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Artist: Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) Title: Composition Signature: signed 'M. H. Jellett' lower right Medium: gouache Size: 33 x 24cm (13 x 9.4in) Framed Size: 44.3 x 36.3cm (17.4 x 14.3in) Provenance: The Bell Gallery, Belfast (label verso); Private Collection a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} An early abstract gouache painting by Mainie Jellett, this work reveals the artist's whole-hearted adoption of Synthetic Cubism, as a result of her studies with Albert Gleizes in Paris in the early 1920's. At the core of the composition is a brown square, tilted at an angle. Within this square, but ... Read more Mainie Jellett Lot 28 - 'Composition' Estimate: €4,000 - €6,000 An early abstract gouache painting by Mainie Jellett, this work reveals the artist's whole-hearted adoption of Synthetic Cubism, as a result of her studies with Albert Gleizes in Paris in the early 1920's. At the core of the composition is a brown square, tilted at an angle. Within this square, but not tilted, are blue and black curved linear elements. Surrounding the square are curved and rectilinear areas of colour. The outer edge of the painting is defined by a broad band of black paint; within this are lines of red, green, blue and yellow paint-essentially the same colours used in the central part of the composition. The gouache paint is applied thickly in some areas, giving this work a raw quality. Born into a wealthy Anglo-Irish family in Dublin, Mainie Jellett initially studied watercolour painting with Elizabeth Yeats, before enrolling in the Metropolitan School of Art in 1914. Moving on to London, she attended the Westminster Art School, where Walter Sickert was her tutor, and met another art student from Dublin, Evie Hone who was to become her life-long friend. Returning to Dublin, in 1921 Jellett and Evie Hone went to Paris, where they studied firstly with André Lhote then Albert Gleizes During this period Jellett transitioned from being a representational painter to an ardent advocate of Synthetic Cubism. Back in Ireland, at the Society of Dublin Painters in 1923, she showed what were probably the first abstract paintings to be seen in Ireland. In spite of criticism, she persevered with Cubism and within a few years came to be seen as a leading Modernist painter. Her art incorporates an element of religious or devotional feeling and she often based paintings on the works of Renaissance artists such as Fra Angelico as well as incorporating motifs from Celtic art. Jellett was also influenced by Chinese Art, as seen in her Achill Horses, exhibited at the New York World Fair in 1939. In 1943, a year before her death, Jellett became the first chair of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. Peter Murray, September 2022