Beschreibung:

THE METRO, PARIS, 1931 Harry Kernoff RHA (1900-1974)
Signature: signed lower right; signed, titled, dated and with artist's address [13 Stamer Street Dublin] on reverse; also with Apollo Gallery label on reverse Medium: oil on board Dimensions: 24 x 29½in. (60.96 x 74.93cm) Provenance: Adam's, 28 May 2003, lot 52; Private collection Exhibited: Literature: Filled with bright vibrant colour, The Metro, Paris, evokes a leisurely sunny day spent in the French capital. In the foreground, two figures sip green and red liqueurs, while the face of a man in str... raw boater is concealed. Overhead, the fringe of the café's awning hangs down, with the word 'cognac' clearly legible. Beyond the café, tram tracks and overhead wires criss-cross the composition: in the distance a man alights from the Line 5, and a larger, red metro moves across the metal aerial track. To the right of the composition, an Art Nouveau-style entrance can be seen, with the name Jean Jaurès visible in red lettering. Elsewhere, the composition is populated with characters typical of Kernoff's urban scenes, such as the woman walking purposefully with a fresh baguette under her arm, or the poodle, complete with an elaborate red bow. Kernoff had first visited Paris in 1923, using part of his £50 scholarship from the Taylor Bequest Awards to fund a trip abroad. However, it seems likely that he visited the city again in 1931: a pencil sketch in the National Gallery of Ireland is signed and dated July 1931, and in 1932, he exhibited six Parisian watercolours at The Gallery, 7 Stephen's Green. This collection included Canal, Jean-Jaurès, Paris, 1931 (Whyte's, 28 November 2011). (1) 1931 was an auspicious year for the artist: a large painting, Jupiter and the Muses, was accepted to the Royal Academy, London, and received press coverage in Ireland and Paris. (2) In March of the same year, the artist's first solo exhibition in London had taken place at the Gieves Gallery, Old Bond Street. At the 1932 Dublin exhibition, and at a further London show in 1938, Kernoff exhibited a work titled The Metro, Jean Jaurès, however the low catalogue prices suggest that these were smaller watercolour paintings. (3) A work titled Metro, Paris 1931 was also exhibited at the Harry Kernoff Memorial Exhibition at Municipal Gallery (now the Dublin City Gallery the Hugh Lane) in 1976-77, listed as a watercolour measuring 11.4 by 16 inches. (4) It was not unusual for the artist to complete multiple versions of the same composition, in different media, and so it is possible that a watercolour version of this painting is extant. In 1957, Kernoff exhibited a work of the same title priced at £65, suggesting a larger painting in oils - such as the present work. The style and execution of The Metro, Paris is redolent of other works from the 1930s - particularly the economical use of paint - and is a characteristic example of his work. Dr Kathryn Milligan ESB Fellow ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art National Gallery of Ireland August 2016 1. Harry Kernoff, Exhibition of Pictures, The Gallery, 7 Stephen's Green, 2 - 14 May, 1932. 2. Articles were published in several French art magazines, see Harry Kernoff Papers, National Library of Ireland, Ms. 20, 928. 3. See footnote 1 above, and Harry Kernoff, RHA, The White Gallery, London, 28 April - 12 May 1938. 4. The Harry Kernoff Memorial Exhibition, the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, 14 December 1976 - 30 January 1977. more