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Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901-1980)
The Little Italian Garden (1952)
Oil on canvas, 64 x 46cm (26 x 18”)
Signed with initials. Inscribed with title ‘’The Little Garden, Italy’’
Provenance: Important Irish Art sale, these rooms, 4th October 2006, Lot 147, where purchased by the
current owners
Exhibited: Norah McGuinness Exhibition,The Taylor Galleries, March-April 1979, Cat No. 8
The first time that Ireland participated in the Venice Biennale, in 1950, the country was represent-
ed by Norah McGuinness, the President of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, and fellow IELA
exhibitor, Nano Reid. So, by 1952, the year
The Little Italian Garden
was painted, we are encoun-
tering a woman on top of her game, radiating confidence and satisfaction in her work. She was, of
course, to go on to develop that particular style which we all associate with her name, that bird’s
eye view with an uncluttered composition patterned in crisp colours. For the moment, though, she
was involved with rich colour and a more romantic take on her subject.
Later in life, she spoke of her exposure to Cubism when she was studying under André Lhôte in
the 1920s. ‘Cubism’ she said, ‘gets rid of things that are not essential. It is a great simplifying aid
and I think in that way its influence is apparent in my work as part on an overall simplification
process. But then I always have to have an object in there, making contact, telling a story: I’m not
cerebral at all’. In this middle phase of her career, then, the Cubist influence is hardly apparent.
It is later, in the 60s and 70s, that she comes back to a flat picture plane and that paring back to
simple shapes.
Having discovered Italy in 1946, Norah painted in and around Assisi, showing scenes of the area
in the Living Art Exhibitions of 1948 and ‘49. The pink stone used in the background buildings
is typical of that extracted from the quarries of the Subasio Mountains so this garden may well be
situated in the region of Assisi.The pink of the stone and the ochre of the earth combine to con-
vey the intense heat of an Italian day.The very subject of the painting, the watering of the garden,
speaks of heat and dryness. The maid, with a wry smile on her face, is wresting the coolth of the
garden from the furnace that is Umbria. She tends the delicate calla lilies leaving the sunflowers to
burst fiercely from the scorched earth.We are rewarded with the lush greenery of the lilies’ foliage
and the overhanging branches.
The vibrant, stained-glass quality of this painting is achieved by the clever use of colour to establish
a balance between heat and salve, between lush and arid. There is humour here also. The town of
Assisi is, of course, associated with St. Claire.The lily has long symbolised purity. Is Norah insin-
uating a handmaiden at the temple of purity? She was a woman with a sense of humour and a
no-nonsense approach to life.There is a strong sensuality about the painting; the very composition
hangs upon the female shape of the woman and the lilies, the phallic intimations of the stamens
and the tower. Here is a work from a well-travelled woman of the world. It is a vibrant picture
which demands attention, as did Norah herself!
Síle Connaughton-Deeny
€10,000 - 15,000
