Maurice MacGonigal

Commissioned by the present owner's great grandfather probably in the 1930s and thence by descent

Maurice MacGonigal trained in the family firm as an ecclesiastical decorator and stained glass artist, going on to become one of the most important artists of the Irish Free State. Like Sean Keating, MacGonigal felt it was his duty to foster the emergence of an Irish school of painting. The West of Ireland, which he first visited in 1924, became central within this ambition. He painted on numerous occasions the Aran Islands, its people and their lifestyle - painting what he saw as the real Ireland.

The present work was commissioned in the 1930s as part of a impressive series of four panels for the baronial-style hall of Runnymede house in Dublin (see original in situ photograph at Sothebys.com), illustrating the lifestyle of the Aran islanders. In their style of execution, we see the influence of MacGonigal’s early training as a stained glass artist - instead of creating an intricate, dynamic and detailed composition, he has created a strong, bold, frieze-like scene. Depicted in their traditional, colourful garments and dominating the composition against the low horizon, MacGonigal emphasizes their central place within the life of the landscape. It is clear that in this series he intended to both preserve and celebrate the traditions of this fast disappearing way of life. By presenting the scene in a realist manner and the people themselves without expression, he has avoided sentimentalising the islanders’ way of life. Instead, he simply presents their lifestyle, allowing the viewer to admire the strong colours of their clothes, the simplicity of their living and the openness of nature in which they live and work in.