ADAM'S - Important Irish Art Auction - 31st May 2017 (Click Lot title for more images and to Place Bid)

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156
‘Blackshaw’ edited by Eamonn Mallie 2003
Limited Edition Number CLVI, presented in a slipcase
and signed by both artist and author. Good clean
copy.
Provenance: From the Collection of the late Gillian
Bowler.
€ 150 - 250
Oil on linen canvas, 90 x 70cm (35½ x 27½’’)
Signed and numbered No. 3 verso
Provenance: From the Collection of the late Gillian Bowler.
Exhibited: ‘Basil Blackshaw Exhibition’, the Hendriks Gallery, September 1987, Catalogue No.20, where purchased.
In ‘Standing Nude’ there is a suggestion of Degas in this pose and the treatment of the figure. The figure stands in
a classical stance and yet like ‘Reclining Nude’, there is an elemental and archaeological ambience to this painting.
The feet taper out beyond the bottom edge of the canvas and the arms end in misty oblivion: no hands are evident.
Although emergent this figure is more akin to the handling of an artist like Patrick Collins than Louis le Brocquy.
Another standing subject by Blackshaw is the earlier ‘Female Nude’ 1982, yet it is very different in terms of execution.
Featured is a three quarter length representation of his model in profile. She occupies the right side of the canvas
and looks to the left. The paint here is applied heavily with areas of impasto, the palette is bright and the light enters
from behind suffusing the model’s back. It is interesting to observe the dramatically different approaches on the part
of the artist to capturing his standing subject.
(Also see note at Lot 109)
Marianne O’Kane Boal, April 2017
€ 7,000 - 10,000
The Gi l l i an Bowl er Co l l ec t i on