National Gallery of Ireland / Gailearaí Náisiúnta na héireann. IRISH ARTISTS PAINTING IN FRANCE at the National Gallery of Ireland

National Gallery of Ireland / Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann

IRISH ARTISTS PAINTING IN FR ANCE 1860–1915 at the National Gallery of Ireland

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IRISH ARTISTS PAINTING IN FR ANCE 1860–1915 at the National Gallery of Ireland

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National Gallery of Ireland / Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann

IRISH ARTISTS PAINTING IN FR ANCE 1860–1915 at the National Gallery of Ireland marie bourke & sarah edmondson

Contents

7 Foreword, Sean Rainbird, Director, The National Gallery of Ireland 8

Irish Artists Painting in France 1860–1915



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Why Irish Artists Trained Overseas



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The Training of Artists and The Salon



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The Artist’s Colonies



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The Barbizon School of Painters and Realism



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The Artist’s Colonies in Brittany

14 Naturalism

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Irish Artists in France 1860–1915

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20 Paintings in this Book (*denotes those in the essay)

18 Nathaniel Hone the Younger (1831–1917), A View of the Cliffs, Étreatat, c.1867*, Feeding Pigeons, Barbizon, c.1868

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Aloysius O’Kelly (1853–1936), Interior of a Church in Brittany, c.1879



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Sarah Purser (1848–1943), Le Petit Déjeuner, 1881, A Lady Holding a Doll’s Rattle, 1885*



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Harry Jones Thaddeus (1860–1929), Market Day, Finistère, 1882

22 Joseph Malachy Kavanagh (1856–1918), The Hôtel Beaumanoir’s Portal, Dinan, 1883, Village Street in Normandy, c.1885*

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Walter Frederick Osborne (1859–1903), Apple Gathering, Quimperlé, 1883



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John Lavery (1856–1941), On the Bridge at Grez, 1884*, Return from Market, 1884



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Helen Mabel Trevor (1831–1900), The Fisherman’s Mother, c.1893, Interior of a Breton Cottage, 1892*

26 Roderic O’Conor (1860–1940), The Farm at Lezaven, Finistère, 1894*, Still-Life with Apples and Breton Pots, c.1896–1897*, Bretonne or Breton Girl, c.1903–1904, La Rose du Ciel, Cassis or Pink Sky, Cassis, 1913* 27 William Leech (1881–1968), Waving Things, Concarneau, c.1910*, The Sunshade, c.1913*, A Convent Garden, Brittany, c.1913 29

Suggestions for further reading

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Appendix for Students and Teachers

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Arts Terms and Visual Literacy Art Term Projects

44 Acknowledgements

Foreword Sean Rainbird, Director, The National Gallery of Ireland

The National Gallery of Ireland is fortunate in having a choice selection of paintings created by Irish artists in France in the last decades of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book is illustrated with twenty paintings that were executed by ten Irish artists in France, including Nathaniel Hone the Younger, Aloysius O’Kelly, Sarah Purser, Harry Jones Thaddeus, Joseph Malachy Kavanagh, Walter Frederick Osborne, John Lavery, Helen Mabel Trevor, Roderic O’Conor and William Leech. The short concise essay discusses why Irish artists trained overseas during this period and what the nature of that training was. It explores the attraction of the many artists’ colonies and the learning that took place experienced by Irish painters, who engaged and interacted with other artists, whether French, British, American, North European or Scandinavian, and the affect that it had on their art.

It’s a lively colourful story showing the artists moving from town to village in France seeking new experiences and sources of inspiration. The book written by Marie Bourke, Keeper and Head of Education, contains twenty paintings from the Gallery’s collection with creative projects devised by Sarah Edmondson from Killinarden Community School - all of which cross and intersect at some point or in some fashion. This project draws attention to the fact that Gallery resources are available online and can be used in conjunction with our online collections at www.nationalgallery.ie. We hope that this publication will encourage students to visit the National Gallery of Ireland on guided tours and workshops during forthcoming school years.

There were many developments in art during this period and the paintings reflect some of these influences, including realism and naturalism, academic and salon painting, and latterly Impressionism and other modern movements.

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Irish Artists Painting in France 1860­–1915

Irish Artists Painting in France 1860–1915 at the National Gallery of Ireland The charm and appeal of the pastoral landscapes, subject pictures and striking portraits in this book largely comes from the way they conjure up an image of a lifestyle that harks back to an earlier time. For contemporary nineteenth and early twentieth century audiences, however, the paintings reflected nostalgia for the countryside and a life defined by the seasons that was in contrast to the increased industrialization of the period. Irish artists began to develop the custom of training on the Continent in the nineteenth century, particularly in France. This book spans the period 1860 to 1915 featuring works by Irish artists, who spent the last decades of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries working and training in France and the effect that it had on their art. It is illustrated by twenty images painted by Irish artists in France. Why Irish Artists Trained Overseas The pattern of Irish artists visiting France increased in the second half of the nineteenth century. Irish art schools, such as the Metropolitan School of Art and the Royal Hibernian Academy Schools in Dublin, the Crawford School of Art in Cork and the School of Art in Belfast, offered a solid grounding, followed by the potential of exhibiting at the Royal Hibernian Academy (1823), the Watercolour Society of Ireland (1870), or the Royal Ulster Academy (1879). However, young artists were naturally keen to travel, to study and to paint overseas. Artists who won the Royal Dublin Society Taylor Art Prize benefitted from the financial assistance that it provided enabling them to travel and study abroad. Although Irish artists had been attending art schools and academies in England for some time, they began to use London as a stepping-stone to train in European cities in the later nineteenth century. An increasing number of these looked directly to the Continent, several travelling to Antwerp (e.g. Walter Osborne), and others to Paris (e.g. John Lavery), and an increasing number went to Brittany (e.g. William Leech and Roderic O’Conor), to seek a broader art education, to gain access to a wider artistic environment and to experience the artist’s colonies.

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Nathaniel Hone (1831–1917), A View of the Cliffs, Étretat, c.1867. Oil on canvas, 61 x 92 cm, bequeathed by Mrs Hone in 1919, NGI 1429. Hone captures an early view of Étretat, which was the small fishing village below the cliffs north west of Le Havre that was beginning to be discovered by Gustave Courbet and other artists. It is a lively canvas showing villagers, fishing boats and nets on the beach.

A number of women artists also followed this route, travelling via London to study overseas, including: Edith Somerville (1858–1949) who went from London to Düsseldorf to Paris; Mary Kate Benson (1842–1921) studied in England and in Paris; both Constance Gore-Booth (1868–1927) and Helen Mabel Trevor (1831–1900) studied in London and Paris; and Sarah Purser (1848–1943) studied in Paris. The pattern continued well into the twentieth century pursued by a host of new women artists who were drawn to study and paint in France, including including Evie Hone (1894–1955), Mainie Jellett (1897–1944), Mary Swanzy (1882–1978) and May Guinness (1863–1955), to name but a few.

Sarah Purser (1848–1943),

Helen Mabel Trevor (1831-1900),

A Lady Holding a Doll’s Rattle, 1885.

Interior of a Breton Cottage, 1892

© The Artist’s Estate Photo © National Gallery of Ireland.

Oil on canvas, 63 x 46 cm, bequeathed by the Artist, 1900.

Oil on canvas, 41 x 31 cm, acquired in 1975, NGI 4131.

NGI 501.

This informal portrait of Purser’s friend, Mrs Julian Sturgis,

Interior of a Breton Cottage (signed ‘Helen Mabel Trevor f.

probably dates from a Paris visit of 1885. Mrs. Sturgis was the

1892’) shows an elderly woman absorbed in her task. The

wife of an American writer, who was interested in Irish politics

kitchen reveals a table, dresser and an open shutter letting

and who Purser met through mutual friends.

light in through a window. Trevor reflects an empathy with her subjects, whether children or fisherwomen.

The Training of Artists and the Salon exhibitions Artists training in France were aware of the elaborate state system for the control of French art, which included key organizations: • The official Académie des Beaux-Arts 1816 (a powerful state institution that oversaw French art). • The official École des Beaux-Arts 1648.

• The Salon 1725 (the annual public exhibition organised by the Academy on behalf of the state). • The alternative private/atelier systems and some new exhibition venues. The École des Beaux-Arts and Académie des Beaux-Arts: By the end of the nineteenth century there were a number of ways to train to become an artist in Paris, due to its many

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Roderic O’Conor (1860–1940), The Farm at Lezaven, Finistère, 1894. Oil on canvas, 72 x 93 cm, acquired 1961, NGI 1642. John Lavery (1856–1941), On the Bridge at Grez, 1884. Oil on canvas, 49 x 100 cm, presented by Lochlann and Brenda Quinn (Heritage Gift) 2008, NGI 2008.96. Two women look over the side of a bridge, the village of Grez-sur-Loing in the background. The young artist leaning on the bridge is Carlow-born artist, Frank O’Meara (1853–1888), who lived in Grez. The low key palette and even tone, links with the technique known as rustic naturalism, associated with Jules Bastien-Lepage.

art schools. The route that a number of Irish artists pursued was to study at the official École des Beaux-Arts (1648) in Paris, which was the state-sponsored school with a curriculum supervised by the official Académie des Beaux-Arts (1816). There was a competitive entrance examination in French to be passed, including assessments in anatomy and perspective, ornamental design and world history, followed by two six-hour drawing exams. It did not admit women students. Gaining a place at the École des Beaux-Arts was an achievement. Aloysius O’Kelly as a young Irish artist of twenty-one enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1874.

