Lot 135: Henry Healy RHA (1909-1982) Montmartre, Paris Oil

Henry Healy RHA (1909-1982) Montmartre, Paris Oil on board, 50 x 60cm (19.7 x 23.7'') Signed Provenance: Barrenhill Gallery, Baily, Howth, where purchased by the current vendor (label verso) Healy was born in Dublin in 1909 and was educated at Synge Street Christian Brothers. He was a student at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art in the early 30s and studied in Paris during this time. In 1958 Arland Usher wrote about one of Healy's exhibitions at the Dublin Painters' gallery: 'This artist has always had a gift for patterns, for blocking out his pictures, for clever angles and perspectives; but he has used it chiefly to capture the charm of Georgian squares or Spanish villages - things we do not need the aid of pictures to enjoy ...Mr Healy's pictures of Algarve, Evora and Connemara are pleasant enough in the picturesque tradition; he is more interesting when he strips his patterns of their too facile evocative associations...' He singled out ''Rue St Vincent, Montmartre' as a 'very satisfying, well-designed and sensitive picture'. One of the buildings in this work is thought to be the studio of the well known French artist Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955), he was born in Montmartre. Throughout his career Utrillo painted many views of this famous artistic quarter of the city.