Lot 300
  • 300

Basil Blackshaw, H.R.H.A

Estimate
25,000 - 35,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Basil Blackshaw, H.R.H.A
  • Two Trees
  • signed l.l.: BLACKSHAW
  • oil on canvas
  • 120 by 120cm., 47¼ by 47¼in.

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by the Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast circa 1970

Exhibited

Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy, Basil Blackshaw, Arts Council of Northern Ireland tour, 1997

Literature

Brian Ferran (intro.), Basil Blackshaw - Painter, 1995, pl.18, illustrated p.35

Condition

Original canvas. One or two faint spots of surface dirt otherwise the work appears in very good overall condition. Under ultraviolet light there appear to be no signs of retouching. Held in a wood frame with metallic edge and a linen inset.
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Catalogue Note

Executed in 1969, Two Trees shows the longstanding influence of Cézanne's analytical approach to painting in Blackshaw's own work. Like Black Mountain (preceding lot), one sees the curve of the mountain but here Blackshaw has made the planes more expansive, and there is a stronger emphasis on form, colour and tone creating a work of greater unity and harmony. The work continues Blackshaw's exploration of Cézanne, most explicitly seen in his Cézanne's Gardener (private collection), paying homage to Cézanne's paintings of his gardener, Monsieur Vallier, towards the end of his life. In Two Trees, one also senses an increasing dialogue with contemporary international abstraction, Blackshaw exploring spatial modulation with remarkable economy.