194
155
Seán O’Sullivan RHA (1906-1964)
Brian Ó Nualláin (aka Myles na gGopaleen &
Flann O’Brien),
Charcoal and white chalk, 63.5 x 41.5cms (25 x 16.3”)
Signed and dated 1940
Provenance: ‘Sean O’Sullivan Sale’, these rooms 2nd May,
2012, lot no.46 where purchased by current
owner.
The writer is illustrated in a relaxed pose, seated on a high
stool with a cigarette in hand, while the other hand rests
nonchalantly inside his overcoat pocket. It would not be Ó
Nualláin without a certain sartorial indicator, and so he is
shown wearing his trademark hat.The artist and writer were
well acquainted; they were close neighbours in the Dublin
suburb of Blackrock and as such, O’Sullivan’s depiction of
his friend offers an exciting glimpse into the social life of an
artist who enjoyed the company of some of Dublin’s best-
known public figures who gathered in popular hostelries in
the city centre, and in the suburbs.
€3,000 - 5,000
155A Seán O’Sullivan RHA (1906-1964)
St. Audeon’s Under Snow
Oil on board, 46 x 55.5cms (18.1 x 21.9”)
Signed, also signed and inscribed on reverse
Exhibited: ‘Thirty Years’, Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin,
February 1956, Cat. No.19.
Provenance: ‘Sean O’Sullivan Sale’, these rooms 2nd May, 2012, lot no.12
where purchased by current owner.
A vivid evocation of a famous Dublin Church, heavily impastoed
with much skilful use of the palette knife to gain purchase
on the image. It does remind one of some interiors which he’d
painted, with a good sense of scale as well as form to give the
pictorial thrust which the work required to move it out of just
a topographical image and imbues it with energy and emotion.
He also decorates the surfaces with linear painterly intrusions
to make the surface more vivid and animated.
Ciarán MacGonigal
€4000 - 6000
