Paul Henry
, Irish, 1876-1958
Title
Early Morning in ConnemaraDate1920
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
50.8 x 61.2 cm
Signedlower right: PAUL HENRY
Credit LinePurchased, 2007 (Shaw Fund)
Object numberNGI.2007.9
ProvenancePresented by the Artist to Helen Waddell; Private Collection; purchased, De Vere's Art Auctions, Dublin, 12 June 2007, Major Irish Art Auction, lot 20
Exhibition HistoryPictures by Paul and Grace Henry, Ryman's Studios, Oxford, 1920Exhibition of Pictures by Paul and Grace Henry, Dublin Painters' Society, Dublin, 1921
Pictures by Paul and Grace Henry, Magee's Gallery, Belfast, 1921
Paul and Grace Henry: Irish Life and Landscape, Leicester Galleries, London, 1921
Shades of Grey: Painting without Colour, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 22 June - 29 September 2013
Label TextThis is one of three almost identical views by Henry of Killary Harbour, taken from a point approximately five kilometres west of Leenane. Painted shortly after Henry left Achill, his base since 1910, it represents a sophisticated exercise in abstracted landscape painting, based on the arrangement of simple, bold forms. More emblematic, perhaps, than topographically accurate, it celebrates physical and atmospheric qualities associated with the western seaboard. Such paintings, characterised by an almost monochrome palette, mark a turning point in Henry’s career, and are among the last to point directly to the influence of Whistler and Japanese art.