Louis le Brocquy, Irish, 1916-2012
Title: Connemara Island
Date: 1944
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions:
13.3 x 17.2 cm
Signed: Lower right (in graphite): LE BROQUY, 1944
Credit Line: Purchased, 2017
Object Number: NGI.2017.34
DescriptionLouis le Brocquy’s paintings (both figurative and abstract), illustrations, prints, tapestry and set designs received widespread acclaim during his seventy year career. His painting A Family, 1951, was the first work by a living artist acquired by the NGI. He created works in series, most notably the Tinkers or Travellers and the Heads series, which included such literary figures as WB Yeats and Seamus Heaney.
Le Brocquy executed a series of Connemara landscapes between 1944 and 1947, using a combination of graphite, coloured pencil, ink, and watercolour. Landscape drawings such as Famine Cottages, Connemara (1944); Emblaghmore, Connemara (1944); Connemara harbour at low tide, Ballyconneely (1944); and Morning Mountain, Connemara (1944), reflect his growing interest in Modernism. The sinuous lines and delicate shading in this detailed drawing recall the Surrealist aesthetic of French artist Yves Tanguy (1900-1955), whose hyper-real landscapes, painted with an exacting level of precision, blended fact with fiction.
Le Brocquy executed a series of Connemara landscapes between 1944 and 1947, using a combination of graphite, coloured pencil, ink, and watercolour. Landscape drawings such as Famine Cottages, Connemara (1944); Emblaghmore, Connemara (1944); Connemara harbour at low tide, Ballyconneely (1944); and Morning Mountain, Connemara (1944), reflect his growing interest in Modernism. The sinuous lines and delicate shading in this detailed drawing recall the Surrealist aesthetic of French artist Yves Tanguy (1900-1955), whose hyper-real landscapes, painted with an exacting level of precision, blended fact with fiction.
ProvenancePurchased at auction, Whyte's & Sons Auctioneers, Dublin, 02 Octber 2017, lot 79
Inscriptionlower right (in graphite): CONNEMARA ISLAND