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26 GEORGE RUSSELL AE (1867-1935)Three Girls Playing in the Sand Dunes, Donegal
Oil on canvas, 53.3 x 81.2cm (21 x 32’’)
Signed with monogram
‘Iberian’ reviewed George Russell’s first exhibition in 1904 in the Irish Homestead… ‘It is, perhaps, in his treatment of atmospheres that Mr Russell’s most charming
and satisfying effects are produced, and the sense of brooding tranquillity and a living peace… [His] use, too, of a solitary figure, or of a few figures wrapped about
with silence and the spaces of the air and the hills, is a revelation of the nearness of natural men to the heart of nature itself’. (The Irish Homestead, Vol. X, No.35,
27 August 1904). This sense of the magical power of nature and its spiritual and enigmatic character is what defines the best specimens of George Russell’s work.
Although he was sometimes criticised for his prolific output, there are many fine examples among his industrious oeuvre.
Hilary Pyle has noted that Russell greatly admired the work of the French artist A J T Monticelli (1824-1886) and his influencing effect could be felt in Russell’s
work after he viewed the work first hand in Lane’s exhibition of 1904. (George W. Russell, Model Arts and Niland Gallery, 2006, 5). It is not only the painterly style
of Monticelli’s application and the consequent textured surfaces, but also the influence on Monticelli’s work by his friend Marcisse Diaz. Both Diaz and Monticelli
included nudes or elegantly costumed figures in their scenes: this is evident extensively in the work of Russell. The influence of William Blake is also evident in
Russell’s approach. His early works such as ‘The Spirit of the Pool’ exhibited in 1904 demonstrates the mystical inspiration and lighting effects of Blake. Equally,
albeit of a loser style, his paintings such as ‘Angel or Sidhe at Cave Entrance with Child Sitting on a Rock’, and ‘At the Entrance to the Cave’, also appear to have
been influenced by Blake.
Another theme of interest to Russell was children. In the mid-18th century childhood began to be viewed in a more positive light in Victorian Britain. It was at this
time that the concept of the so-called ‘cult of the child’ flourished. Russell writing his poem ‘Childhood’ in 1913 pays tribute to the notion of childhood innocence.
‘How I could see through and through you! / So unconscious, tender, kind, / More than ever was known to you / Of the pure ways of your mind… / We are pools
whose depths are told; You are like a mystic fountain, / Issuing ever pure and cold / From the hollows of the mountain…’ Yet he also notes something beyond inno-
cence…children are depicted with an ethereal, almost transcendental quality. He sees adults as vessels whose ‘depths are told’, whereas children have boundless
potential. The primacy of light is emphasised by Russell in all his work and he writes of the power of ‘interior light’ that he feels he can personally summon as an
artist. He writes of one of his visions; ‘Once I lay on the sand dunes by the western sea. The air seemed filled with melody. The motion of the wind made a contin-
uous musical vibration…Then there was an intensity of light before my eyes like the flashing of sunlight through a crystal’. (George Russell, The Candle of Vision,
1918, 34-35) ‘On the mystic path we create our own light’. (Ibid, 24)
Russell’s paintings are quintessential reflections of his meditations and writings. The title of this composition, ‘Playing in the Sand Dunes’, implies a simple repre-
sentational scene. Yet this is certainly a misnomer as within this work Russell is including a range of ideas. At its simplest, this is a depiction of children at play in
North Donegal, most likely the children of Hugo and Lota Law (frequent figures in Russell’s work). Here we see three figures, the lone figure to the right is a girl in
white whose stance is full of movement; her long hair is blown back forcefully from her face, her left arm extends behind her ready to throw a ball from her hand
and her left foot moves forward in a determined step. Correspondingly before her, elevated in the sand dunes are two girls, akin to twins, dressed in matching
maroon dresses standing, arms outstretched, and ready to catch the ball. This coastal scene is elegantly composed with an apt palette and pleasing portrayal
of land, sea and sky. The artist has referred to Donegal as the location of ‘memories from the beginning of the world’, (Letters from AE, 182-3), and beyond the
straightforward rendition of children at play, this scene, with its mauve infused ethereal life, suggests an other-worldly undertone.
Marianne O’Kane Boal
€ 8,000 - 12,000