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155 HARRY KERNOFF RHA (1900-1974)
Portrait of a Gentleman
Pastel on paper, 48 x 35cm (19 x 19¾”)
Signed and dated 2-43 (February 1943)
€ 300 - 500
Born in London to Russian Jewish and Spanish parents, Harry Kernoff moved to
Dublin at the age of fourteen and made it his home for life. Kernoff spend his
days as an apprentice in his father’s furniture business, taking night classes at the
Dublin Metropolitan School of Art under Sean Keating, and becoming the first night
student to win the Taylor Art Scholarship in 1923. He first exhibited at the RHA just
three years later, and continued to do so until the year of his death, becoming a
full member of the academy in 1935. In that same year he held the first of three
solo shows at the Victor Waddington Galleries (the others being in 1937 and 1940).
International attention came in 1939 when he represented Ireland at the New York
World’s Fair.
Kernoff was active in many facets of the visual arts scene, designing set and
costumes for Dublin theatre productions, and executing portraits of literary figures
and actors. He is best known through his many woodcuts and graphics which
have been reproduced continually since their production and many of his works
have become somewhat iconic, with a firm place in modern Irish popular culture,
through his honest depiction of Dublin and her people.