ADAM'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART 27 MAY 2026

36 14 JAMES HUMBERT CRAIG RHA RUA (1877 - 1944) Dancing at the Cross Roads Oil on canvas, 38 x 50.5cm (15 x 20”) Signed Provenance: Collection of Reeta and Frank Hughes, Warrenpoint, thence by descent. € 10,000 - 15,000 James Humbert Craig was born into comfortable means as the son of a Belfast tea merchant. Craig was, it appears, a healthy boisterous boy, inclined towards the outdoors. He benefitted from a private education and exposure to the various mechanics and humdrum happenings of the local shipyards and docks in Belfast and Bangor, Co. Down where the family soon relocated. Craig was not eager to join the family business but after a short- lived term at Belfast Art School and a failed spell in America he relented and spent some time working as a tea merchant for his father’s firm. This afforded him the economic means to indulge in his various pastimes of fishing, sailing, playing music and painting. James Humbert Craig painted for the love of it and while his later years proved financially lucrative, money was nev- er really the motivation for his work. His career was punctuated by a series of professional accomplishments and critical recogni- tions – most notably a long association with the RHA, beginning with an exhibition in 1915. He was also the first elected President of the Ulster Society of Painters in 1921 and exhibited frequently with the Belfast Art Society (later known as The Ulster Academy of Arts) of which he was appointed Vice President in 1930. Largely self-taught, Craig’s paintings seem to be mercifully unhindered by the rigours of formal training. He possessed a natural talent which when combined with an evident enjoyment for the task produced a catalogue of works which are remark- ably fresh and honest. His one rule ‘Don’t try to improve upon nature’ is evident in the innumerable landscapes of the Antrim coastline and Donegal mountains he produced throughout his career. The painting Dancing at the Cross Roads here presented is a jubilant celebration of remarkable vitality, likely painted from a lived experience on the boreens of counties Antrim, Down or Donegal where the artist took much inspiration. It should be noted that Craig was a gifted fiddle player and a generous one at that. His retreat at Tornamona Cottage, Cushendun on the Antrim Coast reportedly hosted many music sessions and Craig would entertain by imitating birdsong on his fiddle, to which the birds would reciprocate, much to the amusement of his guests. This anecdote is recounted in The Natural Talents of J.H Craig ‘The People’s Artist ’ by George A. Connell. The artist’s charming scene is a trib- ute to what was at that time already a dwindling social custom, negatively affected by rural depopulation and the disapproval of the Catholic Church. Dancing at the cross roads is a rural tradition that has also been inter- preted by artists such as Craig’s contemporary Charles Lamb RHA RUA (1893-1964) and later fellow Northern Irish artist Gerard Dillon (1916-1971). The frivolity of the scene here depicted is accentuated by Craig’s loose brushwork and impasto application of paint. A halo of unpainted canvas surrounds the dancing figures contributing to the movement and energy of the scene -a notable feature of Craig’s early works while still in his father’s employ. The young artist usually painted on crate panels from the tea trade as they were easily accessible to him. This influenced his early style as he frequently chose to leave sections of wood unpainted as a base colour. He was discouraged from doing this by his contemporaries who claimed the exposed wood would discolour over time and there- fore Craig began using canvas instead once he could afford to do so. The manner in which this picture was painted would indicate that it was completed at that juncture in Craig’s early career. The palette used in this particular scene is also worth noting for its consistency throughout both human and landscape subjects. Craig has painted the human figures in a decidedly natural palette of greys, blues, browns and purples in direct correlation with the surrounding stone walls and distant tilled fields. The mark-making is expressive and the detail deliberately limited, adding to the communica- tion between human and natural world. Craig’s dancers have seemingly sprung from the dusty road as naturally as daisies on a grassy verge. Typically, these scenes of everyday life would be read as Genre scenes, but Craig’s manipulation of the palette is so harmonious, the resulting picture reads as a Pure Landscape – no small feat. It is this natural ability Craig possesses for interpreting landscapes, pure and peopled that has resounded with admirers throughout his career and in the eighty years since. His pictures are unpretentious and familiar and yet steer clear of the sentimentality that commonly arises when responding to the market desires of that time. Ireland, a newly independent state was trying to find its footing and unsure of how to present itself to the world as a modern state while also acknowledging the rustic charm of the Irish vernacular tradition. James Humbert Craig manages to deftly capture the atmosphere of Ireland in the early 20th century and his work resounds with viewers both critical and popular today. In this sense he is truly ‘The People’s Artist’. Stephanie Brennan, April 2026