Lot 5: Samuel C. Taylor (1870-1944) Girls at The Water's

Samuel C. Taylor (1870-1944) Girls at The Water's Edge, Brittany Oil on canvas laid on board, 24.5 x 31.8cm (10 x 12½'') Provenance: Samuel Taylor Studio Sale, DeVeres, Dublin, 16th June 1998; where purchased by the current owner Exhibited: ''Peintres Irlandais en Bretagne'' Musée de Pont Aven, Pont-Aven, 26 June - 27 September 1999, cat. no. 51, illustrated p 91; ''Irish Painters in Brittany'', Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, May - July 2001 ''The French Connection'' The AVA Gallery Aug/Sept 2010, The Hunt Museum Sept/Oct 2010, Cat. No. 24 Literature: ''Peintres Irlandais en Bretagne'',Catherine Puget [et al], 1999, Musée du Pont-Aven ''The French Connection'' 2010 Full page illustration p46 Samuel Taylor was born in Belfast in 1870. He attended Belfast School of Art in the 1890s, where he won several prizes. He married in 1902 and moved with his wife to London. It was not until he was in his forties that he began painting in Brittany, but the experience of working there revolutionised his painting. From 1911-13, Taylor made summer visits to Concarneau, Le Pouldu, Guemene; and also visited Quimper, Quimperle and Pont-Aven. He became friends with English artist Joseph Milner-Kite, the American Henry Dearth and with Norman Garstin. In summer 1912, he went to Guemene-sur-Scorff to join Garstin's summer class there, he then joined Dearth at Le Pouldu where he was influenced not only by Dearth but also by Jean-Pegot. By 1913, Taylor returned to Concarneau and his Breton visits became prolific, he produced many colourful studies of the scenery in a Post-Impressionist manner, applying paint boldly with a palette knife. Just before and after the First World War, Taylor exhibited Breton pictures in Dublin. He returned to Belfast, where he worked as a teacher, and painted portraits and Irish landscapes.