128 / 208
130 FRANK MCKELVEY RHA RUA (1895-1974)
Tramore Bay, Near Rosbeg, Co. Donegal
Oil on canvas, 50 x 67cm (19¾ x 26¼”)
Signed
Provenance: title inscribed on John Magee, Belfast Gallery label verso
Belfast born, Frank McKelvey (1895-1974) was the son of William McKelvey, a painter and decorator. McKelvey began work as a poster designer before
commencing at the Belfast School of Art where he won the Sir Charles Brett Prize and the Fitzpatrick Prize for figure drawing. From the outset in his career,
McKelvey was an artist who devoted himself entirely and with discipline, to his art career. A prime example of his sustained devotion to his craft is his
exhibiting record at the Royal Hibernian Academy. He began showing there in 1918 and continued to exhibit, without missing a year until 1973. Hence for a
record 55 years his work was to be seen in Dublin, around three to five works annually; this might partly explain his firm place in the collective memory and
indeed enduring appeal to Irish art collectors from the twentieth century to date. Brian Kennedy has observed that; ‘he helped to forge a new and distinct
way of representing the Irish scene which is the nearest approximation we have to a distinct Irish school of painting.’ (9, Kennedy, 1993).
Kennedy also admired his accomplished approach to landscape painting; ‘…he succeeded brilliantly in capturing the character of the Irish landscape and it is
perhaps due to this rather than any other aspect of his work, that he is so admired today’. (9, Kennedy, 1993) He has also noted the essentials of a McKelvey
painting; ‘overall feeling of lightness…spontaneity of the moment…even film of paint…naturalistic use of light….apparent ease of the artist’s technical ability’.
Crookshank and Glin admired McKelvey’s ‘great freshness and competence’. (290, Crookshank and Glin) It was also accepted that the artist was ‘…Ulster’s
primary anti-modernist painter...Possessed of considerable hand skills and sensitive observation, particularly in landscape and seascape in Antrim and
Donegal...’ (160, Anglesea, 2000) Theo Snoddy also noted that County Donegal was a favourite painting area for him and it is certainly evident in his many
existing paintings from places such as Marble Hill, Dunfanaghy, Bloody Foreland, Annagry, Glencolmcille, Portnoo, Narin; not to mention the more loosely
titled ‘Donegal Landscape’ and ‘Donegal Scene’, of which there are a number. He focused primarily on coastal scenes but also made studies of the Donegal
landscape and mountains including Muckish and Errigal.
‘Tramore Beach near Rossbeg Co Donegal’
, is a fine example and it captures some of what Kenneth Jamison observed in McKelvey’s work; ‘In landscape he
maintains the Constable-Impressionist mode, to me most significant in his rendering of evening light on level estuaries, the gritty squall from bleak sand-
dunes, and, best of all, in the stir of children wading at the sea’s edge in sunset…’ (89, Sam Hanna Bell, 1971) The tiny figures are indicated with a few careful
brushstrokes, just discernible, yet perfectly indicated. McKelvey employs his signature sunshine bathing the composition and this causes the viewer to
squint to spy the figures in the distance; a familiar effort this actually gives the uncanny impression of being a participant in the scene and not merely the
viewer of a painting. There are also two figures playing in the sand-dunes of the right foreground which further emphasises the inclusion of the viewer on
the periphery. This painting features a range of the artist’s technical accomplishments; the carefully arranged composition, light foreground, fine rendering
of the small breaking waves, the rocks, the beach and sand-dunes, naturalism of the scene and unifying employment of colour and light. It is a sensory
painting where the viewer can imagine and appreciate the summer’s day, the light sea breeze and the sand underfoot.
Marianne O’Kane Boal, October 2015
€ 8,000 - 12,000