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Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901-1980)
Clontarf
Oil on canvas, 56 x 71cm (22 x 28”)
Signed and dated ‘73. Signed and inscribed original gallery label verso
Exhibited: Norah McGuinness Exhibition,The Dawson Gallery, Dublin, September 1975, Cat.
No. 10, where purchased and thence by descent
McGuinness paints an overcast and blustery day at Clontarf. Confining her palette to an
unusual but effective contrast of greens and greys, the complex composition features stormy
clouds, tiny sailing boats in the distance and a larger one on the swell.The activity suggests
the proximity of the city of Dublin.The curving sweep of the grey and stoney beach connects
the sea to the marshy terrain of the foreground.There two mallard ducks stand out against
the green of the seaweed and of the white stones.
McGuinness specialised in stylised paintings of the beaches and shores of Dublin in which
she focused on incidental aspects of the subject. She lived by the sea and frequently sketched
there and her paintings suggest an intimate knowledge of the area and of the particular
nature of the seaside.The works, as in
Clontarf,
combine a highly developed sense of design
and colour with an understanding of the natural environment, including its birds and plant
life. The flattened composition of this painting highlights the latter in the form of the mal-
lards on the empty rocky shore. All naturalistic detail is however secondary to the overall
balance and rhythm of colour and form in the composition. This aspect makes
Clontarf
and McGuinness’s other seaside paintings unique as modernist interpretations of an often
forgotten part of Dublin.
Dr. Roisin Kennedy
May 2014
€8,000 - 12,000
