74
THE JAMES GIBSON COLLECTION Lot 61-81
James Gibson was a Belfast schoolmaster whose passion for collecting manifested itself in the 1960s.!is was a rich time for collectors of Irish art and over the
next four decades he was able to assemble an extensive collection that included a number of &ne works by some of the major Irish artists of the twentieth century.
!ere is a marvellous unifying taste that runs through much of the collection. Clearly what appealed to James Gibson was the con&dent touch of the experienced
plein air painter who was as interested in capturing the light and tones of a momentary glimpse of a landscape, or an opening in the clouds that created a magical
e)ect of light. It is notable that one of the three paintings by Paul Henry in this collection is the impressionistic and highly evocative Waterville, Co.Kerry. !e
same taste runs through to the smaller paintings whose kinship with the work of Craig, Henry and Iten were seen by the collector.
Provenance was of the utmost importance for James Gibson and many of the works sold here can be traced back to their initial sale from the artist or their family,
or from galleries such as Rodman’s or leading auction houses.Many of these works were bought from the Bell Gallery and re%ect the &ne judgement of Nelson Bell.
It is rare to see a collection of this scale that has so many jewels within it. Both James Gibson’s Frank McKelvey paintings are exceptional; his three Paul Henrys are
each di)erent but signi&cant; while the Humbert Craig paintings again represent varied aspects of this &ne artist.!e exquisite Colin Middleton painting is unu-
sual and demonstrates this Ulster landscape tradition moving gently into the modern era.!e series of small panels by Hans Iten that James Gibson put together
over many years are a particular pleasure, recalling that this was a collector who knew Belfast and the surrounding landscape that was so uniquely evoked by Iten.
Dickon Hall May 2013
61
Paul Henry RHA RUA (1876-1958)
A Connemara Bog
Oil on board, 24 x 28cm (9" x 11”)
Signed
Provenance: From the estate of the late James Gibson
Exhibited: 1931 RHA (Alleged to have been 19, as
!e Bog
Stream
); 1935 Dublin (20, as Bog Stream, Donegal)
Literature: Anne M. Stewart (ed.),
Royal Hibernian Academy
of Arts: Index of Exhibitors and their Works 1826-1979
, 3 vols.,
Dublin: Manton Publishing, 1985, vol. 2, p. 81; S. B. Kennedy,
Paul Henry: with a catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings,
Illustrations,
Yale University Press, New Haven and London,
2007, p. 246, catalogue number 726.
Although thought to have been exhibited at the RHA in 1931
as catalogue number 19-and there is an unidenti&ed label on
the reverse with an exhibition number ‘19’-the imagery in
this composition does not quite match the title of that work,
although with Henry such things should never be taken on
face value. Judged stylistically, however, the use of %uid paint
contrasts with the dryer palette typical of his work in the late
1920s and points to a date of around 1930/1. Although the
setting cannot be identi&ed, the nature of the terrain suggests
the area around Maam at the north-western tip of Lough
Corrib in County Galway, where Henry often painted in
these years. Certainly the handling of the paint is comparable
to other pictures he painted there, such as
!e Muinterone
at Maam,
1928-30, or, a later work,
!e Maam Valley
, 1942
(Kennedy, 2007, numbers 692 and 1035 respectively, both
reproduced).!e billowing cumulous clouds and the growing
brightness of the sky are used in a masterly fashion to radiate
light on the foreground landscape, a device characteristic of
Henry’s work in general.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy, May 2013
!'$,### - "$,###
