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I
rish
& I
nternational
A
rt
A
uction
M
onday
25
th
A
pril
2016
at
6.00
pm
35
38
John Brian Vallely (b.1941) The Three Travelling Musicianssigned with initials top right
oil on canvas
127 x 152.5cm (50 x 60in)
Provenance:
Private Collection
Literature:
Rakish Paddy Blues - AMacaronic Song by Gearóid MacLochlainn
& John B Vallely, edited by Kieran Gilmore: illustrated in book and on the cover of the cd.
Both cd & signed book accompany this lot
€30,000-50,000 (£23,437-39,062)
Vallely deliberately used paint mixed with a lot of pure turps and let it run, a stylistic device favoured by the artist at the time. It is
difficult to verbalise something that for the artist was purely visual. It is believed he was trying to create a mystical athmosphere
for the musicians, all members of the famous Dunne brothers, travelling musicians. One of their nephews, Micky Dunne, himself
now settled and a highly regarded piper in Limerick, was able to identify the brothers when the artist exhibited the painting in the
University of Limerick. This painting was exhibited during the launch of the book ‘Rakish Paddy Blues’, the result of a collaboration
between the poet Gearoid MacLochlainn and John Brian Vallely.