Frances J. Kelly
Born in Co. Louth, Frances Kelly studied at the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin. In 1932, upon becoming the first student to win the Henry Higgins travelling scholarship she went to Paris, studying there for three years under the cubist painter Lιopold Survage (1879-1968) and attending various other schools there of drawing and painting. On her return to Dublin she exhibited with the Dublin Painters and at the Dawson Gallery, also contributing to the RHA and the Living Art exhibitions. She collaborated with Nano Reid (q.v.) on a series of wall frescoes depicting scenes of Irish labour, which were commissioned in the 1940s for the Four Provinces building in Harcourt Street (these have since sadly been destroyed by developers in 1988). In the mid-1940s she married the eminent Irish statesman, F. H. Boland (1904-1985), who was then Assistant Secretary to the Department of External Affairs. As Boland's career progressed, leading Frances and their five children firstly to London when Boland was appointed Ambassador to Britain in 1950 and later to New York, where he was the first permanent Irish representative to the UN (and later President of the General Assembly), Kelly seems to have stopped exhibiting her work.
-
'STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS BEFORE A WINDOW'
- Price Realised: 9,000
- Sale: 26 April 2005
- oil on canvas
- 117 by 71cm., 46 by 28in.
-
'STILL LIFE WITH LOBSTER'
- Price Realised: 4,400
- Sale: 18 May 2009
- oil on canvas
- 61 by 51cm., 24 by 20in.
-
'FLOWER PIECE'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 31 May 2021
- oil on canvas
- 20 x 16in. (50.80 x 40.64cm)
-
'FLOWER PIECE'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 18 May 2009
- oil on canvas
- 51 by 41cm., 20 by 16in.
-
'AS SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR'
- Price Realised: 3,500
- Sale: 08 May 2002
- pen and ink with gouache
- 28 by 130cm., 11 by 51in.
-
'VIEW OF ST. MARY'S CHURCH, DINGLE, COUNTY KERRY'
- Price Realised: 1,800
- Sale: 13 December 2023
- oil on canvas
- 22½ x 26in. (57.15 x 66.04cm)
-
'THE STRAND AT CARRAROE'
- Price Realised: 1,800
- Sale: 17 September 2007
- gouache
- 40 by 63cm., 15.7 5 by 24.7 5i
-
'STILL LIFE WITH LILLIES AND STAFFORDSHIRE FIGURINE'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 17 February 2004
- oil on canvas
- 64 by 76cm., 25 by 30in.
-
'STILL LIFE'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 01 October 2018
- oil on canvas
- 32 x 22in. (81.28 x 55.88cm)
-
'MODEL WITH FLOWERS'
- Price Realised: 1,400
- Sale: 02 December 2024
- oil on canvas
- 33 x 23in. (83.82 x 58.42cm)
-
'NUDE'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 14 December 2020
- oil on canvas
- 11 x 13in. (27.94 x 33.02cm)
-
'YOUNG COUPLE ON HORSEBACK HEADING TOWARDS TIR NA OIG and THE DANCERS TWO STUDIES FOR A MURAL FOR BUTLINS HOLIDAY CENTRE (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 17 September 2007
- gouache, pencil and black crayon on paper
- 22 by 83cm., 8.5 by 32.5in.
-
'THE LOVERS and GEORGIAN DOORWAY WITH HARP TWO STUDIES FOR THE RUSSELL HOTEL MURAL, ST STEPHENS GREEN, DUBLIN, circa 1958-59 (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 17 September 2007
- gouache, pencil and black crayon on paper
- 34 by 74cm., 13.5 by 29in.
-
'THE STORYTELLER and WOMAN WITH SPINNING WHEEL TWO DESIGNS FOR MURAL DECORATIONS (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 17 September 2007
- gouache, pencil and black crayon on paper
- 22 by 80cm., 8.5 by 31.5in.
-
'STILL LIFE OF FLOWERS AND NYMPH WITH SHELL'
- Price Realised: 1,000
- Sale: 30 September 2013
- oil on canvas
- 34 by 25in., 85 by 62.5cm.
-
'A FASHIONABLE COUPLE AT TABLE, WITH A VIEW OF BAY AND BOATS BEYOND DESIGN FOR A GRESHAM HOTEL MURAL'
- Price Realised: 800
- Sale: 17 September 2007
- gouache, pencil and black crayon over wash on paper
- 51 by 69cm., 20 by 27in.
-
'FEMALE NUDE, 1956'
- Price Realised: 680
- Sale: 25 July 2022
- oil on canvas
- 21 x 24in. (53.34 x 60.96cm)
-
'THE STRAND AT CARRAROE'
- Price Realised: 560
- Sale: 24 November 2014
- gouache
- 15.70 x 24.70in. (39.88 x 62.74c