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Studio/atelier system: The private studio/atelier system was a popular method used regularly by Irish artists involving students copying drawings, engravings and paintings by the Old Masters, either directly in the Louvre or from reproductions, in addition to drawing and painting from life (a male/female model). They sourced their training and experience at the private studio/ateliers: Charles CarolusDuran (1838–1917); Léon Bonnat (1833–1922); Charles Gleyre (1806–1874); and Angelo Colarossi (1875–1949). The Académie Suisse was an example of a private art school founded by Charles Suisse, which did not include teaching but provided accommodation and life models. In the late nineteenth-century the majority of Irish artists enrolled at the Académie Julian. Established in 1868 by Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907), a painter and art administrator, it was known as the Académie Julian from 1873. Julian’s became one of the most successful private studio schools for art students. Tuition fees were relatively low, it was progressive if fairly crowded, it accepted students of all nationalities and women were on an equal footing to men. While it had an open-door policy, the artists nonetheless took their work very seriously. The work pattern included studying from engravings, then from the Antique,

The seventeenth-century farmhouse was used as a studio by artists, including Paul Gauguin in 1889, and O’Conor in 1893–1894, who became friends in Brittany. The landscape is based on vertical trees and horizontal vegetation, together with striped brushwork in reds, greens, pinks, violet and yellow, adopted between 1892 and 1894, suggesting the influence of Gauguin. Joseph Malachy Kavanagh (1856–1918),

followed by drawing from the live model. The art students learned from practice, having access to male and female models, were criticised by the visiting masters, and benefitted hugely from studying each other’s work. Julian’s was popular, known internationally and recognised as a rival to the École des Beaux-Arts. Sarah Purser, Harry Jones Thaddeus, John Lavery and William Leech are just a few of the Irish artists who studied at the Académie Julian. Thus, with modest tuition fees and cheaper accommodation, together with subsistence and studio rental, student life in Paris was cheaper than in London. Official Paris Salon: Once training was finished, most artists sought to have a work accepted by the Salon as a mark of the completion of their training and to demonstrate

Village Street in Normandy, c.1885. Oil on canvas, 53.5 x 35.5 cm, bequeathed in 1997, NGI 4641. This scene in Normandy, illustrates Kavanagh’s interest in street scenes and architectural detail. Movement has been created by the stooping woman and two hens crossing the cobble stones. Kavanagh’s harmonious use of colour is enhanced by the green plants on the balcony.

the quality of their work. The Salon (1725) was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890, it became the greatest annual or bi-annual art exhibition in Europe. It was the most significant event in the art calendar, where works could be

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the jury of the Paris Salon in 1863. There followed the Salon des Indépendants, a Society of Independent Artists formed in Paris in 1884, which organized large exhibitions on the basis of ‘no jury or awards’, together with the Salon d’Automne (Autumn Salon), which was a huge annual art exhibition held in Paris from 1903, considered to be a reaction against the conservative policies of the official Paris Salon. Both exhibitions became showpieces for twentieth century artistic developments. In 1889, Roderic O’Conor began exhibiting at Salon des Indépendants and in 1903 at the Salon d’Automne.

Roderic O’Conor (1860–1940), Still-life with Apples and Breton Pots, c.1896–1897. Oil on board, 49.5 x 55.5 cm, presented by AIB (Heritage Gift) 2003, NGI 4721. This simple arrangement of fruit on plates, jug and mug on a table with a dark red cover, was painted by O’Conor at Rochefort-en-Terre, Brittany between 1895-1898. The use of a bright palette of reds, blues, white and green, and careful modelling the crockery, especially the apples, gives a strong, fresh, presence to the still-life.

sold and artists’ reputations could be made. The Salon exhibited paintings floor-to-ceiling, printed catalogues and the published descriptions of the exhibitions marked the beginning of the career of the art critic. As many works were rejected by the jury, showing at the Paris Salon was an achievement. The twenty-two year old Irish artist, Harry Jones Thaddeus, was successful in having, The Wounded Poacher, c.1881 (National Gallery of Ireland, NGI 4487), a work designed to demonstrate the young artist’s talent, accepted by the Paris Salon in 1881. Alternative Exhibitions: The Salon des Refusés was an exhibition set up to display the many works rejected by

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The Artist’s Colonies Many of the Irish artists, having spent time at Julian’s, left Paris to paint in the artists’ colonies at Barbizon, Grez and in Brittany, some returning summer after summer. The colonies were communities of artists (mainly painters) who lived and worked in the French villages and towns. Although rural artists’ colonies had existed in France for most of the nineteenth century, their heyday was in the latter thirty years of the century and the first decade of the twentieth century. They declined somewhat after the First World War. The rise in the presence of painters using the colonies was due to the increasing number of artists training and practicing in France. The appeal was the opportunity they provided artists to remain painting in a town for a time, together with enabling painters from different backgrounds to socialise and observe each other’s work. They learned about painting from nature from a wide community of artists from France, together with Britain, America, Northern Europe and Scandinavia. They drew upon the example and influence of these painters to absorb concepts and ideas of successive French movements, including Romanticism, Realism, the Barbizon School, Salon Painting, and latterly Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. They found a way of life in Brittany that seemed authentic, harking back to an earlier time, as a result of which their own works reflected nostalgia for the countryside. This was in contrast the increased industrialisation of the period. Once they began exhibiting their works and news of the artist’s colonies spread, it caused a

steady stream of painters to migrate from the cities to the country. The Barbizon School of Painters and Realism The Irish artist Nathaniel Hone, who belonged to an earlier generation, went initially to Paris and then to the Forest of Fontainebleau in the late 1850s to learn from an important group of artists known as the Barbizon School (named after the village of Barbizon, outside Paris, where they worked in and around the forest of Fontainebleau), particularly Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875), Charles-François Daubigny (1817–1878), Jean-François Millet (1814–1875) and Pierre-Etienne-Theodore Rousseau (1812–1867). These artists painted directly from nature, out of doors (at least for sketches), and their attempts at capturing the changing effects of light and atmosphere greatly influenced the younger painters. Hone settled in Barbizon, where he painted the surrounding landscape for about thirteen years, before returning to Ireland. Another significant figure of this period was Gustave Courbet who, as the leading proponent of French Realism, challenged the primacy of history painting, a genre or type of painting favoured by the official Salons and the École des Beaux-Arts. He believed that the ordinary subject matter of contemporary life was a suitable theme for painting and, in portraying the harshness of daily life, he challenged contemporary academic ideas of art. Realism is a largely representational style of painting in which the world, its events, and the people are presented as they really are, unidealised. Courbet, as a well-known realist painter, had a lasting influence on younger artists. The Artist’s Colonies in Brittany The artist’s colonies of Barbizon and Grez were closer to Paris, while other colonies further afield in Brittany and the north-west of France were accessed by the railways. Brittany had the sense of a place apart. Visitors were attracted by its rugged landscape, seascape and the picturesque harbours with their boats, fishermen and seafaring activity. Of equal attraction to the artists were the Breton people with their traditional customs, food, distinctive regional

William Leech (1881–1969), Waving Things, Concarneau, c.1910. © The Artist’s Estate Photo © National Gallery of Ireland. Oil on canvas, 56 x 82 cm, bequeathed by Mr R. Best, 1959, NGI 1423. Leech visited Concarneau in 1903, returning often to paint the town, this view illustrating the walls of Concarneau, with a boat arriving in the harbour. The painting shows his use of soft tones and subdued palette reminiscent of James Abbott McNeill Whistler before he gradually changed to a brighter palette.

costumes and devout religious practices and festivals. In his autobiography, Recollections of a Court Painter (1912), Harry Jones Thaddeus described the experiences of an Irish artist in Britany. Some artists were aware of the poverty, disease and emigration that they had also witnessed in Ireland, aspects of which crept into their work. Helen Mabel Trevor, whose account of her travels in letters, published as ‘Ramblings of an Artist’ (1901), noted the precarious lives of the Breton fishermen. She illustrated the wives of the fishermen who were constantly worried about the safety of their menfolk The Irish painters, who were attracted to this picturesque part of France, stayed in villages, such as Quimperlé, Concarneau, Douarnenez and Pont-Aven, where they mixed with artists of other nationalities forming part of a wider movement of writers and artists, some of whom also

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travelled to paint in Normandy or in the South of France. Thus, from the 1870’s onwards, Breton works by Irish, together with English, American and French painters, began to appear at the Royal Hibernian Academy, the main exhibition venue in Ireland. Augustus Burke (1838-1891) was one of the first Irish artists to exhibit a Breton work at the RHA in 1876. Irish artists also showed in Cork, London, Liverpool and at the Paris Salon. Not alone did artists socialise together, but they used similar themes and settings, portrayed similar figures and sometimes used each other as models. The similarities can be seen in their paintings. The pattern of drawing and painting in the open air underpinned their artistic practice. They immersed themselves in nature by sketching and painting the landscape, discovering that working on the spot directly from nature helped them to see the changing effects of light and atmosphere on a subject, and to capture the freshness of the open air. Although artists had been painting direct from nature prior to this, the focus on open air painting at the artist’s colonies produced a range of new and diverse images and technical innovations. Roderic O’Conor’s The Farm at Lezaven, Finistère, 1894, drew inspiration from the local community and environment. Some early Impressionist artists may have been encouraged to paint in the open air through knowledge of painting direct from nature at the artist’s colonies. Claude-Oscar Monet (1840–1926), is an example of an artist aware of the open air painting techniques employed by the Barbizon painters. Of all the Irish artists, Roderic O’Conor possibly spent the longest period in Brittany in the nineteenth century.

to show figures, objects and the setting in a realistic way. Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1994) was a well-known French naturalist painter and one of the most influential painters in Brittany in the late nineteenth century. He influenced artists in the realistic way he painted people and places directly from nature. His low-key palette, even tones and ‘square brush’ technique were studied by the younger painters and they emulated the way he rendered natural detail and individual character. Younger painters aware of Bastien-Lepage’s considerable reputation would have emulated and developed his model of naturalism.

