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Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (b.1932) Portrait of a Gentlemansigned top left
oil on board
90 x 60cm (35 x 23in)
Provenance:
Private Collection
€5,000-7,000 (£3,906-5,468)
Basil Blackshaw was born in Glengormley, Co. Antrim in 1932. He was educated in Belfast and graduated from the Belfast College
of Art in 1951. Blackshaw’s work remains dedicated to very Irish and often rural themes, gaining him the title ‘poet of the rural’. The
artist finds inspiration in the environment around him and his art is reminiscent of his upbringing; of breeding dogs, cock-fighting
and of his father’s work as a horse trainer. In addition, he is also known for his nudes, portraits and landscapes.
Blackshaw is recognised for his traditional approach to painting, though combined with his signature loose gestural application of
paint and a very distinctive and subtle use of colour, the finished piece is often considered to be abstract. Blackshaw has said that
he aims to convey a ‘feeling’ through his art by using the subject matter to evoke a sensation in the viewer. In 1977 Blackshaw was
elected as an associate of the Royal Ulster Academy of the Arts and in 1981 was elected an Academician. Blackshaw received the
Glen Dimplex Award for a Sustained Contribution to the Visual Arts in Ireland in 2001.