater numbers .. and that we must find new eyes and ears and tongues to see and hear and express the Ireland that hasn't been expressed dramatically for 30 years.' Although Friel remained with the Abbey for some years more, notably with his great play Faith Healer [1979], it is clear that the line of thinking outlined here was what led him in 1980 to become co-founder of the Field Day Theatre -- precisely the kind of loose creative collaboration he suggests in this remarkable letter. Throughout the 1980s his work was produced by Field Day, beginning with Translations [1980], but in 1990 he finally returned to the Abbey with Dancing at Lughnasa. With an earlier manuscript signed letter to Laffan, May 1974, 2 pp, outlining similar ideas, and a note dated 27 Oct. (no year) about casting for a film. An important collection of letters from one of the great masters of Irish Theatre, outlining ideas and dilemmas which are still relevant today. Friel rarely gave interviews, and this is a very valuable exposition of his ideas as he approached a turning point in his career. A Saoi of Aos Dána, with a string of Broadway successes to his name, Friel was undoubtedly the leading Irish playwright of the latter half of the 20th century. (3)
Frank MacDermot (1886-1975): Frank MacDermot was the youngest son of Hugh Hyacinth MacDermot, Prince of Coolavin, a distinguished lawyer who served under Gladstone as Solicitor General for Ireland in 1886 and Attorney General for Ireland in 1892-95. He grew up fully aware of his Gaelic heritage, his Catholic faith, and his family's involvement with the law and politics. Throughout his life he was committed to the cause of a self-governing, thirty-two-county Ireland, and was prepared to steer his own route towards that goal. In 1910 he joined the United Irish League of William O'Brien, which aimed to solve Ireland's problems by bringing together parties of all opinions. He campaigned on behalf of Home Rule, and was a member of the Liberal Party's Home Rule Committee. He served with distinction during the Great War, ending with the rank of major. His reaction on learning of the 1916 Rising was that it scuppered any chance of achieving a united Irish state. In 1932 he was elected an Independent TD for Roscommon. He was a founder of the Centre Party, which coalesced with Cumann na nGaedeal to form the United Ireland Party. He initially supported General O'Duffy as leader of the new Fine Gael Party, but soon withdrew his allegiance as O'Duffy's eccentricities became more apparent. He also resigned from Fine Gael when it attacked de Valera for supporting the League of Nations sanctions against Italy following Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia. In 1937 MacDermot played a major part in the debates on the new constitution. A rapprochement with de Valera followed, and was one of the Taoiseach's nominees to the new Seanad Éireann in 1938. He opposed Ireland's neutrality during the War, claiming that it was in the country's best interests to support the Allies and that the victorious Nazis would not hesitate to snuff out an independent Irish state. He resigned as a senator in 1942 and lived for the next few years in New York. Thereafter he played little part in Irish affairs, living mostly in Paris until his death at the age of 89. His views, for so long derided as old-fashioned, have been justified by time - in particular, his disapproval of the increasingly narrow Catholicism of the new state, his pursuit of social justice for minorities, and his firm belief that the "Irish Question" would only be resolved by involving all parties, North and South. The Archive contains the following: Typescript: "The Maidstone Trials" Carbon copy of typescript of article entitled "The Maidstone Trials of 1798: an insight into Franco-Irish relations 1797-1798." The article comprises an account of the conspiracies of the United Irishmen and others, their relations with the French revolutionaries, and the British government's awareness of these. Author's name not given; it was not Frank MacDermot as he is acknowledged in footnote 69, his name being mis-spelt. The date must be between 1966 (MacDermot's article on Arthur O'Connor, cited in footnote 65) and MacDermot's death