William Leech (1881–1969), The Sunshade, c.1913. © The Artist’s Estate Photo © National Gallery of Ireland. Oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm, presented, Mrs M. Botterell, 1952, NGI 1246. This is a painting of Elizabeth, Leech’s first wife, in the clothes of a modern woman. The use of a rich palette of cadmium yellow for the cardigan, contrasts with the viridian green umbrella, casting shadows on the model’s shoulder. Yellows and greens

Naturalism There were many trends in nineteenth-century French art to observe and learn from and most of the Irish artists in this book represent the diversity of these styles, including, academicism, Realism, the Barbizon School of painters, naturalism and open air painting (en plein air is painting out of doors). Academic art is generally considered as a style of painting originally produced under the influence of the European academies of art. It is referred to as the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French

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are repeated in the background lilies, topped off by the red, purple and lilac hat.

Academy regarding composition, drawing and the use of colour. In art, naturalism refers to imitating the appearance of the everyday world through minute observation of the natural world. In its simplest form, naturalism attempts

Irish Artists in France This book spans the period 1860 to 1915 illustrating ten artists, who spent the last decades of the nineteenth century working and training in France, just as in the early twentieth century a host of new Irish artists arrived. The French experience had a significant impact affecting Irish artists in a variety of ways, ranging from absorbing different techniques, to gaining a new interest in light and colour, developing a fresh approach to subject matter and experimenting with a brighter palette. The paintings illustrate their experiences of the local community and environment in a body of work that marks a particular phase in their careers. These experiences include the impact of the Barbizon painters on Nathaniel Hone, the impression of Parisian settings on Sarah Purser, the effect of the Breton environment on Harry Jones Thaddeus and Joseph Malachy Kavanagh, and the influence of the Breton people on Helen Mabel Trevor. Artists including, Aloysius O’Kelly, John Lavery and Walter Osborne, who produced a considerable body of work in France, belong to a tradition steeped in academicism and naturalism which, over time became a widespread influential movement. Living and working in Brittany inspired the distinctive use of colour and form in the work of the artists, Roderic O’Conor and William Leech.

Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940), La Rose du Ciel, Cassis or Pink Sky, Cassis, 1913. Oil on canvas, 75 x 93 cm, acquired in 2000. NGI 4680. In the early twentieth century, artists like O’Conor were attracted by the intense light and colour in southern France. He rented a pink-walled villa in the old part of the fishing town of Cassis, his balcony overlooking the Bay of Cassis and Mediterranean, and worked directly from nature, applying rich contrasting colours thinly. La Rose du Ciel was shown at the 1913 Salon d’ Automne, Paris.

artists continued to visit and paint in the open air, although the styles that influenced them varied, including new developments in art, such as Impressionism, Neo/ Post-Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism. This influence continued well into the century, with the arrival in France of a host of new Irish artists including Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett, Charles Lamb, Mary Swanzy, Jack Hanlon, May Guinness, to name but a few. Working and living in France holds a perennial attraction for Irish artists illustrated by the paintings in this book.

Thus, French art and the experience of living and working in France had a formative impact on a considerable number of Irish artists in the latter nineteenth century. As access to Brittany remained open during World War I, 15

20 Paintings in this Book (*denotes those in the essay)

Nathaniel Hone the Younger (1831–1917), A View of the Cliffs, Étreatat, c.1867*, Feeding Pigeons, Barbizon, c.1868. Aloysius O’Kelly (1853–1936), Interior of a Church in Brittany, c.1879. Sarah Purser (1848–1943), Le Petit Déjeuner, 1881, A Lady Holding a Doll’s Rattle, 1885*. Harry Jones Thaddeus (1860–1929), Market Day, Finistère, 1882. Joseph Malachy Kavanagh (1856–1918), The Hôtel Beaumanoir’s Portal, Dinan, 1883, Village Street in Normandy, c.1885.* Walter Frederick Osborne (1859–1903), Apple Gathering, Quimperlé, 1883. John Lavery (1856–1941), On the Bridge at Grez, 1884*, Return from Market, 1884. Helen Mabel Trevor (1831–1900), The Fisherman’s Mother, c.1893. Interior of a Breton Cottage, 1892*. Roderic O’Conor (1860–1940), The Farm At Lezaven, Finistère, 1894*, Still-Life with Apples and Breton Pots, c.1896–1897*, Bretonne or Breton Girl, c.1903–1904, La rose du Ciel, Cassis or Pink Sky, Cassis, 1913*. William Leech (1881–1968), Waving Things, Concarneau, c.1910*, The Sunshade, c.1913*, A Convent Garden, Brittany, c.1913. See www.nationalgallery.ie for more works from the National Gallery’s collection

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Feeding Pigeons, Barbizon, c.1868 Medium, support and dimensions: oil on panel, 70 x 56 cm Bequeathed by Mrs. M. Hone in 1919. NGI 1366. This fresh outdoor sunlit scene, showing a girl feeding pigeons within a domestic environment, illustrates a sureness of touch that shows Hone to be close to Jean-BaptisteCamille Corot (1796–1875). Hone, who had settled in Barbizon for a while, had been painting small studies of farm buildings and sheds, together with coastal and forest scenes. The girl standing in the shade forms a colourful subject with the sunlight falling on her arm drawing attention to her turquoise apron that holds the breadcrumbs. The strong contrast of light and shadow gives a sense of early morning, as the sunlight highlights the farmhouse and shutters, picking out the birds on the ground. Activity is present in the two white pigeons, who dive swiftly for crumbs on the grass. Hone became friendly with Corot during his visits to Barbizon and often dined with him. Influenced by Corot’s naturalistic landscapes with their bold brushwork, sense of tone and their harmony of greens, Hone’s depiction of a similar pastoral scene – the structure of the landscape and palette of grey-green and olive greens – all show his understanding of the style and techniques of Corot. This painting demonstrates how Hone’s time in 18

France taught him to capture aspects of the landscape and changing sky in a few brushstrokes. Nathaniel Hone the Younger (1831–1917) Born into a wealthy Dublin family, Hone was a descendant of the painter Nathaniel Hone the Elder (1718–1784). After graduating from Trinity College Dublin, he began working as an engineer on the railways. In 1853, he changed direction, going to Paris to study with Adolphe Yvon (1817– 1893) and in the studio of Thomas Couture (1815–1879). Hone marked a new departure for Irish artists by travelling to the Continent rather than to London for his training. From c.1857–1870 he stayed at the village of Barbizon, then at Bourron-Marlotte in the forest of Fontainebleau, where he met Millet, Corot, Courbet, and other French landscape painters, who were painting outdoors directly from nature. Hone executed studies of French peasants working or resting and scenes of the riverbank and forest. Corot and the mid nineteenth-century Barbizon school formed Hone’s main source of influence. Hone returned to Ireland in 1872. He showed at the Royal Hibernian Academy, where he became the Professor of Painting in 1894, and at international exhibitions. Between 1891 and 1892 he made a tour of the Mediterranean and the East. In 1901 Sarah Purser organized an important ‘Loan Exhibition of works by Nathaniel Hone and John Butler Yeats’ in Dublin.

Interior of a Church in Brittany, c.1879 Medium, support and dimensions: oil on canvas, 49.5 x 35.5 cm Acquired in 2006. NGI 2006.9. This painting focuses on religious devotion in the lives of the Breton people, illustrated by the figure of an old woman praying in a Breton church. She wears a distinctive Breton costume, with a white headdress or coiffe, symbolising regional identity and marital status. It is one of a number of paintings by O’Kelly set in the sixteenthcentury pilgrimage church of Locmaria-en-hent in Saint Yvy, renowned for its stained glass windows. Saint Yvy, between Pont-Aven and Quimper, was a short distance from Concarneau, the well-known fishing port that was an artist’s colony, which O’Kelly first visited in 1876. In travelling to Brittany, O’Kelly followed the practice of artists from throughout Europe and America, who came to paint the wealth of Breton subjects that this region offered. Constantly on the move around the region, he observed the people, their landscape and lifestyle. His paintings feature the villages and towns of Pont-Aven, Quimperlé, Concarneau and Douarnenez. O’Kelly is sensitive to the atmosphere of the old church, covered with green lichen and mould. The stained glass, statues and other icons, picked out in blue, pink, yellow and red, add colour to

the scene. Subjects such as this also featured in the work of the Irish painters Nathaniel Hill (1861–1934) and Augustus Burke (1838–1891). Aloysius O’Kelly (1853–1936) Born in Dublin, O’Kelly attended the École des BeauxArts in Paris in 1874, training in the academic tradition under Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904) and in portraiture with Léon Bonnat (1833–1922). He exhibited at the Royal Academy, London from 1874 to 1895, and the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1878. In 1876 he went to Pont-Aven, visiting Brittany in the 1870s and 1880s, where he adapted Bastien-Lepage’s naturalism, blending academic, realist and open-air painting, into a rural naturalism. Later in his career, he lightened his palette, broke up his brushstrokes and worked briefly in an Impressionist style. O’Kelly returned to Ireland in the early 1880s to become the Special Artist to the Illustrated London News, giving visual expression to the harsh realities of Irish rural life. Mass in a Connemara Cabin (on loan to the National Gallery of Ireland) was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1884. In the 1880s, he painted in North Africa. In 1895, he emigrated to the United States becoming an American citizen in 1901. In 1926, O’Kelly returned to Ireland after a long absence, travelling to paint in Brittany, before a final return to America where he died in 1936. 19

