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Maurice Canning Wilks RHA RUA (1910-1984)
Spring Day, Dun River, Antrim
Oil on board, 25 x 36cm (9.8 x 14.2”)
Signed; also inscribed with titled verso
Maurice Canning Wilks, landscape and portrait painter, was born in
Belfast in 1910. He was an early exhibitor at the Ulster Academy of
Arts where he was elected an associate member in 1935.The major-
ity of Wilks’ paintings are landscapes which were mostly painted in
Ulster, such as this painting of the Dun River in Co. Antrim. He was
also inspired by the landscape of Donegal, Kerry and Connemara.
During his career he exhibited thirty-seven works at the Royal Hi-
bernian Academy in Dublin, the majority of which were landscapes,
although he occasionally showed portraits. His work is characterised
by loose fluid brushstrokes which perfectly capture the rugged rural
landscape, described by one critic as having a ‘fine romantic spirit
and considerable feeling’.
€1,000 - 1,500