A Snow-Covered Field

William John Leech , Irish, 1881-1968

Title

Datec.1910

MediumCharcoal and watercolour on paper

Dimensions

51.7 x 35.8 cm

Signedlower right: Leech - (Irish Watercolours and Drawings in The National Gallery of Ireland, Adrian Le Harivel, ed., 1991)

Credit LinePurchased, 1968

Object numberNGI.6878

DescriptionLeech trained in Dublin at the Metropolitan School of Art and the Royal Hibernian Academy, where he was taught by Walter Osborne. In 1901 he travelled to Paris to study with Bouguereau and Laurens at the Atelier Julian. He settled in Concareau, Brittany in 1903 and was based there until 1910. While in Brittany he began to experiment in oils, focusing on the effects of light on colour. A Snow Covered Field was probably painted in Switzerland in 1910 or 1911. Sensitively executed with delicate colouring, it is reminiscent of Whistler's style in its linear division, flatness and asymmetry. The dark trees silhouetted against the snowy field create a striking contrast, while the unusual perspective has echoes of Japanese graphic art.
Exhibition History Irish Watercolours and Drawings, McMullen Museum of Art Boston College, Boston, 4 October 1993 – 5 December 1993

William John Leech: An Irish Painter Abroad, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 23 October 1996 - 15 December 1996; Musée des Beaux Arts, Quimper, 10 January - 10 March 1997; The Ulster Museum, Belfast, 28 March- 22 June 1997