Le Petit Déjeuner, 1881 © Artist’s Estate. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland Medium, support and size: oil on canvas, 35 x 27 cm Richard Irvine Best bequest 1959. NGI 1424. This study of a woman in a dark costume is successfully captured by Purser’s observant eyes and skilful brushwork and is one a series of works that she executed in Paris. Painted in 1881, it portrays Maria Feller (1850–1926), an Italian music student and singer. When Feller was a voice and music student in Paris, she had shared an apartment with Purser and the Swiss artists Sophie Schoppi and Louise Breslau. The viewer’s eye is drawn to Feller’s pensive face with her dark eyes framed by a fringe as she gazes in the distance in a pose reminiscent of genre portraits by Degas. She is seated on a bentwood chair at a marble table and seems disinterested in her meal; a croissant and a gilt edged china tea cup and saucer, decorated in pink, green and blue. She wears a smart outdoor costume composed of a grey-brown jacket edged with a lace ruffle, blue skirt and brown bonnet. The ruffle is painted in overlapping layers of white on white, the paint applied thinly in parts giving a sketchy effect. In the background can be seen various objects including a shelf with a lamp, vase of flowers and a mirror. Purser succeeds in capturing the sense of ambiguity that surrounds Feller, together with her moody expression. 20

Sarah Purser (1848–1943) Born in Dublin into a wealthy family, whose fortunes fluctuated, Purser attended the Metropolitan School of Art before moving to Paris in 1878 to study at the Académie Julian. Returning to Ireland in 1879, Purser set about establishing herself as a portraitist, developing an accomplished style, becoming one of the most successful portrait painters of her time. She began exhibiting at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1872 and became the first woman to be elected a member in 1924. In 1901 she founded An Túr Gloine (1903–1943), the important and influential Irish stained glass co-operative workshop. In 1924 she founded the Friends of the National Collections. She held a regular salon at her studio in Mespil House attended by wellknown writers, politicians and artists, where she exercised her growing influence in the public sphere. In 1934 she and Sir John Purser endowed a scholarship that would become an annual series of Purser Griffith lectures on the history of art. Over a seventy-five year career Purser was involved in every cultural initiative, including supporting Hugh Lane (1875–1915) in establishing a Municipal Gallery of Modern Art and acting as a member of the board of the National Gallery of Ireland for twenty-nine years.

Market Day, Finistère, 1882 Medium, support and size: oil on canvas, 201 x 132 cm Acquired 1986. NGI 4513. This open air scene illustrates a beach at Concarneau on a market day, when a young woman pauses to look at some shellfish and chestnuts being offered to her by a young boy and an older woman. It is a busy scene. Women in Breton costumes sell goods on the beach, which occupies three-quarters of the canvas, leading up to the sea and grey sky in the background. The eye is drawn to the young woman carrying the basket of leeks. She wears a meticulously painted traditional Breton distinctive blue costume with its elaborate starched wide lace collar turned up at the shoulders, pink and white bonnet and black wooden sabots or clogs. This costume is in marked contrast to the plain, hard-wearing clothing of the boy and the old woman beside the brazier. Thaddeus is likely to have posed the young woman in the studio due to the fact that she emerges a more clearly defined figure and is painted in stronger colours than the more muted tones of the background. One of the most ambitious open-air Breton canvases painted by Thaddeus, it was executed at his studio in the Chapelle de l’Hôpital, Concarneau, during the winter of 1881–1882, and exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882.

Harry Jones Thaddeus (1860–1929) A painter of portraits, historical, literary and biblical works, landscapes and genre paintings, Harry Thaddeus Jones was born in Cork. In 1870 he attended the Cork School of Art. In 1882 and 1883 he was awarded the Taylor Prizes by the Royal Dublin Society. He studied at Heatherly’s Academy, London, followed by the Académie Julian in Paris under Gustave Boulanger (1824–1888) and Jules Lefebvre (1836–1911). His work, The Wounded Poacher, c.1881 (National Gallery of Ireland) was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1881. He painted in Brittany at Pont-Aven and Concarneau before moving to Florence, where he mixed with the European aristocracy. In 1885 he moved to Cannes, ending up in Rome, where he painted his portraits of, among other ecclesiastical figures, Pope Leo XIII (1885), Pope Pius X (1903), and Father Anderledy, General of the Jesuits. By 1885 Thaddeus was in London, but he continued travelling extensively throughout the 1880s, 1890s and into the twentieth century. He showed regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy, where he was elected a full member in 1901. In 1907 he emigrated to the United States, and in 1912 published his autobiography Recollections of a Court Painter. Around 1916–1918 he settled on the Isle of Wight, where he died.

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The Hôtel Beaumanoir’s Portal, Dinan, 1883 Medium, support and size: oil on canvas 56 x 38 cm Acquired 1950. NGI 1194. This work is better known as Old Convent Gate, Dinan however, the image is that of the fifteenth-century Portal of the Hôtel de Beaumanoir. Rather than illustrating the façade of the Portal in the sunshine, Kavanagh focuses largely on the yard in shadow. Kavanagh’s early career closely paralleled that of Walter Osborne and Nathaniel Hill having studied with them in Dublin, and in Antwerp at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts between 1881-1883, he also painted with them in Brittany. In 1883 Walter Osborne was in Dinan and he painted a very similar view of the Portal of the Hôtel de Beaumanoir and they may have worked together on this motif. However, Kavanagh’s painting shows a back view of an old man, wearing a hat, turquoise jacket and a satchel over his shoulder, with a similar figure appearing in several of his French and Irish paintings. In Osborne’s work, the old man faces the viewer. Kavanagh was a skilled academic landscape and seascape painter, influenced by French open-air painting and with an affinity for Northern European art. He successfully captured atmospheric light and weather effects in quiet, peaceful scenes notably of the coastline, and although his work included figures, he showed greater interest in street scenes and architecture. 22

Joseph Malachy Kavanagh (1856–1918) Kavanagh was nineteen when his work was first accepted by the Royal Hibernian Academy. He also won a silver medal at the Royal Dublin Society in 1875. In 1877–1878 he attended the Metropolitan School of Art and in 1879 the Royal Hibernian Academy Schools. In 1881, Kavanagh, Walter Osborne and Nathaniel Hill studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, where they attended Charles Verlat’s (1824–1890) life class. (Founded in 1663, the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp was one of the oldest in Europe with an established reputation as a Fine Art Academy attracting students from all over Europe). From 1883 to 1887 Kavanagh worked in Brittany and Normandy, returning in 1887 to Ireland. He was interested in etching, having made prints in Antwerp and Normandy, and in 1890 the Dublin Art Club issued a portfolio including five of his etchings. He taught at the Royal Hibernian Academy schools taking a keen interest in Academy affairs; in 1889 he was made an Associate, in 1891 a Member and in 1910 he was appointed Keeper of the Royal Hibernian Academy. Tragedy struck when during the Easter Rising of 1916, the Academy was burned to the ground. The contents, including many of his paintings, were destroyed. He was deeply shocked and died two years later. Kavanagh’s work chronicled the places and people he visited in oils, watercolours, drawings and etchings.

Apple Gathering, Quimperlé, 1883 Medium, support and dimensions: oil on canvas, 58 x 46 cm Bequest of Mr. P. Sherlock in 1940. NGI 1052. Walter Osborne was one of a number of Irish artists who went to Brittany, where his time from 1883–1884, although short, was very productive. In October 1883 he moved to Quimperlé, where he painted this, his best-known Breton painting. Osborne renders the lush fruitful orchards in a range of rich green colours, reserving blue for the girls’ costumes and white for the bonnets. In the background the rooftops of the town are stacked up towards the tower of Notre Dame de l’Assomption, viewed from Rue de l’Hôpital, softly painted in slate grey, blue and pink. His affection for children is evident in the sympathetic way he portrays the two girls, with their plain clothes, including bonnets, aprons and wooden sabots or clogs on their feet. In the foreground the taller girl shakes a forked tree with a long stick so that the apples fall to the ground. The smaller girl gathers the ripe apples to put in a large basket and the scene looks as though it is taking place in the late afternoon. Artists such as John Lavery and Frank O’Meara also depicted orchard and riverside scenes in the mid-1880s.

Walter Frederick Osborne (1859–1903) Born in Dublin the son of a painter of animals, Osborne attended the Royal Hibernian Academy Schools in 1876. In 1881 he won the first of many prizes, the Royal Dublin Society Taylor Scholarship enabling him to study at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp. Travelling to artists’ colonies in Brittany in 1883, he worked at Dinan, Pont-Aven and Quimperlé, where he was influenced by Bastien-Lepage, who used an even grey light and tone in his painting and promoted the square brush technique. He moved to England in 1884, spending nine years painting open air rural and coastal scenes. Osborne returned to Ireland in 1893, following the death of his sister. In 1886 he became a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, was a regular exhibitor and became a very influential teacher. His records of Dublin life in the 1890s demonstrated his absorption of French concerns with the effects of light and shadow reflecting some of their techniques of painting. He became an extremely successful portrait painter in Ireland, while continuing to produce genre pictures and naturalist landscape paintings of rural and urban subjects. He travelled to France, Spain and Holland in the mid-1890s, and died at the age of forty-three.

