Go Back The Ernie O'Malley Collection in association with Christie's - 25 November 2019

Lot 59

THE LAND ÉIRE, 1940

Mainie Jellett (1897-1944)

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Showing Lot 1 of 1

Estimate: €26,000 - €40,000

Price Realised: €110,000

Signature: signed and dated lower left

Medium: oil on canvas

Size: 24½ x 29½in. (62.23 x 74.93cm)

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

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

With an unfinished abstract composition on reverse.

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

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

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

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

Seán Kissane
Curator of Exhibitions, IMMA

Auction Details
T&Cs
Bidding

Whyte’s, in association with Christie’s, offered works from The Ernie O’Malley Collection, highlighted by five paintings by Jack Butler Yeats. Comprised of 100 lots, also including early sketches by Yeats and work by the artists Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, Louis le Brocquy, Colin Middleton and Norah McGuinness, the auction formed an anthology of Irish art from the early 1900s to the 1950s. Ernie O’Malley was a leading revolutionary an in Ireland from 1916-22 who went on to publish two books detailing his experiences. The sale and international exhibitions provided an opportunity to discover his private passion for art and the relationships he developed with artists he encountered in America and Ireland.

The collection grossed €5.5 million, the highest result for an art auction in Ireland, including record breaking realisations for several works.

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Clause 1
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Clause 5
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Clause 6
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Special Conditions
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WHYTE AND SONS AUCTIONEERS LIMITED, 2018.

IMPORTANT IRISH ART "VIRTUAL" AUCTION

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More details:
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How to bid:
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Example: Bidder A leaves a maximum bid of €100, bidder B leaves a maximum bid of €200 on the same lot. Bidder B then has the winning bid unless another bid that beats B’s maximum is received before the end time.

· If you are outbid you will be notified immediately by email. You have up to the end time to counter bid
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· When the timed auction finishes, winning bidders will be notified by email. The timed lots will close at the specified date and time and will close in chronological order with 1 minute between each lot before it closes

A FEW TIPS FOR ABSENTEE BIDDERS:
Bid the maximum price you would pay for the lot; we will try and secure the lot for you at the lowest possible price. For instance if you bid €2,000 on a lot and the highest other bid we receive is €1,200 you get it for €1,250.

Most people tend to bid in round numbers, e.g. €500. It’s often a good idea to bid an odd number, e.g. €520, or €540 which will outbid an even number.

Check the results the day after the sale: these are published on our website www.whytes.ie at about 10am on the day after the sale. Successful bidders are also notified of results by mail.

TIE BIDS: if two or more equal bids are received the lot will be sold to the first called by the auctioneer.
· Buyers Premium of 20% plus VAT (24.6% in total) will be added to your winning bid amount. Your invoice will detail all the payment, collection and shipping particulars. There is no additional fee for bidding online with Whyte's

HELP?

Our team are available to assist Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm at 01 6762888 (+35316762888) and bids@whytes.ie

Live Chat is also available on our website. For technical help during the auction call +44 2039234629