Aloysius O'Kelly, Irish, 1853-1936
Title: North African Man
Date: c.1890
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
22.7 x 15.3 cm
Credit Line: Bequeathed, Patricia and David Simana, 2017
Object Number: NGI.2017.30
DescriptionAloysius O’Kelly was one of a small group of French-trained Irish artists who spent time in North Africa, and produced technically proficient (if orthodox) Orientalist works. The influence of Jean-Léon Gérôme, under whom O’Kelly trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, is evident in the character and finish of his North African subjects, including this one. These differ significantly from his work in Ireland, France, England and the United States. The conventionality of this diminutive painting, and many other Orientalist subjects by O’Kelly, belies the artist’s political engagement in both Egypt and Sudan. ‘The difficulty of matching [O’Kelly’s] political opinions to his artistic calling…’ Niamh O’Sullivan has written, ‘remained an unresolved feature of his work’.
ProvenanceCollection of Eliza Kate Holman, an acquaintance of and sitter to the artist, and by descent to her grandson, David Simana. On offer as a bequest from Patricia and David Simana.