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Return from Market, 1884 Medium, support and dimensions: oil on canvas, 117 x 61 cm Presented by NAMA in 2011. NGI 2011.11. The theme of boating on the river as recreation or work was frequently used by Lavery. This work was painted at Grez-sur-Loing , a well-established artists’ colony close to Paris that attracted painters and writers from Europe and America, including Lavery’s compatriot Frank O’Meara. The presence of these artists made a significant contribution to the local community. Lavery enjoyed his stay in the village, returning for nine months the following year, and he later recalled it as being his happiest time in France. The high horizon line beneath which the scene takes place makes the format of the painting interesting and unusual. The scene is framed by the overhanging branches and the water lilies in the foreground. These lead the eye to the boat, at an angle to the picture frame, anchored by the oar in the water. Two women relax in the gentle motion of the boat as the girl with long red hair and a swinging skirt steers the craft towards the shore. While the majority of the painting is bathed in sunlight, leaving the main subject in shadow, this serves to emphasize the warm atmosphere of the Breton scene. The scene is enhanced by Lavery’s skilful handling of the effects of light, shadow and the reflections on the water. 24

John Lavery (1856–1941) Born in Belfast, Lavery moved to Scotland aged ten. Later apprenticed to a photographer in Glasgow, he attended the Hazeldene Academy, before moving to London in 1879 to attend Heatherley’s Art School. Lavery went to Paris in 1881, studying at the Académie Julian and Colarossi’s Studio. Towards the end of 1882, he began working in the open air direct from nature in the villages outside Paris. From there he moved to paint at the artists’ colony of Grez-sur-Loing, developing an intuitive grasp of the rustic naturalism of Bastien-Lepage that had a major influence on him. On his return to Scotland, he became one of the leaders of the Glasgow figurative school. Moving to London in 1896, he established a successful practice as one of the leading portrait painters of his generation in Britain and Ireland. In 1917, he was appointed Official War Artist to the Royal Navy. Lavery and his wife Hazel were interested in Irish affairs from 1916 onwards, and he painted portraits of those involved in the Treaty negotiations and the Treaty debate, 1921. By 1930s Lavery had travelled extensively, won numerous awards, was an Academician and a Knight of the Realm. He died while living with his stepdaughter in Kilkenny.

The Fisherman’s Mother, c.1893 Medium, support and dimensions: oil on canvas, 65 x 53 cm Bequeathed by the artist, 1900. NGI 500. This study successfully captured by Trevor’s observant eyes and incisive brushwork, is an example of her images of Breton peasant women that are so memorable for their sharp insight into character and personality. Trevor appears to have developed a strong sympathy with the elderly mothers of the fishermen she met in Brittany. The profound social realism of the work suggests the influence of both Dutch and French art. The painting is structured around a three-quarter length figure of an old woman, emerging from a dark background, seated and bent over her walking stick, around which is wrapped her rosary beads. She represents an imposing figure, with her piercing eyes and direct unflinching gaze hinting at great strength of character, just as the hands that grip the walking stick demonstrate a life of hard work supported by devout faith. Extremely fine and precise brushwork can be observed in the painting of the face and hands. Trevor’s careful placing of a mauve scarf and navy blue cloak over a worn brown jacket and blue skirt, capped by a white band on the forehead, serves to emphasize the woman’s pale careworn face. Trevor’s affinity with this community of women, whose husbands and sons faced danger at sea, is evident.

Helen Mabel Trevor (1831–1900) Born near Loughbrickland, Co. Down, Trevor learned to draw as a child. She began studying after her father’s death, first at the Royal Academy, London, and then in Paris c.1880 at the studios of Carolus-Duran and Jean-Jacques Henner (1829–1905), who both admitted women as pupils. She first visited Brittany in 1881, and was very taken by the region. Her Breton subjects include pictures of children, woodland landscapes reminiscent of the Barbizon School of painters and studies of elderly women. She spent six years in Italy, following which she returned to Paris in 1889, spending time again with Carolus-Duran. In the 1890s she visited Cornwall in England, returning frequently to paint in Brittany and Normandy. Trevor was very interested in the lives of Breton fishing people, their customs and traditions. She exhibited a small number of Breton scenes in Dublin, London and Paris. A selection of her letters ‘Ramblings of an Artist’ were published in 1901, the year after her death, including some descriptions and pen and ink drawings of her travels in Brittany. This painting was shown at the Paris Salon in 1893, at the Royal Academy, London in 1895, and later that year at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin.

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Bretonne or Breton Girl, c.1903–1904 Medium, support and dimensions: oil on canvas, 56.5 x 44.5 cm Presented by Glen Dimplex (Heritage Gift) in 2005. NGI 4751. O’Conor had been returning to Pont-Aven since 1901, painting a series of Breton women from 1903–1904, of which this is an example. This teenage girl sat for the artist on three occasions. The images came at the end of his Brittany period and contrast with his earlier La Jeune Bretonne or Young Breton Girl c.1895 (National Gallery of Ireland, NGI 4134) in which half the painting is in shadow and is not yet reflective of his expressive brushwork. In this painting, O’Conor’s use of stripes of bright paint to outline the girl’s face and features draws attention to her suspicious expression. She wears a navy costume edged with a wide white collar set against a dark background defined by broad thick stripes of red and green. Her face is composed of yellow and red brushstrokes, as touches of green, orange and red are employed to paint her hair, loosely pulled under a white linen coiffe or headdress. Employing these pure, vibrant colours, his work became distinctive from other Irish artists in its strong expressive quality. Through the use of this distinctive technique, O’Conor blends subject and background while still modelling the shapes. His work suggests the dual influences of Impressionist 26

and Post-Impressionist methods, while reflecting his own intensity of colour. O’Conor’s striking studies of Breton women comprise a formidable body of work. Roderic O’Conor (1860–1940) Born at Castleplunkett, Co. Roscommon into a comfortable background, O’Conor enrolled at the Metropolitan School of Art in 1879, and the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1881–1882. Following Walter Osborne, he enrolled at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp in 1883 studying under Charles Verlat. In 1884 he won the Royal Dublin Society Taylor Art Prize. In 1886 he arrived in Paris, where the Impressionists had been exhibiting since 1874, and Neo-and Post-Impressionists were exploring new techniques and fresh subjects. Attending Carolus Duran’s atelier he began to absorb these changes. By 1890 he was in Brittany developing his own ideas. At Pont-Aven he worked closely with the group of artists that had gathered around Paul Gauguin, although his work also reveals the influence of Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890). Between 1892 and 1894, he produced expressive figurative works adopting the stripes of pure colour that marked one of his technical innovations. In 1904 he settled in Paris and began to receive recognition. He visited the fishing village of Cassis in the South of France where his brushwork became lighter, looser and sketchy. In 1933 he married his model Renée Honta and moved to Neuil-sur-Layon, where he died.

A Convent Garden, Brittany, c.1913 © Artist’s Estate Photo © National Gallery of Ireland Medium, support and dimensions: oil on canvas, 132 x 106 cm Presented by May Botterell 1952. NGI 1245. Elizabeth Saurine Kerlin, whom Leech married in 1912, was the attractive American-born model for this painting. She is presented as a novice meditating with a prayer book in hand gazing towards heaven. Novices traditionally wore bridal costume on the day they took their final vows, as a symbol of becoming brides of Christ. The young novice is dressed in the traditional white gown and starched coiffe of a Breton bride, revealing her slim form beneath. The figure glides across the bright yellow grass, enriched with tall, white lilies. The painting glows with light and colour. Moving in the background are the nuns immersed in prayer in the shadows of a tree-lined avenue in the walled garden, ‘Les Soeurs du Saint Esprit’, who ran the hospital in Concarneau where Leech had recovered from typhoid fever. Sunlight streams into the garden as brushstrokes of white, green, mauve, yellow and touches of orange bring the lilies and grasses vividly to life. The painting’s careful structure is underscored by the precise drawing and execution of the girl’s figure, her still form contrasting with the intense colour and movement of the flowers and grass. The work combines Leech’s interest in Impression-

ism with the light, colour and decorative pattern of the Post-Impressionist palette. William Leech (1881–1968) This Dublin-born artist attended the Metropolitan School of Art in 1899, and the Royal Hibernian Academy schools in 1900, where he was influenced by Walter Osborne. In 1901 Leech enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris studying under Jean-Paul Laurens (1838–1921) and William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905). He won Royal Dublin Society Taylor Prizes in 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905 and 1906. From 1903 to 1915 he painted extensively in Brittany, particularly around Concarneau, his formal academic style changing to a lighter palette as his brushwork became more confident and fluid. His parents moved to London in 1910, and he lived there, dividing his time between England and France and exhibiting in Dublin and London. With the outbreak of World War I, he painted in the South of France a series of aloes (large cactus plants), and having enlisted. He spent the final six months of the war in a training camp. His marriage (1912) to Elizabeth Saurine Kerlin failed. Following her death he married May Botterell in 1953, who he had met earlier, in 1919. Leech rarely missed Royal Hibernian Academy exhibitions and was elected a member in 1910. His output included landscapes, subject pictures and portraits, still-life, domestic interiors and a series of late self-portraits. 27

Suggestions for further reading: Benington J., Roderic O’Conor, A Biography with a Catalogue of his Work, Irish Academic Press, 1992. Bourke M., and S. Bhreathnach-Lynch, Discover Irish Art, National Gallery of Ireland, 1999. Campbell J., Peintres Irlandais en Bretagne, Musée de Pont-Aven, Pont-Aven, 1999. Campbell J., Onlookers in France: Irish Realist and Impressionist Painters, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 1993. Campbell, J., Nathaniel Hone the Younger, National Gallery of Ireland, 1991. Crookshank A., and The Knight of Glin, The Watercolours of Ireland c.1600–1914, Barrie and Jenkins, 1994. Crookshank A., and The Knight of Glin, Ireland’s Painters 1600–1940, Yale University Press, 2002.

