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Lot 59: Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) THE LAND ÉIRE, 1940

Est: €26,000 EUR - €40,000 EURSold:
Whyte'sDublin, IrelandNovember 25, 2019

Item Overview

Description

signed and dated lower left

Dimensions

h:24.50 w:29.50in.

Artist or Maker

Medium

oil on canvas

Exhibited

Department of Foreign Affairs Cultural Relations Committee selection for Venice Biennale (loaned under the name of Mr B[ernard] Stewart), circa 1952;
‘Irish Tourist Board Exhibition’, New York, 9-28 October 1976, catalogue no. 9;
‘Land/Eire’, Boston College, Massachusetts, 2002

Provenance

Purchased by Ernie O'Malley c. 1943-45;
Thence by family descent

Notes

With an unfinished abstract composition on reverse.

Ernie O’Malley used to loan paintings under his alias Bernard Stewart as that was the name he gave to the British authorities when he was being cross-examined by them in Kilkenny and Dublin Castle in December 1920.

At first glance Éire is a typical late-Jellett abstract composition but a closer look reveals the clever use of illusionistic space within the painting. Jellett delivers the Cubist aim of a flattened-out picture plane, particularly at the centre of the picture. Into this she masterfully inserts passages of three-dimensional space, such as those that describe the cottage at the centre-right and mountain peaks at the top. This has the effect of creating optical shifts where the eye moves in and out of the abstract and figurative planes. This optical shifting also functions to create visual puns where the audience can play the game of identifying some of the symbols that might describe Ireland: the cottages of the west, the mountains of the south, the waves of the Atlantic, the rain-laden clouds, the green fields or the Irish Harp.

By the time Mainie Jellett painted this picture she was the acknowledged doyenne of Irish modernism. Following her studies under masters in Paris in the early 1920s, she returned to Ireland and exhibited works of pure abstraction that attracted almost universal derision. This merely served to strengthen her resolve and she proselytised for modern art: teaching students from her studio, giving lectures, engaging in public debates; all the while developing her personal style alongside the artists Evie Hone and Albert Gleizes. All three were deeply devout people, and from the mid-20s she began to integrate religious images into otherwise purely abstract compositions. Her stylised crucifixions, depositions and other scenes used the art that was most recognisable and available to the ordinary people of Ireland (e.g. in churches) and married it to contemporary developments in Modernism. This had the effect of making abstract art more intelligible to an Irish audience.

Her desire to communicate to a wide audience meant that within a decade her work was embraced by the Irish establishment. Although the government under de Valera is most commonly associated with the realism of Seán Keating, they also recognised the value of appearing ‘Modern’ and outward-looking on a world stage and in 1939 chose Jellett and Hone, among others, to represent Ireland at the New York World’s Fair. This political alignment is relevant to a reading of this picture because alongside its playfulness it has a serious tone. Éire is a telling title for Jellett to use for it is not the merely descriptive ‘Ireland’ nor the poetic ‘Hibernia’ but after 1937 it denoted the political name of the new state. In 1940 when this work was painted that nation was in a state of emergency and the outcome of the war far from certain. Éire is a picture of a land under siege surrounded by stormy seas and foreign foes. This gives poignancy to the devices used by the artist for the very existence of the way of life that they symbolised was under threat.

Seán Kissane
Curator of Exhibitions, IMMA

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

The Ernie O'Malley Collection

by
Whyte's
November 25, 2019, 06:00 PM GMT

38 Molesworth Street, Dublin, 2, IE

Terms

Live bidding may start higher or lower

Buyer's Premium

€0 - 224,999:30.75%
€225,000+:24.6%

Bidding Increments

From:To:Increment:
€0€99€5
€100€199€10
€200€499€20
€500€999€50
€1,000€1,999€100
€2,000€4,999€200
€5,000€9,999€500
€10,000€19,999€1,000
€20,000€49,999€2,000
€50,000€99,999€5,000
€100,000€199,999€10,000
€200,000€699,999€20,000
€700,000+€50,000

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(g) Any lot listed as a "collection, range, portfolio etc." or stated to comprise or contain a collection or range of items which are not described shall be put up for sale not subject to rejection and shall be taken by the purchaser with all (if any) faults, lack of genuineness and errors of description and numbers of items in the lot, and the purchaser shall have no right to reject the lot; except that, notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this sub-clause, where before a sale a person intending to bid at the sale gives notice in writing to, and satisfies the auctioneer that any such lot contains any item or items undescribed in the sale catalogue and that person specifically describes that item or those items in that notice, then that item or those items shall, as between the auctioneer and that person, to be taken to form part of the description of the lot. 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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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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