Paul Henry, Irish, 1876-1958
Title: The Village Gossip
Date: 1910-1915
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions:
16.5 x 10.3 cm
Credit Line: Bequeathed, Mrs M.F. Henry, the Artist's widow, 1974
Object Number: NGI.7614
DescriptionHenry found the islanders of Achill reticent and introverted. Although he soon made friends with many of them, as for drawing and painting them he often had to work furtively, for the superstition still lingered that in making images of people one was somehow or other taking something from them. The result was that he had to work covertly. Known pejoratively as 'the sketcher', he had to draw in a sketchbook concealed behind other papers, a practice that led him to make copious notes on his subjects alongside his drawings. The Village Gossip, rich in personality and capturing the whole essence of life for the islanders, aptly illustrates the procedure and such sketches were used (often years) later as sources for compositions.
S.B. Kennedy, Paul Henry, NGI exh. cat., 2005
S.B. Kennedy, Paul Henry, NGI exh. cat., 2005