O’Grady J., The Life and Work of Sarah Purser, Four Courts Press, 1996. O’Sullivan N., Aloysius O’Kelly : Reorientations: Painting, Politics and Popular Culture, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 1999. O’Sullivan N., Aloysius O’Kelly: Art, Nation, Empire, Field Day, 2010. Rooney B., The Life and Work of Harry Jones Thaddeus, Four Courts Press, 2003. Sheehy J., Walter Osborne, National Gallery of Ireland, 1983. Snoddy T., Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20th Century, Merlin, 1996, second print 2002. Stewart A.M., Irish Art Loan Exhibitions 1795–1927, vols. I-III, Manton, 1990 and 1995. Stewart A.M., Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts Index of Exhibitors 1826–1979, vols. I-III, Manton, 1986 and 1987.

Davis C. (editor), National Gallery of Ireland Essential Guide, 2008. Ferran D., William John Leech, An Irish Painter Abroad, National Gallery of Ireland and Merrell Holberton, 1996. Johnston J., ‘Roderic O’Conor in Brittany’, Irish Arts Review, vol 1, 1, 1984.

See the National Gallery of Ireland collections and resources at www.nationalgallery.ie together with the website of other national and International museums and art galleries.

Le Harivel A. (editor), Taking Stock: Acquisitions 2000– 2010, National Gallery of Ireland, 2010. Lübbren N., Rural Artists’ Colonies in Europe 1870–1910, Manchester University Press, 2001. McConkey K., Memory and Desire: Painting in Britain and Ireland at the turn of the Twentieth Century, Ashgate, 2002. McConkey K., John Lavery: A Painter and his World, Atelier Books, 2010.

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Appendix for Students and Teachers

Guidelines for Teachers This book Irish Artists painting in France 1860–1915 is based on ten Irish artists who were painting in France towards the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It should provide students of all levels with the opportunity to discuss and explore Irish painting and its links and connections with France. Since joint publication of The Arts in Education Charter (2012), by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Department Education and Skills, it is hoped that each class from every school will visit the National Gallery of Ireland on a guided tour of the collection once during the school year. For bookings contact [email protected] or [email protected]. Primary School: Teachers are aware that the Primary School Visual Arts curriculum encourages the use of appropriate visual vocabulary. This is best achieved by looking and reacting to works of art. The activities in this book tie in with the Primary School strand unit ‘Looking and Responding’. Looking at works of art encourages students of all levels of ability because they don’t need to be able to read words to understand paintings, just as responding to images provides an opportunity to develop language skills. Ask your students to describe what they see and help them with suitable vocabulary (see ‘art terms’). Encourage them to name colours (yellow, red, blue), to describe them (bright, pale, dark), identify where objects are situated in the picture (the girl is at the back on the right side), gradually introducing concepts such as perspective, light and shadow. The cross curricular links and projects should help students to make connections between their imagination and the world and enable them to express their ideas and feelings in drawing, painting, constructing and inventing. This helps them to assimilate and respond to experience and to make sense of it. Use the images to talk about the scale, technique and paint texture of works of art. Explain that an original painting is unique and precious. Visit the National Gallery of Ireland on a pre-booked Discovery Tour.

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The Primary School Visual Arts Curriculum draws relationships between making, looking at and responding to art, suggesting 6 strands by which children can interpret the world: drawing, paint and colour, print, clay, construction, fabric and fibre. The images in this book can be used for discussions, to make cross-curricular links and to try out the suggested projects, which can be modified for each age group. In the teaching of History consider: • The year of the creation of one of the paintings. Plot the date on a timeline. • Discuss key events in national, European or international history around the date of the painting. Make links between these events and the theme of the painting. • Note the type and nature of the work/activity depicted in the painting. • Discuss the clothing and if and why it has changed over time? • What are the main modes of transport in one of the pictures? • Discuss one of the landscapes depicted – what are its main features? Is it urban or rural, how might that landscape have changed or stayed the same over time? • Make deductions regarding people and their lifestyles and the society in which they lived. Ask questions – why, what if, and how do we know? • Make a close-up drawing of one or two elements in the picture. • Discuss the buildings, their features and how they might have changed? • Paint/draw a scene from Irish history during the nineteenth century around the time of one painting.

• Write a letter to a figure in the painting from the perspective of a character in nineteenth century Ireland, telling them about your life. Interview a figure in the painting, asking them to tell you about life in their country at that time. Integrate Geography and Visual Arts by drawing on mapping skills using these points: • Find the country e.g. France, and/or the region in the painting on a map. • Discuss the relative locations of two places and the distances between them, e.g. Ireland / France. • Use political maps to name the regional and national centres in the country. • Use physical maps to locate and name the main geographical features marking the artist’s colonies on it. • Discuss bordering countries and the influences they have on a country. Encourage interaction between Music, Drama and Visual Arts. • In Drama, consider activities that involve basing a role-play or improvisation on a scene, or between two characters in a painting. • Ask the students to explore a scene in a painting, and use it as a pre-text. Encourage them to dramatise the imagined prior scene or next scene. Drama techniques such as still-life, thought-tracking and freeze-framing could be drawn into this work. • In Music, consider composing activities based on the paintings by Lavery or Leech. Students can use a range of sound sources to invent and perform pieces inspired by these works. Junior and Senior Cycle: Junior and Senior Cycle level students can use the images in support studies for the painting section, drawing on the information selectively to explain or expand on particular aspects of their work.

When studying Art it is essential that Junior and Senior Cycle students visit the National Gallery of Ireland on a pre-booked Structured Tour. Bring drawing materials to sketch from the paintings. On arrival at the Gallery, ask the guide to encourage discussion and interaction with the students so that they understand that paintings involve a world of people and places, history, real and imagined events, nature and still-life. Draw comparisons with other works of art, including those from earlier and more modern periods, which might involve telling the story of an artist’s life or form part of their own research. Sketch from the paintings and use the drawings to form part of support studies, projects, cartoons and/or storyboards. The Junior Certificate: The Junior Cycle Framework, launched by Minister Ruairí Quinn in 2012, includes ‘creativity and innovation’ amongst 8 principles, together with eight key skills. To complement the principles and skills, the learning that students experience in Junior Cycle is described through 24 statements of learning, which include the need for students to ‘create, appreciate and critically interpret a wide range of texts’ and ‘to create and present artistic work and appreciate the process and skills involved’. Short Courses: These relate to creating, appreciating and interpreting a range of texts, and to making and presenting artistic work, while understanding the processes involved. The Junior Certificate Art Course new Framework for Junior Cycle will offer the option of school-developed art history ‘short courses’ for which this book is ideal. Irish Artists Painting in France 1860–1915 could form a mini course compared with other themes in nineteenth-century art, including war, poverty, famine, drawing cross-curricular links with music, literature, design, film, photography and the social cultural history of the period. Learning Aim and Outcomes: Use the NGI website to further research Irish artworks relating to this book. Try placing them in a wider art historical context by describing the social context and comparing and contrasting the works according to their subject matter and formal qualities. The discussion points and projects address some learning outcomes: 31

STUDENTS AND TEACHERS: Link the following discussion points about the artworks; Cross-Curricular Links to other subjects and try out the Projects and Ideas with each of the 20 paintings.

• Explain the terms Barbizon School of painters and painting direct from nature out of doors. • Describe some of the painting techniques used by the artists in this Irish art book. • Name a number of artists involved in the Barbizon School of painters and its development. • Discuss the influences of late nineteenth century French art styles on Irish painting towards the end of the nineteenth century. • List and describe a number of paintings by Irish artists who painted direct from nature in France in the last decades of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. • Define key terms: Realism, Barbizon School of painters, Naturalism, painting direct from nature (or en plein air often referred to as open-air painting). • Discuss the wider impact of academicism, Realism, Barbizon School of painters, painting direct from nature and Impressionism on Irish art. • Use a variety of art elements in the creation of an art work that is inspired by one of the late nineteenth century French art styles. • Compose a landscape using the art elements: texture, tone, shape, form, scale, and colour. • Demonstrate an understanding of perspective (onepoint perspective, overlapping, scale, and colour).

This book could form a compact module on Irish Artists painting in France 1860–1915 for students who have not studied art. Themes that can be explored include: the portrayal of nature and the built environment, the changing nature of painting, the role of women in art, the move from people to nature, from the studio to painting out of doors, from academicism to painting direct from nature and beyond. Tailor discussion points and the projects to their level. The Gallery’s collection can be used to trace the changing history of France by drawing on rural scenes by Hone and urban scenes by O’Kelly, Lavery and Trevor linking them to French or Geography. Transition Year is an ideal opportunity to bring students on a tour and workshop exploring the collections of the National Gallery of Ireland. Leaving Certificate: Irish Artists Painting in France 1860–1915 and its wider links to Irish art s central to the Leaving Certificate Art History syllabus. The techniques involved, the everyday subject matter, the gradual movement away from a more academic style to a greater degree of naturalism and painting direct from nature, are important to art and relevant to Senior Cycle art education. The introductory essay is structured so that it can be combined with details of the work of art, the artist’s life and the wider social history of the period. Students can draw upon exhibition notes and other Leaving Certificate Art information. It is essential that students visit the National Gallery of Ireland to see the original works of art. They can obtain more information on the collections on the Gallery website at www.nationalgallery.ie.

