Adam's Important Irish Art 5th December 2018

56 48 FREDERICK E. MCWILLIAM HRUA RA (1909-1992) Peace B - Banner Series (1975) Bronze, 35cm high x 28.5cm wide x 16cm deep (13¾ x 11¼ x 6¼’’), raised on a polished limestone base Signed with initials and numbered 4/5 (The plaster maquette is in the collection of F.E.McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Banbridge.) Exhibited: Gordon Gallery, Derry, 1987, cat. no. 10; Sotheby’s 1996; Solomon Gallery 1998. Literature: The Sculpture of F.E.McWilliam, Denise Ferran & Valerie Holman, Lund Humphries in association with the Henry Moore Foundation, 2012, no. 424, illus, p. 161 and fig. 44, p. 72. It was inevitable that McWilliam followed his series ‘Women of Belfast ’ with his series of ‘ Banners’ as he re- sponded to events in Northern Ireland, with each series lasting no more than 3 years from the first idea to completion. Out of the carnage of the bombings and murders during the ‘Troubles’, grew the ‘Peace People’ and their ever-increasing number marched through the main towns of Northern Ireland, rallying people to join them in their call for ‘Peace’. This group was comprised mainly of women who did not want any other mother to lose their son or daughter. McWilliam, through his friendship with T.P. Flanagan’s wife, Sheelagh, who like me, had joined the ‘Peace People’, designed a Christmas card in 1974, which featured a lone woman, carrying a banner with the word ‘Peace’ written on it. The ‘ Banners ’ combined McWilliam’s delight in depicting the female form with his humour in developing the theme beyond the ‘Peace’ theme to those with a play on words ‘No Broken Province’ or ‘Up the Grass Roots’. The sculptor, from his early childhood in Banbridge, had witnessed vicious sectarian riots, which gave him a lifelong detestation of bigotry in any form and he resolved to leave Northern Ireland as soon as he could. By 1977, McWilliam had returned to his much more playful series of ‘Legs ’ because he himself was aware that ‘The things you start a theme with are usually the best at the beginning. After a while a sort of repetition seems to set in….’ McWilliam in conversation with Louisa Buck for the Irish Art series, 1983, p.5 Tate Gallery Archive. In these two figures, apparently fighting one another with their Banners, one of which carries the word ‘Peace’. McWilliam uses their clothing, including head coverings to give movement and an angular power to the material, and, as always, carefully maintaining the anonymity of the subjects. Dr Denise Ferran November 2018 € 8,000 - 12,000