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Lot 19: Lilian Lucy Davidson ARHA (1893-1954) POTATO HARVEST, 1931

Est: €30,000 EUR - €40,000 EURSold:
Whyte'sBallsbridge, IrelandMay 27, 2019

Item Overview

Description

signed in monogram lower left

Dimensions

h:30 w:40in.

Artist or Maker

Medium

oil on canvas

Exhibited

RHA Annual Exhibition,1931, Dublin, catalogue no. 148

Provenance

Morgan's Auctions, Contents of The Cairn, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, 1986;
Private collection

Notes

LANDSCAPE, MODERN
Davidson earned a reputation as an empathetic, naturalistic artist. She was prolific and proficient across a range of media: painting, book illustration, poster design, and set design for theatre. But there is nothing in Irish visual culture to compare with her 1946 Gorta (Ireland's Great Hunger Museum). All narrative is eliminated, yet, as an invocation of the Great Famine, its subject is indisputable. Her Famine family has lost everything. The restricted palette intensifies the inconsolable grief. Traumatized, as they bury their child, they look past one another into nothingness. Its echoes are of the European tradition - artists who engaged with the dark side of the landscape.
Davidson's 1931 prequel, The Potato Harvest, is also the story of Irish peasant reliance on the potato for survival, but, in this instance, a more benign stage in the cycles of nature is depicted. This image of industriousness, community spirit and abundance, shows Davidson's knowledge of historical, and contemporary, Irish and European art and artists (indeed, she exhibited in Paris, London, Amsterdam and the US).
In her early years, Davidson was influenced by Stanhope Forbes whose heightened palette, square-brush technique and strong impasto highlights became characteristics of her style, traces of Paul Henry can be seen in her compositions, while the influence of Jack B. Yeats is evident in her subject choices and her fascination with rural life.
She executed many harvest scenes, this painting, for example, is on a direct continuum with her Flax Pullers, both in composition and subject. Ultimately, The Potato Harvest is reminiscent of Jean-François Millet's Sower and Gleaners. Legs akimbo, backs bent, it's all in the rhythmic action, the bending and pulling. The deep ochres and umbers, the rough textures of sacking and wool, flax and hay, the steep incline, the strong diagonal pull, result in a painting richly expressive of the continuities of Irish rural life.
Of Davidson's 1926 exhibition, The Irish Times noted "a strong individuality in her painting" (November 3, 1926); reviewing her 1934 exhibition, it declared that "[s]he has vision, and crude and rude, as some of her subjects may be, out of every human sympathy with the humblest she composes scenes of life and interest" (February 6, 1934); and of her 1940 exhibition, it observed that "[h]uman sympathy is an elemental urge in her outlook" (November 4, 1940).

Professor Emerita Niamh O'Sullivan, April 2019.

Payment & Shipping

Payment

Accepted forms of payment: MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

The buyer will be responsible for all removal, storage and insurance charges in respect of any lot which has not been collected within fourteen days of the date of sale.

Auction Details

Important Irish Art

by
Whyte's
May 27, 2019, 06:00 PM GMT

Royal Dublin Society (RDS) Anglesea Road Entrance, Ballsbridge, Dublin, D04 HY94, IE

Terms

Buyer's Premium

20.0%

Bidding Increments

From:To:Increment:
€0€99€5
€100€299€10
€300€499€20
€500€1,299€50
€1,300€2,999€100
€3,000€6,999€200
€7,000€12,999€500
€13,000€29,999€1,000
€30,000€69,999€2,000
€70,000€129,999€5,000
€130,000+€10,000

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Written or verbal condition reports may be supplied by the Auctioneer on request but these are merely statements of opinion, and any error or omission in these reports may not be taken as grounds for a cancellation of sale or refund of any part of the purchase price or the cost of any repairs to the lot or lots reported on (c) A purchaser shall be at liberty to reject any lot if he - (i) gives the auctioneer written notice of intention to question the genuineness of the lot within seven days from the date of sale; AND (ii) proves that the lot is a deliberate forgery and (iii) returns to the auctioneer within 20 days from the date of sale the lot in the same condition as it was at the time of sale; provided that the auctioneer may, at his discretion, on receiving a request in writing from the purchaser, extend for a reasonable period the time for return of the lot to enable it to be submitted to expertisation. 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Clause 6 The respective rights and obligations of the parties shall be governed and interpreted by Irish law, and the buyer hereby submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish Courts. SPECIAL CONDITIONS (a)The buyer shall pay the Auctioneer a commission at the rate of 24.6% (which includes VAT at the prevailing rate under The Margin Scheme and which is not reclaimable.
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Condition

Whyte & Sons Auctioneers Limited, trading as Whyte's, hereinafter called "the auctioneer" exercises all reasonable care to ensure that all descriptions are reliable and accurate, and that each item is genuine unless the contrary is indicated. However, the descriptions are not intended to be, are not and are not to be taken to be, statements of fact or representations of fact in relation to the lot. They are statements of the opinion of the auctioneers, and attention is particularly drawn to clause 5 in our full Terms & Conditions. Comments and opinions, which may be found in or on lots as labels, notes, lists, catalogue prices, or any other means of expression, do not constitute part of lot descriptions and are not to be taken as such unless they are made or specifically verified by the auctioneers.

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Shipping

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