Lilian Lucy Davidson
, Irish, 1879-1954
Title
Fashions at the FairDate1940s
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
71 x 92 cm
Signedlower left: LLD [in monogram]
Credit LinePurchased, 2003
Object numberNGI.4719
ProvenancePurchased, Adams & Bonhams, Dublin, Irish Sale, 28th May 2003, lot 87Exhibition HistoryA Time and a Place. Two Centuries of Irish Social Life, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 17 October 2006 - 28 January 2007Taking Stock: Acquisitions 2000-2010, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 13 March 2010 - 25 July 2010
Label TextDavidson’s bold pattern-making was ideally suited to the everyday Irish subjects she painted throughout her career. In this picture, the artist allows certain elements to stand out by dint of colour, shape or gesture. She was adept at exploiting tonal contrasts, exemplified here by the bands of colour on the woman’s shawl in the foreground and the piebald calf. Davidson travelled extensively in Ireland, visiting Donegal first in the 1920s and making subsequent trips around her native Wicklow, Achill, Connemara and Tyrone.