in 1975. Reviews of Frank MacDermot's biography of Wolfe Tone (1939) "Press cuttings." An album containing press reviews and correspondence relating to MacDermot's book Theobald Wolfe Tone: A Biography (London, Macmillan, 1939). Typed list of contents clipped into front. There are approximately twenty reviews, including some by distinguished columnists of the time. These include Harold Nicolson, Desmond MacCarthy, Stephen and Denis Gwynn, Desmond Ryan, Constantia Maxwell, P.S. O'Hegarty, R.B. McDowell, Robert Lynd, Robert Speaight, Robert Noakes and others. There are thirteen letters. The correspondents include J.L. Maffey (UK representative to "Éire"), Sir Shane Leslie, Michael Browne Bishop of Galway, T. W. Moody, and Dan Breen (requesting that MacDermot sign his copy). Some were eminent historians of the day, though less well known now, such as Sir Patrick Cadell, Humphrey Sumner, J. Chartres Molony, and R.H. Hodgkin. "Ireland and the War", 1941-1942 · Article by Frank MacDermot entitled "Ireland and the War" published in The Saturday Evening Post, 29 November 1941 (the last issue, as it turned out, before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the War). · Cassette tape recording of broadcast made by Frank MacDermot in the USA in 1942 entitled "Ireland and the War" (supplementing his article on this subject in the Saturday Evening Post). He maintains that it is time "Éire" joined the war on the side of the Allies, and is at pains to point out the disastrous consequences to Ireland as a whole if Germany were to inflict significant damage on Britain. Quality of tape not good, but the speech is repeated several times - and what a treat to hear the voice of a significant Irish politician more than seventy years later. Sir Roger Casement and his diaries (12 items, mainly 1956-57)) Casement was put on trial for high treason in 1916. While the case against him was strong, he had powerful supporters and there were pleas for clemency. However, the British Government circulated privately diaries said to be written by Casement, which contained many detailed references to homosexual acts. The prevailing attitude to homosexuality among the British Establishment, and revulsion against the nature of the acts described, alienated much liberal opinion, and Casement was duly hanged. The diaries were then withdrawn and access to them was prohibited. Irish nationalists stoutly maintained that the diaries were forged by the Government in order to secure Casement's conviction. Others claimed that they were genuine, and the controversy still rages today in spite of many biographical studies. It is generally agreed that the Government's use of the diaries at his trial was reprehensible. Frank MacDermot's view was, as usual, balanced and articulate - a plea for information and justice. In 1937 he raised a question in the Dáil requesting that de Valera should ask the UK Government for an inquiry; Dev refused. In 1956-7 the matter flared up again, with the publication of conflicting biographies by the English journalist René McColl, the Irish nationalist historian Herbert Mackey, and the poet Alfred Noyes, with contributions from H. Montgomery Hyde, the Ulster MP and historian of homosexuality in Britain. Etc. etc.
Sonia Handford (1925-2010): Three large oil still life studies featuring pumpkins, each signed. Provenance: The artist's daughter. Note: Born to Russian Jewish parents who settled in England in the early 1900s, Sonia Handford was educated at Clapham County Girls' Grammar School, and later at Wimbledon School of Art (1942-1945) under Lionel Ellis (1903-1988) where she received the 'Painting with Merit' award. She travelled widely during her life, beginning with France, Spain, Italy and Greece and later to Egypt, Russia, and the U.S.A. and exhibited at Wandsworth Town Hall (1963), Moriarty's Wine Bar, West Hampstead (1989) and Shaftesbury Arts Centre (2004). She also had an extensive teaching career at Sydenham School for Girls, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Balls Park College of Education, St. Albans School for Boys and Hampstead Comprehensive. Major influences on her work include: Picasso, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Cezanne and Van Gogh.
