Beschreibung:

Norman Garstin (1847 - 1926) Autumn Oil on canvas, 76 x 63.5cm (30 x 25'') Signed Inscribed verso with title Exhibited Tulfarris, Blessington, 1982; Milmo-Penny Fine Art, May 1992; Literature Dr Richard Pryke, Norman Garstin Irishman and Newlyn Artist Spire Books, December 2004, illustrated on back cover. Note: The artist's label verso suggests that this work was exhibited soon after it was painted. The label is numbered 313. In the latter decades of the 19th Century, the theme of a mother and child engaged in various activities was often used as the focal point of a painting. Another regular subject was the gathering of firewood. In Autumn, Garstin combines both topics and presents them with a fresh and stimulating approach. The painting is a very good example of his ability to avoid the pitfalls of over-sentimentality when presenting poignant subject matter. He appears to manage this by isolating the mother and child from the gaze of the viewer. The figures are carefully positioned in the left foreground where they set the scale for the tall autumn trees as they stretch towards the sky. The narrow path that fades deep into the woodland enhances the perspective. The atmosphere is described with a misty light that appears to drift along the path. With superb colour harmony, radiant streams of sunlight explode through the branches to lift the sobriety of the autumn hues. The composition is a lesson in controlled understatement. The early career of Garstin is wide and varied. While studying at Cork Engineering College it was discovered that he had a great talent for drawing. This brought him to London to study architecture. There he met an old friend who encouraged him to explore the diamond fields of South Africa. For four years he stayed in Kimberly digging for diamonds and sharing a tent with Cecil Rhodes. He moved to Capetown in company with the Government Secretary, St. Leger. Rather than diamonds, he discovered yet another talent and, in partnership with St. Leger, launched a journalistic career and the Cape Times. Born in Cahirconlish, Co. Limerick, Norman Garstin was the only child of an Irish mother and Anglo-Irish father. After a bad riding accident in which he lost the sight of his right eye, Garstin made yet another career change and turned his attention to art. he went to Antwerp in 1878 or 1879 and studied under Charles Verlat From there he moved to Paris and for three years studied at the atelier of Carolus Duran where he befriended many of the artists who would later join him at Newlyn. He became acquainted with Degas, whom he regarded as a great master. He took the opportunity to learn as much as he could from this great master. After a number of years spent travelling and painting, he eventually settled in Cornwall in 1886. He became one of the pillars of the Newlyn School. He was very popular and was looked upon as the intellectual of the group. Money was always tight and he supplemented the family income by writing articles, many of which were published by The Studio. He took private pupils for tuition and led many of these on painting trips to France and Holland. As a consequence to these activities , Garstin's output was small when compared to other painters at Newlyn. The scarcity of his work was compounded by the demolition of his studio in the late 1950s, to make way for a public car park, during which time many of his paintings were lost. Dominic Milmo-Penny To be sold to benefit the Irish Charity ''To Russia with Love'' This charity was set up in November 1998 by Debbie Deegan, a Clontarf housewife, in response to the horrendous conditions she had encountered in a run down orphanage in Hortolova in Western Russia. According to the Ministry of Education in Russia there are presently 650,000 orphans living in Russian Institutions and a further 1,000,000 children living on the streets. ''To Russia with Love'' is focused in the Bryansk region of Western Russia and are now involved in the running of four