Adam's IMPORTANT IRISH ART 27 SEPTEMBER 2023

122 128 FRANK MCKELVEY RHA RUA (1895-1974) River Landscape with Children Playing Oil on Canvas, 49.5 x 37cm (19½ x 14½”) Signed €5,000 – 8,000 ‘His characteristic approach to landscape was to capture the essential visual effect of the scene ... he succeeded brilliantly in capturing the character of the Irish landscape.’ (S.B. Kennedy Frank McKelvey - A Painter in his Time, p.9). Along with James Humbert Craig, Frank McKelvey was the leading landscapist of his time in Northern Ireland. The artist is a master of landscape employing just the right range of compositional elements, provoking a sense of quietude, harmony and complimenting the entire with an accurately rendered sky. He often showed an ease in capturing children at rest or play in his compo- sitions. The overall painting is harmonious, charming and nostalgic. ‘...The overall feeling of lightness, fresh air and the spontaneity of the moment are features which remain characteristic of McKelvey’s work throughout his career ... the even film of paint and naturalistic use of light combine with the treatment of the figures to express the apparent ease of the artist’s technical ability.’ (S.B. Kennedy Frank McKelvey-A Painter in his Time , p.9).