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

20 11 Basil Ivan Rakoczi (1908-1979) forêt (1962) signed lower right and verso with artist’s archive No.2954 oil on canvas 92 x 73cm (36.35 x 28.75in) Provenance: Private Collection €1,500-2,500 (£1,327-2,212) With Kenneth Hall, Basil Rákóczi was a key member of the White Stag group who championed modernism and flourished in Ireland during the years of the Second World War, with the involvement of such local artists as Patrick Scott. Rákóczi’s mother was from Cork, though he was born in England and in the late 1940s moved to London, eventually settling in Paris. Receptive to Surrealism and, he was a capable, inventive painter with a playful streak. This all-over composition, an evocation of the forest, is attractive and skilfully made.