Patrick Swift

The Artist's Estate

The canvas has been lined. There is a craquelure pattern visible across the surface. Ultraviolet light reveals some retouchings about the edges. Also some small flecks about the spout of the jug. Held under glass in a simple wood frame; unexamined out of frame.
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Swift's emergence on the contemporary art scene in Dublin in the 1950s signified the arrival of a refreshing new talent which, as one critic wrote, 'should stimulate his contemporaries and those of us who were beginning to despair of anything new happening in this particular field' (John Ryan, Envoy, A review of Literature and Art, July 1951, vol.5/20). In 1952, Swift had shared a studio with Lucian Freud in Dublin, and their works of this period show close parallels. Still Life with Lemon has a naive realism visually arresting in composition and colour that demonstrates the importance of Swift's contribution to the art scene both in Dublin and London, where he moved to in 1953.