Adam's Important Irish Art 5th December 2018

58 49 FREDERICK E. MCWILLIAM HRUA RA (1909-1992) Leg Figure D (1977) Bronze, 29.5cm high x 26cm wide x 9.5cm deep (11½ x 10¼ x 3¾’’) Signed with initials and numbered 5/5 Exhibited: Taylor Galleries, 1979; Arts Councils of Ireland, 1981, cat. illus. p.86; Tate 1989, cat., illus., p. 62; NAC 1989; Mayor Gallery 1990. Literature: The Sculpture of F.E.McWilliam, Denise Ferran & Valerie Holman, Lund Humphries in association with the Henry Moore Foundation, 2012, no. 424, p. 161. After ‘ Women of Belfast ’ and ‘Woman in a Bomb-blast ’ and the Banners series, McWilliam began his series of Legs in 1977. It must have been a relief for the sculptor to turn from the deeply emotional subject matter of the ‘Troubles’ to the beauty and playfulness of women’s ‘Legs’. In fact, McWilliam had begun ‘ One pair of Legs ’ and ‘Two pair of Legs ’ in 1971, before he began ‘ Women of Belfast ’ and these legs informed his women caught in a bomb-blast and thrown off balance. ‘ Legs ’ allowed McWilliam the freedom to model legs and attach these to different bodies and heads, such as a fish head resulting in the surrealist figure ‘Lady into Fish ’ and ‘Magritte’s Mermaid’ or ‘Legs with fig-leaf’. One of this series was ‘Leg Figure D’ which was included in the Tate retrospective exhibition of 1989. Patrick Heron wrote to McWilliam after visit- ing the Tate retrospective of his friend’s work: ‘I was fascinated by the hands and feet in all those 70’s figures. Nobody else in this country has been able to do hands and feet like yours.’ McWilliam had countless drawings of women’s feet and legs and collected large advertising posters for women’s stockings, which hung on his studio wall. The sculptor can achieve such expression and feeling in splayed toes and outstretched legs, as in ‘Leg Figure D’ which resulted in Heron’s admiring observation. The Leg series continued from 1977 until 1981, ending with ‘Ms Orissa’ which combined ‘Legs Upended’ with a clothed head and shoulders, again mask- ing identification. This series resulted in two large sculptures ‘Umbilicus’, FEMcWilliam Gallery and the large sculpture of the ‘ Judo Players’, Derry City Council. Dr Denise Ferran November 2018 € 8,000 - 12,000