ADAM'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART 28th May 2025

42 28 MARY SWANZY HRHA (1882-1978) Figures Asleep Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 61cm (20 x 24’’) Signed Provenance: Sale, these rooms, 14/9/1978, lot 16, where purchased by the current owner € 10,000 - 15,000 In this composition, Swanzy presents a close-up view of group of people, lying on the ground, huddled close to one another, fast asleep. With the background hidden from view we are not able to locate the group in a particular space. It is unclear if they are inside or outside, and we assume it is nighttime given the collective slumber repre- sented. The makeshift arrangement of the figures, some using coats, shoulders or their neighbours as pillows would sug- gest that they are in a temporary shelter of some descrip- tion. We know that this work was painted during the 1940s, and that Swanzy produced a number of paintings around this time which responded to the war. It is possible that it depicts neighbours and communities sheltering during the air raids of the Second World War which afflicted many European cities. However, as is common of paintings of this period, Swanzy favours a compressed composition, focusing in on details rather than presenting a larger scene. Equally her work of this period is not prosaic and does not follow traditional representational forms, instead producing works that were strongly allegorical and even fantastical in character. Swanzy’s figures from this period, even her female subjects, are strong and muscular in appearance, monumental even, reflecting the influence of cubism on her work. She has singled out one figure in the work to hold our at- tention at the centre of the composition. The older woman is the only person that seems to have been afforded room to stretch out fully, with her feet, covered in bright red slip- pers, resting on the knees of another woman beside her. She appears to be wearing a dressing down and cap and is covered in a brightly patterned yellow blanket. Swanzy uses white pigments to highlight her face, with her eyes gently closed and hand raised to her cheek in a peaceful gesture. Despite the potential chaos of the world beyond this scene, a sense of silence pervades, the possibility of rest even in extraordinary circumstances. Niamh Corcoran, April 2025