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21
paintings from the esb collection
16
th
december 2014
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Desmond Stephenson ARHA (1922-1963)
Ripening Corn
Oil on board 38 x 55cm (15 x 21.5”)
Signed
€800 - 1,200
Born in Dublin, the son of Patrick J. Stephenson, who became Dublin Chief Librarian, and a
brother of the architect Sam Stephenson, he studied at the National College of Art 1939-46
and was awarded the Henry Higgins Travelling Scholarship in his final year. He first exhibited
at the RHA in 1942 and showed nearly 50 works there over his career, as well as over 20 in the
Oireachtas exhibition from 1944 onwards. He travelled and studied in Spain, Italy and France,
and returned to Ireland in 1949.The artist spent long periods working in Wicklow around Lough
Dan, and later with his friend Maurice MacGonigal around Ballinaclash where some of his most
vivid landscapes were painted, and also with MacGonigal in Connemara over several years in the
Roundstone and Ballyconneely areas.
His paintings are held in the collections of the Arts Council, Crawford Municipal Art Gallery
and the New York Irish Institute.