ALEXANDRA PREGEL (RUSSIAN 1907-1984) A Quiet Still Life , oil on canvas 97 x 71 cm (38 1/4 x 28 in.) signed lower center LOT NOTES Alexandra Nicolaevna Pregel was born on December 15, 1907 in Helsinki, Finland.Ê Her parents had relocated to Finland early on as political exiles from the Czar's government.Ê With the Revolution in 1917, Pregel's family moved back to Russia where here father Nikolai Avksentev became Minister of the Interior in the Kerensky government.Ê After the Bolsheviks took power, in 1919, Pregel left Russia for France with her mother Maria and her stepfather Mikhail Tseitlin.Ê Tseitlin was a famous intellectual, author, and poet, and his home in Paris became a gathering place for the Russian intellectual elite in exile.Ê Regular visitors to their house included Natalia Goncharova, Leon Bakst, Mikhail Larionov, Marevna and others.Alexandra's friendship with Natalia Goncharova was particulary close. Pregel had originally met Goncharova in 1912, and kept contact contact both as a student and friend to Goncharova throughout her life, until Goncharova's death in 1962. Pregel also studied painting at the Montparnasse studio of the Russian artists Vasily Shukhaev and Alexander Yakovlev beginning in 1921. During this time, many of the famous Montparnasse artists were also frequent visitors to the Tseitlin/Pregel household, including Diego Rivera, Amadeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, and Emile Antoine Bourdelle. Pregel exhibited in many important exhibitions in Paris throughout the 1930s, but after the Nazis occupied Paris, Pregel fled Paris with her husband Boris Pregel, a physicist working in the field of radioactive materials, to the United States.Ê It is worth noting that Pregel and her husband left Paris in June 1940 on the very day that the German army occupied the city.Ê Unfortunately, more than 300 hundred of Pregel's paintings and drawings were confiscated and lost to the German occupation.In New York, Pregel and her husband settled in an apartment overlooking Central Park.Ê She had her first U.S. exhibition in 1943 which was held at the New School for Social Research in New York.Ê Pregel was accepted to the American National Association of Women Artists in 1944 and exhibited across the country in several notable exhibitions, including the 1948 "Painting in the United States" exhibition in Pittsburgh which featured works by Pregel along with artists like Georgia O'Keeffe and Salvador Dali.Ê Later in her career in the U.S., Pregel's paintings were exhibited at annual exhibitions including at the Milch Gallery, Wildenstein Gallery, and National Academy of Design.Ê Pregel also illustrated for influential Russian emigre publications like Novosel'e and Novyi Zhurnal, and for Jewish related projects such as a Passover Hagada that was published in Israel in 1965.Ê More and more interest in Pregel's fascinating life and work has come about in recent years, including important exhibtions in the United States, Israel, and Russia.
DMITRY KRAPIVNY (RUSSIAN 1904-1940) Still Life with Citrus , circa 1930s oil on canvas, unstretched 110.5 x 96 cm (43 1/2 x 37 3/8 in.) signed and titled on verso LOT NOTES Dmitry Krapivny was a profoundly talented artist who died at a young age. He was a student of the important Russian avant-garde artists Pavel Filonov and Mikhail Matiushin. THIS LOT IS BEING SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE.
NIKOLAI STEPANOVICH TROSHIN (RUSSIAN 1897-1990) Still Life with Hat , 1930 oil on canvas, unstretched 71 x 53.5 cm (28 x 21 in.) signed and dated lower left LOT NOTES Nikolai Troshin was an important painter, theatre director, poster designer, and Chief Artist and designer for influential avant-garde journals such as "USSR under Construction". Having studied at Penza Art Insitute under Ivan Goryushkin-Sorokopudov and N. Petrov from 1913-1918, Troshin later moved to Moscow where he studied with Ilya Mashkov from 1918-1920. He actively exhibited since 1918, and personal exhibitions of Troshin's works were held in Moscow and other cities in Russia through the time of his passing. Troshin's paintings can be found in the permanent collections of the Tretyakov Museum, State Russian Musuem, and many other museums in Russia. THIS LOT IS BEING SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE.
Cecil Kennedy (1905-1997) - Still life with flowers in a vase and attendant bumblebee and ladybird, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 75 x 62.5cm Condition Report / Extra Information Paint good and stable, no craquelure or breaking out. Original canvas and stretchers. Very small nick to canvas with minor touching-in. Frame probably original.
*MARGARET ROMANES (BORN 1893, SCOTTISH)In the Cherry Tree (3) , Strife (3) , St Ives, Cornwall (1) , In Cornwall (2) , Lamplight (1) , Fir Cones (2) , Still Life (1) , Lapasenia (7) and Still Life with Blue Jug (3) group of 23 coloured woodcuts, all signed and numbered in pencil to lower marg”, all unframed (23)
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