Nathaniel Hone the Younger (1831–1917) A View of the Cliffs, Étreatat, c.1867 (page 8) Feeding Pigeons, Barbizon, c.1868 (page 18) Some thoughts about the paintings Can you work out the time of the day in both paintings and what the people are doing? Think about words that best describe the atmosphere – is it the same for each work? Hone used naturalistic colours. Think about this and compare his works with that of Corot. Cross-curricular links Art Discuss the pattern of Irish artists, of which Nathaniel Hone is an example, who travelled to France in order to study French art and to learn about painting the landscape directly from nature.

Suggested Projects • Paint /draw a scene that illustrates a figure taking an imaginary walk down the path in the painting. Is there a farmyard, fields and other animals included, where does the path lead to? Alternatively take the boat out to sea, who is coming with you, what do you see and do. • Study the paintings in order to examine all the different shades of green. Try to make twenty shades of green by adding different amounts of yellow, blue and red to the green paint. Do not allow the colours to become murky. • Discuss the importance of birds, identify some birds and their sounds. Take photographs and sketches of birds in any location from all kinds of angles. Make a composition out of the studies. Write a text about what you have observed about birds and their lives.

Geography/History Locate Barbizon on a map of France. Discuss the history of the region. Why are both Barbizon and Fontainebleau important places? English Write a descriptive text continuing the story of one of the paintings. Imagine you are sitting on the sand or on grass. Describe the atmosphere, the sound of how it feels under your feet. Are you on your own, and how will you interact with the figures in the pictures?

Transition Year: Students today are constantly looking at images on screens. They have their own likes and dislikes. Encourage them to articulate their views about a picture. A student’s critical sense can be developed by asking them to discuss what they see in an image. Avoiding details about an artist’s life as it has little to do with the looking experience. Introduce points about the artist when they are exploring why the painting was made, the source of inspiration and how the artist achieved certain effects.

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Aloysius O’Kelly (1853–1936) Interior of a Church in Brittany, c.1879 (page 19) Some thoughts about the Painting Describe the interior of the church and what you think the woman is doing? How has the artist created the illusion of space? Cross curricular links Art Examine the architecture of the church (e.g. the vault and pillar are used to carry the weight to the ground). Compare Gothic with Romanesque churches. Geography Identify native and traditional costumes. Are they used today or displayed in museums? Compare this painting to another work e.g. Thaddeus’s Market Day, Finistère; Trevor’s Fisherman’s Mother or O’Conor’s Breton Girl. What are the similarities and differences? What tradition do these paintings come from? Ask the students which paintings they like and ask them to explain why. History Paint/draw a scene from Irish history during the nineteenth century around the time of this painting. It might be a famine or post-famine scene, fishing or gathering seaweed, or a school scene (hedge schools). Science Explain how green lichen and mould grow. Explore stained glass and how it is made. Suggested Projects • Look at an architect’s blueprints. Make some architectural drawings using white pencil or chalk on blue paper. Use a ruler to create these drawings

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Sarah Purser (1848–1943) Le Petit Déjeuner, 1881 (page 20) A Lady Holding a Doll’s Rattle, 1885 (page 9) Some thoughts about the painting Purser was influenced by the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas (1834–1917). Compare and contrast the range and variety of their work. These paintings are female representations of another female. Would they look different if they were painted by a man? Discuss women painters and look at the representation of women in art. Cross-Curricular Links Art Explain portraiture and genre painting as categories of painting. Give examples of genre painting. Home Economics/Geography Describe the range of foods eaten in different countries for breakfast e.g. croissant, eggs, tea, cheese and black pudding etc. Discuss the food that generates energy. English Discuss the importance of cafés to all kinds of artists: musicians, painters, film directors, dancers, writers and poets etc. Write a descriptive text about the characters and personalities that frequent cafés. Describe each figure. Include some of the dialogue that might take place between the artists. Suggested Projects • Make a still-life drawing of all the objects on your table at breakfast or a range of children’s toys. Take one of these objects and do a detailed drawing of it, paint the drawing in two colours. • The kitchen table can be a very intimate place. Discuss and explore this idea. Photograph or draw a family member or a friend during a meal.

Harry Jones Thaddeus (1860–1929) Market Day, Finistère, 1882 (page 21) Some thoughts about the painting • Describe what the men, women and children are doing on the beach. Is this a deep painting? • Discuss Breton costumes. What do women wear today when working? Name the different uniforms that men and women have to wear and explain their practicality and function. • The Salon was the important annual exhibition in Paris. Discuss annual exhibitions in Ireland including the Royal Hibernian Academy, Watercolour Society of Ireland, Royal Ulster Academy, where the works are also selected by a jury. Are catalogues available of the exhibitions and are they reviewed by art critics?

Suggested Projects • Draw a scene from memory or from imagination of a day at a market or at a fair, in Ireland or overseas. • Explore the paintings in the book and list any that contain Breton costumes. Compare how each artist has depicted the costume and how it fits into the setting. Design an elaborate collar or neck piece using cardboard, wire, fabric, and recycled materials. Look at circus costumes, Victorian clothes and the ballet and theatre, for ideas. • Create a work of art based on the beach (photograph, collage, sculpture, painting). Use found materials: seaweed, driftwood, shells, rope, sand, pebbles. Draw studies on the beach, of individual objects, the sky. Document the process

Cross-Curricular Links Art/History Discuss the range of national costumes. Are they hand spun and hand stitched or made by machines in a factory. Where are national costumes worn today? Illustrate one costume. Why was the Salon important for artists? Did any painters in this book have their works exhibited there? Home Economics Examine the health benefits of eating fresh food over frozen food. History Paint/draw a scene from Irish history during the nineteenth century around the time of this painting. It might be a landlord and tenant scene e.g. eviction or emigration. Business Studies Discuss the value of buying local produce. Explain why superstores can sell food cheaper. What is the value of small shops and why are they important? Are any foods produced in your area?

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Joseph Malachy Kavanagh (1856–1918) The Hôtel Beaumanoir’s Portal, Dinan, 1883 (page 22) Village Street in Normandy, c.1885 (page 10) Some thoughts about the painting Describe the mood and atmosphere in these paintings and how it has been created. Kavanagh was an academic painter who liked to paint directly from nature in the open air. Discuss this statement. Are there any other Irish artists who might fit this description? Cross-Curricular Links Art These paintings provide excellent studies of light. Identify where the source of light is coming from and closely analyse the highlights and the cast shadows. Kavanagh was particularly interested in painting and drawing street scenes. Look at contemporary urban art or street photography and compare these works with Kavanagh’s. Use headings such as, material, subject matter, technique, colour and mood in order to compare and contrast the images. Geography Look at the architecture of different cities and compare and contrast them e.g. compare Dublin with Venice, Paris, Athens, Hong Kong or Tokyo. Technical Drawing Show the students how to draw an arch or a bridge in one-point perspective.

Suggested Projects • Describe all of the textures in these paintings. Ask the students to make rubbings of all of the different textured surfaces in the classroom or the school workroom. • Discuss the subject of how people behave in public and in domestic settings. They could hold a photography competition or an exhibition with the title ‘People in Places’ and base their photographs on a local market. • Kavanagh captured atmospheric light and weather effects. Place an object (jug, bowl, glass) on a table, shine a lamp on it and study the patterns and shadows created by artificial light. Take the still-life outdoors and observe the effect of natural light on the objects and the quality of the shadows. Take sketches and document this process.

Walter Frederick Osborne (1859–1903) Apple Gathering, Quimperlé, 1883 (page 23) Some thoughts about the painting What time of year is it and how do you know? What are the girls doing and why? Discuss the costumes, bonnets and wooden sabots or clogs. What might Breton children wear today? Explore the nature of childhood then and now. Cross curricular links Art Look closely at the painting. Did Osborne use a square or a round paintbrush? Research and experiment with the ‘square brush’ technique. Try other paintbrushes. Geography Discuss seasonal and regional fruit and vegetables. Identify the location of the produce on a map. Science Explain the growth of the apple tree. Explore how a seed develops into a tree. Home Economics Examine the nutritional value of an apple in order to investigate the famous saying ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’.

John Lavery (1856–1941) Return from Market, 1884 (page 24) On the Bridge at Grez, 1884 (page 10) Some thoughts about the painting What is happening in these paintings? Can you identify the flowers, are the women in a hurry and how do we know the boat is moving? Describe what is taking place on the bridge and how it might develop. How has the artist used flowers and trees as framing devices? Discuss the unusual angle of the bridge and the river. Explain framing devices, why they are used and how artists use them to lead the eye into the foreground or background. What attracted Lavery to an artist’s colony and to paint these images? Cross-curricular links Art The water lily is a frequent motif in paintings. Find other artists that have painted the lily or another flower (sunflower) or tree (poplar) as a key element of their subject matter.

Apples are versatile fruits grown locally and used in a number of different recipes. Discuss a range of dishes using apples and make a traditional apple tart or pie. Suggested Projects • Cut up some fruit and allow it to dry. Use pieces of the fruit to make prints. Ask the students to create regular and irregular patterns. Give them sheets of newsprint so that they can design their own wrapping paper. • Set up a still-life arrangement of green fruit only. Demonstrate how to create form and texture through shading, using a variety of green pencils, pastels or chalks.

