Adams Important Irish Art 23rd March 2016 : You can Download a PDF Version from the Bottom Menu Down Arrow Icon

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Oil on panel 25.5 x 33cm (10 x 13”)
Signed with monogram
Literature: “The Hunter Gatherer, The Collection of George and Maura McClelland “ at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, fig126, page 96.
Provenance: From the collection of George and Maura Mc Clelland and on loan from them to IMMA 1999 - 2004. Sold in these rooms
2/6/2010, where purchesed by current owners.
€ 5,000 - 7,000
Originally from Bray, Co. Wicklow, Lilian Davidson studied at Dublin Metropolitan School of Art where she won prizes in 1895 and 1896. In 1897 she won the
RDS Scholarship which carried a free studentship, it didn’t come too soon as that was the year of her father’s death. She began exhibiting at the RHA in 1914
and did so regularly until her death. When in Dublin she taught painting privately in her studio and at schools around the county. Although not in very buoyant
financial circumstances she travelled extensively and did so for most of her life. She painted landscapes in Belgium and Switzerland, besides various parts of
Ireland.
She first exhibited at the Watercolour Society in 1912, and did so until 1954. She became a committee member in 1934. She also exhibited regularly with the
Dublin Painters Society (1939-54) and the Munster Fine Art Club, and was part of an interesting circle, being friendly with Jack Yeats whom she painted and the
circle around the Gate theatre for which she wrote plays under the pseudonym of Ulick Burke, her most famous play ‘Bride’ was directed in the Gate by Hilton
Edwards, with sets designed by Michael McLiammoir. She was certainly aware of the works of Honore Daumier and Jean Francois Millet and used the same
proto type of humanity for important works depicting the Irish Peasant. Lillian Davidson portrayed the Claddagh, the Irish-speaking district of Galway, at a time
when she was involved with the Torch Theatre for whom she was writing a play.
Her portraits of Jack B. Yeats and Sarah Purser can be found in the National Gallery of Ireland, and other works including a self portrait ‘The Golden Shawl’ are
in the Hugh Lane, Abbey Theatre and Ulster Museum Collections.