Beschreibung:

Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958) Cottages by a Lake Oil on canvas board, 40 x 50.4cm (15¾ x 19¾'') Signed Provenance: Sale, these rooms, c.1973/5; Private collection, Ireland. A late period work which conveys Paul Henrys assured light-touch brushwork and his fluid handling of paint, it shows the artist at the height of his powers. The sense of stillness evident in the present work, with habitations but without human forms, remains an enduring characteristic of Henrys art and is all the more remarkable for its bright and fresh atmosphere. The delightfully pale blue distant mountains are reflected in the lake with a narrow deep blue band which divides the composition in half. The treatment of the brushwork in the handling of the mountains creates a sense of undulation and texture, the tones and translucent glazes, favoured by the artist, giving the landscape a personality which could only be recognized by someone intimately familiar with it. Sean OFaolain, in his foreword to An Irish Portrait commented that what always delighted him with Pauls work was the sure observation of nature. Sometimes, he said, �Ǫ people say that he is always painting the same thing clouds, blue mountains and black bogs. He is always, indeed, painting the same thing; always the one thing light caught in a flux, a moments dazzling miracle. His pictures are amazingly mobile with this miracle of light. He is the least static painter I know. He never repeats himself. I am not fitted to speak of the technical skill that presents these subtle observations, but I feel that it must be immense. He is really an impressionist au fond. Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958) Cottages by a Lake Oil on canvas board, 40 x 50.4cm (15¾ x 19¾'') Signed Provenance: Sale, these rooms, c.1973/5; Private collection, Ireland. A late period work which conveys Paul Henrys assured light-touch brushwork and his fluid handling of paint, it shows the artist at the height of his powers. The sense of stillness evident in the present work, with habitations but without human forms, remains an enduring characteristic of Henrys art and is all the more remarkable for its bright and fresh atmosphere. The delightfully pale blue distant mountains are reflected in the lake with a narrow deep blue band which divides the composition in half. The treatment of the brushwork in the handling of the mountains creates a sense of undulation and texture, the tones and translucent glazes, favoured by the artist, giving the landscape a personality which could only be recognized by someone intimately familiar with it. Sean OFaolain, in his foreword to An Irish Portrait commented that what always delighted him with Pauls work was the sure observation of nature. Sometimes, he said, �Ǫ people say that he is always painting the same thing clouds, blue mountains and black bogs. He is always, indeed, painting the same thing; always the one thing light caught in a flux, a moments dazzling miracle. His pictures are amazingly mobile with this miracle of light. He is the least static painter I know. He never repeats himself. I am not fitted to speak of the technical skill that presents these subtle observations, but I feel that it must be immense. He is really an impressionist au fond.