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21.
LILIAN LUCY DAVIDSON ARHA (1879-1954)
Boats at Wicklow,
Dusk
Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 71cm (36 x 28”)
Signed with monogram
Literature: “In the Mainstream of Irish Naturalism - the Art of Lillian Davidson 1879 -1954” by Katherine Cahill, Irish Arts Review vol. 15 1999 P43 Fig. 14
€10,000 - 15,000
Lilian Davidson was born in Bray, Co. Wicklow and was the sixth of ten children. At the age of sixteen she went to study at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art Dublin and won
three prizes there, including the RDS Scholarship. According to Theo Snoddy; ‘Closely associated with the Royal Hibernian Academy, she exhibited 135 works in 40 years, begin-
ning in 1914.’ (94) She also showed at the Water Colour Society, the Dublin Painters’ exhibitions, the Oireachtas and Aonach Tailteann exhibitions. Her work was shown abroad in
London, Amsterdam, Chicago and Paris (1924 and 1930, Salon de la Societe Nationale). Aside from painting, she also wrote poetry and plays for the Gate and Torch Theatres (where
she adopted the pseudonym Ulick Burke). In terms of her art practice, while principally a landscape and genre painter, she was also an accomplished portraitist and an artist fully
engaged with her subjects. She painted fine likenesses of artists such as Jack B. Yeats, Sarah Purser and George Russell (AE). In a critique, The Studio described her as a ‘competent
and decorative painter.’ (Snoddy, 95). She was so much more than that however as testified by her range of skilful output. In Ireland’s Painters, she has been described as ‘much
influenced by the early work of Jack B. Yeats, rather unusual at that time.’ (Crookshank and Glin, 297). Indeed her figure studies with a bold and defined palette are close to Yeats’
work but also to that of Conor, Henry and Lamb.
According to Katherine Cahill writing in the Irish Arts Review; ‘She had a special ability in painting water, river, sea or canal. Perhaps because she was born by the sea in Bray, ‘Boats
at Wicklow, Dusk’ is a tour-de-force of such painting.’ Wicklow town and bridge are…featured, this time as backdrop to the boats at anchor, the rigging in mirror image in the still
water of the harbour, while her mastery of atmosphere is captured in the failing evening light. (Cahill, 39) She had a remarkable ability to capture the mystery and nuances of
colour, light and shadow in night studies. Her paintings on the subject include; ‘Night in Claddagh,’ 1933, ‘Night,’ (undated) and ‘Cottages, Keel, Achill,’ 1938. While more apt in a
description of the latter painting Lilian Davidson’s own poem, ‘A Night’: ‘The sky itself like a purple cloak’. (Cahill, 39) is also applicable to ‘Boats at Wicklow, Dusk,’ where the pale
purple haze suffuses the painting. A connection between Stanhope Forbes of the Newlyn School and Lilian Davidson has been speculated upon. Forbes had that enviable ability of
composing scenes with a colourful yet moody palette and combining a perfect blend of realism and figuration. Cahill has observed that Davidson follows ‘Forbes’ principles of using
a bright palette, square brush technique and strong impasto highlights laid on with softer brushmark, principles she carried out down the succeeding decades. Though not always
employing a bright palette, she did apply his adjuration of ‘strength – strength of impression, strength of illumination, of contrasts.’ (Cahill, 35) French Impressionism is an acknowl-
edged reference in Davidson’s work and ‘Boats at Wicklow, Dusk’ shares a remarkable affinity with Claude Monet’s ‘Fishing Boats at Honfleur,’ 1868 both in terms of compositional
structure and treatment of boats, rigging and their reflections within the water beneath. Where Davidson captures Wicklow town and bridge behind the boats, Monet features the
pier and town at Honfleur. There the comparison ends as Monet’s freer impressionist hand is unlike the naturalism and tighter brushwork of Davidson, depicting Wicklow’s bridge
and buildings, particularly St Thomas’ Church with copper clad cupola; all elements identifiable and carefully delineated. This painting is a particularly fine example of Davidson’s
maritime paintings and one that is full of atmosphere. The artist herself was seen as a mysterious and enigmatic character and there is much in the treatment of ‘Boats at Wicklow,
Dusk,’ that captures this elusive spirit.
Marianne O’Kane Boal
Marie Bourke, West of Ireland Paintings at the National Gallery of Ireland from 1800 to 2000, Dublin: NGI, 2014, p34.
Crookshank and Glin, Ireland’s Painters 1600-1940, Yale University Press, 2002.
Katherine Cahill, ‘In the Mainstream of Irish Naturalism, The Art of Lilian Lucy Davidson, 1879-1954’, Irish Arts Review Yearbook, Vol. 15, 1999.
Theo Snoddy, A Dictionary of Irish Artists – 20th Century, Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1996.