Adam's Important Irish Art 5th December 2018

61 www.adams.ie Important Irish Art | 4th December 2018 52 FREDERICK E. MCWILLIAM HRUA RA (1909-1992) Woman of Belfast 10 - Woman in a Bomb Blast (1972) Bronze, 22cm long x 13.5cm high x 9cm deep (8½ x 5¼ x 3½’’) Signed and numbered 1/5 (The plaster maquette is in the collection of F.E.McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Banbridge.) Exhibited : Waddington 1973; McClelland 1973, cat. no. 10; Arts Councils of Ireland 1981, cat.no.106, illus. p. 72; Gordon Gallery 1990; Austin Desmond 1990; Banbridge 2008, exh. Cat., illus. p.101; Highlanes Gallery 2009. Literature: The Sculpture of F.E.McWilliam, Denise Ferran & Valerie Holman, Lund Humphries in association with the Henry Moore Foundation, no. 386, p. 156. When McWilliam began modelling in clay and casting in bronze, a new freedom entered the sculptor’s figurative work as in ‘Girls’ 1969 - 1971, ‘Women of Belfast’ 1972 - 1974, ‘Banners’ 1975 - 1976 and ‘Legs’ 1977 - 78. Although McWilliam left Ireland at age 18 and lived in London most of his life, he maintained close links with family and friends in North- ern Ireland and the ‘troubles’ affected him deeply especially the bomb which exploded in the Abercorn restaurant in Belfast, March 1972. McWilliam wrote in July 1973 that his ‘Women of Belfast’ ‘are concerned with violence, with one particular aspect, bomb-blast - the women as victim of man’s stupidity. …As they have a common subject matter these sculptures have no titles - woman affected by violence - women of Belfast.’ It was significant for McWilliam that the two deaths, that day, were women as were many of the seriously injured. He uses the drapery of these unfortunate and unsuspecting victims, to emphasise the impact of the blast, reminiscent of the Greek figure, Nike of Samothrace. His drawing ability, honed by his student days at the Slade in London, are ev- ident in the outstretched limbs, fingers and toes which express human suffering while the faces remain anonymous. In 1973 McWilliam wrote about these works: ‘The figures are small because it was more convenient to make them small…..If you have something to say it makes no difference whether you whisper or shout, so long as it is audible.’ Dr Denise Ferran November 2018 € 6,000 - 8,000