Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 21st October 2019

I rish & I nternational A rt M onday 21 st O ctober 2019 at 6.00 pm 137 113 Grace Henry HRHA (1868-1953) Boats at Chioggia oil on board 26 x 32cm (10.25 x 12.5in) Provenance: De Veres, Dublin 16th April 2002, Lot 259; Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin (label verso); Private Collection €1,000-1,500 (£884-1,327) Emily Grace Mitchell was born in Scotland in 1868. Her father Rev. John Mitchell was a Church of Ireland Minister. She was the youngest child of a family of ten and was educated at home. Henry left home in 1895 to pursue a career as an artist. The first record of her work being exhibited is with the Aberdeen Artists Society in 1896 and 1898. After her father’s demise Grace began her travels from 1899 throughout Holland and Belgium before settling in Paris where she studied at Académie Carmen and Académie Julian also at Whistler’s Studio. It was while here in Paris that she met Paul Henry and they married in London in 1903. The couple moved to Achill Island in 1910 and remained there until 1919 before their move to Dublin. While in Dublin the couple became founding members of the Society of Dublin Painters in 1920 alongside Letitia Marion Hamilton, Mary Swanzy, and Jack Butler Yeats. The Society offered an outlet for younger Irish artists to exhibit. Henry developed her own style through the 1920s and 1930s, spending time in France and Italy. She studied with André Lhote from 1924 to 1925, Lhote was a cubist painter who also worked with Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, and Mary Swanzy. Henry painted in Venice and in the environs of the Italian lakes, painting with the fauvist style, with free brushwork and vibrant colours. Upon the outbreak of World War II, she returned to Ireland. Her work was regularly displayed at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) before becoming an honorary member in 1949 and she also had solo shows at the Waddington and Dawson galleries.