Louis le Brocquy
, Irish, 1916-2012
Title
Connemara IslandDate1944
MediumGraphite on paper
Dimensions
13.3 x 17.2 cm
Signedlower right (in graphite): LE BROQUY, 1944
Credit LinePurchased, 2017
Object numberNGI.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.
Inscriptionlower right (in graphite): CONNEMARA ISLAND
ProvenancePurchased at auction, Whyte's & Sons Auctioneers, Dublin, 2 Octber 2017, lot 79Exhibition HistoryNew Perspectives. Acquisitions 2011 - 2020, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 11 May - 2 August 2021