Currently indexing

Image Not Available
 
Patrick Swift, Irish, 1927 - 1983
Title: Girl in a Garden
Date: c. 1951-52
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
134.5 x 106.5 cm
Signed: lower right: SWIFT
Credit Line: Purchased, 2017
Object Number: NGI.2017.8
DescriptionThis is one of a series of works by Swift set inside and around the artist’s studio on Hatch Street in Dublin. The young woman in the painting is the American poet Claire McAllister, Swift’s girlfriend at the time. Both were members of a vibrant artistic set that included, among others, poets Anthony Cronin and Patrick Kavanagh, writer Brendan Behan and artist Nano Reid. McAllister was a student at Trinity College, Dublin.
Swift and McAllister moved into a large flat in a Georgian House on Hatch Street, the front half of which they sublet to the painter Patrick Pye as a studio. McAllister and Swift stayed together until 1952, when the artist began a relationship with Oonagh Ryan (who he subsequently married) and settled with her in London.
Swift’s work of this period suggests the influence of Lucian Freud, five years his senior, who he had first met in 1949 (Freud travelled regularly to Ireland to see his future wife Lady Caroline Blackwood of Clandeboye Estate in Northern Ireland). However, Swift’s work was more tonal than Freud’s, and more graphic in character.
ProvenancePurchased at auction, Adam's Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2 - Important Irish Art Sale, 29 March 2017, Lot 70
Exhibition HistoryOctober/November 2001, Lisbon, Palácio Foz, Patrick Swift: An Irish Painter in Portugal; December 2001-February 2002, Cork, Crawford Art Gallery.

This website uses cookies

We use optional cookies to enhance your user experience and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services.

Details

About Cookies

Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient. The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission. This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages. You can at any time change or withdraw your consent from the Cookie Declaration on our website. Learn more about who we are, how you can contact us and how we process personal data in our Privacy Policy. Please state your consent ID and date when you contact us regarding your consent.

Necessary Cookies

Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.

NameProviderPurposeExpiryType
JSESSIONIDeMuseumUser SessionSessionHTTP

Statistics Cookies

Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.

NameProviderPurposeExpiryType
_gaGoogle Tag ManagerRegisters a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.2 yearsJavaScript
_gidGoogle Tag ManagerRegisters a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.1 dayJavaScript