Lot 82: Edward McGuire RHA (1932-1986) Pearse Hutchinson

Edward McGuire RHA (1932-1986) Pearse Hutchinson Oil on canvas, 132 x 107cm (52 x 42") Signed and dated 1970 Provenance: Collection of John and Harden Jay and thence by descent. Literature: "Edward McGuire" by Brian Fallon and others, memoir p 86, full page illustration, p.87, catalogue raisonne no. 45. Exhibited: Claddagh Records' Group Exhibition David Hendriks Gallery 1970, catalogue no. 24 Irish Exhibition of Living Art 1971, catalogue no 45 The Irish Imagination, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery 1971, catalogue no. 15 (also shown in Washington DC, Philadelphia and Boston) Artist's Choice, Ulster Museum, 1973, catalogue no. 6 6th Festival International, Cagnes-sur-Mer 1974, diploma award "EnVisage: The Face in Contemporary Art", Irish Museum of Modern Art, 9th October 2001 - 21st April 2002. This work featured in the 1977 RTE documentary on Edward McGuire. This work has been on loan to the Irish Museum of Modern Art from 1993 to October 2008. Edward McGuire is best known as a portrait painter with a unique style that is aesthetically reminiscent of photo-realism, and as one author has noted Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). In reality he work is closer to the latter which emerged in 1920s Germany, as an essentially realist style that captured the anxieties of a changing post WWI society. McGuire's paintings have a similar look to them not only as non-photographic based realist works but also in their frank and somewhat confrontational appeal. However his preference for painting literary and artistic figures in Ireland in the 1960s, 70s and 80s meant that part of his aim was to capture a sense of the individual within society rather than the generality of type seen in Neue Sachlichkeit. Born in Dublin, which was his home for the majority of his working life, McGuire trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome in the early 1950s, and then at the Slade School in London where his tutors included Lucian Freud. The academic training he received had a lasting resonance for his mode of painting. Although he abandoned the traditional colour theory he had been taught and developed his own which he recorded in his 'colour dictionary', he developed a laborious working method in terms of building up very thin layers of paint which could only be derived from academic teachings. Yet always an innovator, McGuire used an unconventional tool in the application of these layers - a razorblade. His painstaking method combined with his untimely death made for a small overall output, McGuire completed as little as four paintings a year. In 1970, at the peak of his career, McGuire set about painting Pearse Hutchinson. This was one of the artist's self chosen subjects, and the superior quality of these when compared to his commissioned pictures has been commented on by numerous writers. Poet and translator Hutchinson has received continual attention in the recent past, with a symposium celebrating his works held at Trinity College Dublin last year to coincide with his eightieth birthday, and his most recent publication, At Least for While, was published by The Gallery Press this year. McGuire's portrait of Hutchinson is striking, and the success of his self invented colour system is evident. The rich colours are centered to the middle of the composition, framed by neutral tones of the door to the right and the shelving and dried sunflower to the left which subtly contrast with the skin tones of the sitter, imbuing his with a life-like quality. This large work is dominated by tones of green and blue; the tiles and wall of the room are textured shades of dusty marine blue, yet on close inspection a layer of earthy red peeks through on the wall, setting off similar hues in the geometric rug. The emerald green of the delicate but confidently rendered cravat sets off the blue of Hutchinson's eyes, and is echoed in the seat of his chair but in a slightly muted tone. The intricate detail of the portrait is stunning, giving an overall high impact factor to the work. This is seen particularly in the cravat, the dried sunflower, and the facial ha r of the sitter, with the eyebrows so finely painted that individual hairs are identifiable. Considering this, it is an odd quirk of the painting that Hutchinson's shoes, perfectly rendered as they are, have been painted without laces. The purchase of this painting by John and Harden Jay has been noted by Brian Fallon in his monograph on the artist, as an example of a purchase that helped McGuire during a difficult time. It was not the first time that the Jays had helped him out, and Fallon has described solicitor John Jay as having been "well known for his good deeds to poets and artists and a man with a shrewd and resourceful mind."