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Paul Henry , Irish, 1876-1958

Title

The Village Gossip

Date1910-1915

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensions

16.5 x 10.3 cm

Credit LineBequeathed, Mrs M.F. Henry, the Artist's widow, 1974

Object numberNGI.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