Adam's IMPORTANT IRISH ART 25th September 2024

Important Irish Art | 25 September 2024 www.adams.ie 79 63 MICHAEL AUGUSTINE POWER O’MALLEY (1877-1946) Portrait of a West of Ireland Girl in Red Oil on canvas, 71 x 56cm (28 x 22’’) € 1,000 - 1,500 Dungarvan-born Michael Augustine Power (O’Mal- ley) emigrated to America in his early twenties, stud- ying with Walter Shirlaw (1838-1909) and the cele- brated American painter, Rober t Henri (1865-1929) at the National Academy of Design in New York. During his career O’Mal- ley’s depictions of rural Irish life were very much in demand, such that his painting trips to and from Ireland were regularly communicated to Ameri- can collectors in ar t pub- lications. On such a trip in 1923, he was awarded first prize in landscape paint- ing at Aonach Tailteann. While O’Malley achieved acclaim and success in America (and became a surprise feature of Hol- lywood ar t depar tments in the 1920s), contempo- rary critics were keen to convey the sympathetic depiction of his country of bir th as central to his character: ‘His pictures of Ireland are more con- vincing than those of Rober t Henri. He feels how close the peasant life is to the soil. That is the theme of his ar t. It is a simple theme, but one which has been used by the masters in their greatest works,’ ( The Ar ts , 1921) and ‘O’Malley’s colour is fresh and clear, not a turgid note throughout the show. He sees Ireland less as picturesque quaintness, as the Ameri- can painter does, and more as something close and familiar, clad with a homely beauty of association and humanity,’ ( New York Post , 1930).