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History Discuss the history of Ireland in the late nineteenth century (the social and political situation) and Lavery’s later involvement in documenting Irish historical events. Paint/draw a scene from Irish history during the nineteenth century around the time of this painting. It might be a political scene, a battle scene or a scene from Irish life. Geography Research the subject of artists’ colonies. Draw a map of France and mark Paris on it (as the centre of the art world during this period). Insert on the map some of the artist’s colonies listed in the book, e.g. Barbizon, Grez, Marlotte, Dinan, Pont-Aven, Concarneau and Douarnanez. Include any other artists’ colonies that you have traced and note the artists they are associated with. Science Explore the type of fish, animals, birds or fresh water vegetation in and around a pond. Suggested Projects • Make water lily badges (or another flower), from paper or sculptural pieces from clay. Cut the shape of each petal and lily pad separately and combine them to create the overall flower. • Ask the students to plan an imaginative landscape. Consider the height of the horizon line and how it will affect the composition. How will they create the illusion of space? What colours will be used to create a particular mood or atmosphere? Include a framing device as part of the landscape. Display all the works on the classroom wall to observe the variety of images created. • The atmosphere in these paintings is of a warm summer’s day. How do the feelings of summer in these paintings contrast with the other works in the book? Create a collage of your summer holiday using sketches, photographs, newspaper/magazine clippings. Describe it.

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Helen Mabel Trevor (1831–1900) The Fisherman’s Mother, c.1893 (page 25) An Interior of a Breton Cottage, 1892 (page 9) Some thoughts about the paintings • Describe the kind of lives these women might have led. • Discuss the life of a fisherman (boats, fish, nets) and a farmer (animals, crops, harvesting); consider the open air lifestyle. The dangers of fishing and protected fishing waters. Concerns over accidents on the farm and pesticides. Why does this lifestyle appeal to so many people? Cross-Curricular Links Art Look at the representation of older people in art. Why are old people more interesting to look at than young people? Discuss artists, such as Rembrandt, who have successfully illustrated diverse paintings of older people.

CSPE Discuss the difference between old age in the nineteenth century and the twenty-first century. How do people in later life prepare themselves so that they can maximize the potential of a happy and fulfilling life in older age (diet/ exercise). What difficulties do people in later life experience in society and what organizations can help them. Science Examine the effects of old age on the body and its organs and how this can be alleviated for a considerable time through diet, exercise and a positive outlook. Suggested Projects • Complete a drawing of your hands. Pay close attention to the skin, veins and dimples. Ask an older person (uncle, grandmother) if you can draw their hands. Put all the studies on the wall and observe the differences in each of the drawings. Which ones are the most interesting to look at? • Ask the students to make studies of older people. Find examples of works by other artists on this theme, e.g. Rembrandt. Compare and contrast how artists illustrate older people – are these studies positive, attractive and affectionate, depicting a contented view of people in later life, or sad, isolated and lonely views of life in older age? Discuss this subject.

Roderic O’Conor (1860–1940) The Farm at Lezaven, Finistère, 1894 (page 11) Still-Life with Apples and Breton Pots, c.1896-1897 (page 12) Bretonne or Breton Girl, c.1903–1904 (page 26) La Rose du Ciel, Cassis or Pink Sky, Cassis, 1913 (page 11) Some thoughts about the painting • Is colour a key factor in these pictures and why? Which of the images do you like and why? • Discuss the Breton girl; describe her expression and what she might be thinking. Examine the colours used on her bonnet and hair and why the artist has used them. Which direction is the light coming from? • Do contrasting colours and strong brushwork seem important to you in the painting of the farm? • Examine the way the still life has been structured and describe the colours and brushwork. • What is the mood and atmosphere of the Cassis painting? Do you like the colours. • Were any artists in this book aware or influenced by Impressionism, Neo/Post-Impressionism? Cross-curricular links Art The artist has made good use of complementary colours in these works. Examine the ratio of the complementary colours used. Using paint, give examples of complementary colours. Explore painting using stripes of colour and its links to the ‘divisionist’ Neo-Impressionist painting technique. Look at other examples of works using these techniques. Create a painting of a landscape or a person using a similar technique of painting in stripes of pure colour. Science Explain that there is no such thing as the colour white or the colour black. Black is the absence of colour and white simply reflects the colours around it. Examine the colour wheel, exploring and testing each colour one by one on a 39

sheet of paper using pencils, pastels or paint. English Write a poem or a Haiku about your favourite colour. Compare traditional Japanese Haiku poems with contemporary Haiku poems written in English. Is colour a good theme for writing? Discuss Paul Gauguin and the artists that gathered around him at Pont-Aven and where O’Conor fitted into this circle of artists in Brittany. Write a text about the lifestyle of these artists. Suggested Projects • Using only primary colours, ask the students to make a tonal grid. Make ten different greens by adding small amounts of blue to yellow paint. Make ten different purples by adding different amounts of blue to red paint. Continue this exercise in tones of different colours. • Gather a variety of white or grey objects and materials. Using various tints and tones, encourage the students to make a white or grey painting, describing the forms and textures through subtle tonal variations. Could they describe their ‘shades of grey’ painting in writing? • Make a collage of a person, still life or landscape, search out different items to give the collage texture. Use different colours to produce a colourful lively composition.

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William Leech (1881–1968) Waving Things, Concarneau, c.1910 (page 13) The Sunshade, c.1913 (page 14) A Convent Garden, Brittany, c.1913 (page 27)

Cross-Curricular Links Art Explain and demonstrate how to make tints and tones, using the colours found in the novice’s dress.

Some thoughts about the painting Describe the brushstrokes in these paintings. Are the brushstrokes in the foreground different to those in the background? Consider the range of colours employed in the three paintings.

Make a list of words that describe this painting e.g. calm, fresh, shadows, dazzling, spiritual, sunny, bridal, contemplative, etc. Put the image on a screen. Ask the students to find the words that best describe the painting, and they should place the words on the image and explain what each word means.

Discuss fashion of this period, focusing on shapes, silhouettes and the role of the designer. Explore the colours in the ‘white’ dress of the novice. Consider the design of a dress in shades of white. Examine the structure of The Sunshade, the space between figure, umbrella and background. Explore art schools (Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick) and admission requirements. Research the awards available e.g. the RDS Taylor Art Prize is awarded annually and an exhibition is held of the winners.

Religion Discuss spirituality and how it is represented visually. Is this a peaceful or contemplative painting? Discuss the value of religion/spirituality today and if costumes are still worn by religious figures. Suggested Projects • Make a colourful landscape painting using a technique of thick impasto brushstrokes. • Use white lilies (or another flower) as the subject of a painting. Look at Leech’s painting for inspiration and refer also to any other artists who paint flowers, e.g. Vincent Van Gogh. • Discuss the design of an umbrella, where does it appear in nature (trees, mushrooms, cobwebs), sketch the links with nature. How has the parasol or umbrella been used in fashion? Design an outfit based on fashion c.1913 including a parasol or umbrella.

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Art Terms and Visual Literacy Art Term Projects

Art Terms: Some Words to Describe Works of Art pattern model/pose features

emotion impression

decorative imagination anatomy

context

mood

shape/form skill

drawing/design hard/soft

atmosphere

painterly likeness

expression canvas

evocative

colour

natural/artificial real/realistic

collage

portray

style/stylisation

shadow/shading

movement

illustrator

silhouette

pigment

balance

define

technique sculpture

sketch fashion rhythm

texture genuine

volume

line/linear

composition

crosshatching

fresh

horizon

cold/cool colours

warm/hot colours

authentic

unrealistic

pastels

loose/free

tight/controlled

tone primary

image

light/highlight

allude/suggest

define/outline

still-life

graphic art

portrait

landscape

seascape

open-air painting

rural

Visual Literacy Art Term Projects Use some of these art terms to encourage visual literacy. • Photocopy the art terms. • Cut up the words and use them in individual projects and in group work. • Display the art terms around the classroom so the students have the opportunity to study them. Place the student-made responses with each art term. • Give the students a theme for a collage using art terms. Select the words carefully so the theme of the collage can be understood. Allocate time for this project. When completed, ask the students to describe and explain their collage.

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• Circulate the series of art terms with images of paintings. Ask the students to select whatever words best describe the artwork. Allow each student the opportunity to discuss and describe an artwork to the class. • Suggest the students make an artwork, using only two colours in response to an art term. Exhibit all the works in the classroom so the different responses can be seen and studied. Ask each student to discuss their choice of art term. Give the reasons why they selected their colours. What do they feel is the effect or benefit of painting using just two colours?

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Acknowledgements Art Teacher: Sarah Edmondson, Killinarden Community School, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Department of Education and Skills: Amanda Geary, Clare Griffin, Pádraigh Mac Fhlannchadha and Breda Naughton. National Gallery of Ireland: Joanne Drum, Lydia Furlong, Roy Hewson, Valerie Keogh, Donal Maguire, Andrew Moore, Louise Morgan, Orla O’Brien, Caoilte O’Mahony, Sean Rainbird, Brendan Rooney, and the Digital Media Team: Claire Crowley, Andrea Lydon, Catherine Ryan, Catherine Sheridan. Reader: Kate O’Donovan. The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Published in 2014 by The National Gallery of Ireland Merrion Square West Dublin 2 Ireland

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Text Copyright © Marie Bourke and Sarah Edmondson and the National Gallery of Ireland 2014. All photos © National Gallery of Ireland. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the National Gallery of Ireland. ISBN 978-1-904288-51-0 Designer: Jason Ellams Copy Editor: Ken Chambers, KTCProofing.com Printed in Ireland by: Hudson Killeen Cover: William Leech (1881-1968), The Sunshade, c.1913 © The Artist’s Estate Photo © National Gallery of Ireland . Back cover: Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) Still-life with Apples and Breton Pots, c.1896-1897 (detail) Photo © National Gallery of Ireland.