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I
rish
& I
nternational
A
rt
A
uction
M
onday
25
th
A
pril
2016
at
6.00
pm
13
9
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974) Picnic by the Riversigned lower right
oil on canvas
33.5 x 43.5cm (13 x 17in)
Provenance:
Private Collection
€5,000-7,000 (£3,906-5,468)
Frank McKelvey was an Irish painter born in 1895 in Belfast, the son of a painter and decorator. He attended the Belfast School of
Art and won the “Sir Charles Brett” prize for figure drawing there in 1912. By 1918 his work was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian
Academy and in 1921 he was elected a member of the Belfast Art Society. McKelvey was appointed an associate of the RHA in
1923, being granted full membership in 1930. During his career McKelvey was considered on a par with Paul Henry and James
Humbert Craig, two of the most successful Irish landscape painters of the time. His renowned ability as a painter of landscapes is
acknowledged by the many exhibitions during his lifetime. He was elected as one of the first academicians of the Ulster Academy
of Arts when it was founded in 1930.