173 / 272
171
126 BASIL IVAN RÁKÓCZI (1908-1979)Les Phases de la Lune
Oil on canvas, 51 x 51cm (24 x 20’’)
Signed; signed and dated 1949 verso
Provenance: Artist’s family by descent.
Exhibited: Molton Gallery, London, Catalogue No.32.
Rakoczi came to Ireland, with his son, and his close friend, fellow artist Kenneth Hall, as pacifists in late 1939 and they settled, initially, on the
west coast at Leenane. In February 1940, they moved to Dublin where Rakoczi stayed with his son until early 1946. From its birth in Fitzrovia in
London in the mid-1930s, Rakoczi and Hall developed the White Stag Group. They saw its remit as providing a space for poor unknown artists
to explore their art collaboratively and bring it to a wider audience. Alongside the Society of Creative Psychology, which Rakoczi co-founded in
the early 1930s, and also re-formed in Dublin, a new creative force was seen to have emerged in the city in these War years.
In this work influences of Rakoczi’s artistic development in Ireland can be seen. His period in Dublin had given him the confidence to experi-
ment and extend his creativity. This painting’s imagery, of giving life to inanimate objects, had become a trademark style that he returned to
often and it also reflected his long-term interest in psychoanalysis and art. The cycle, or phases, of the moon are presented as half beast half
human forms with horns, and maybe suggest too a subconscious or dream-like quality.
The piece was painted in May 1949 whilst he was staying with a friend at ‘Le Nid’ villa in Menton, an area he often visited.
Our thanks to Christopher Rakoczi, the artist’s grandson, for his help in cataloguing this lot.
€ 2,000 - 3,000