EARLY 20th century Irish art wasn’t exactly a hotbed of the avant-garde and the public here was, happily, largely spared the full horror of Dadaism, Surrealism, Vorticism and other dubious “isms”.
But artists who travelled and worked in Europe inevitably fell under the spell of the new trends. The Rathfarnham-born painter May Guinness (1863-1955) moved to live and work in Paris in 1905 and was influenced by the Cubist style developed by Picasso and Braque.
The result? Her 1905 painting titled L'enfant– still in its original frame after 107 years – and now the centrepiece of a summer exhibition at the Lyndsay Gallery in Monkstown. Gallery owner Barry Lyndsay describes it as "previously unseen art of historical importance from the very dawn of Cubism".
May Guinness volunteered as a nurse in France during the first World War and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery. She later returned to Ireland.
A retrospective exhibition of her work was held in Dublin in 1956, a year after her death, and art critic James White, who later became director of the National Gallery of Ireland described May Guinness as: “the first of her race to paint her way into the heart and spirit of the new movement of the 20th century”.
The oil-on-canvas – arguably the first modern art painting by an Irish artist – is for sale at €65,000.
The exhibition and sale also includes a painting titled Twinsby Daniel O'Neill (€55,000) and works by other artists including Colm Middleton, Mary Swanzy, Mainie Jellett, Charles Lamb, Harry Kernoff and contemporary landscape artist Ken Brown.
From Past to Present, the third annual fine art group exhibition, is at The Lyndsay Gallery, 7a Monkstown Crescent, Co Dublin – until August 12th.
