Mary Swanzy H.R.H.A. (Irish, 1882-1978) South of France landscape 53.5 x 46 cm. (21 x 18 in.)

Mary Swanzy H.R.H.A. (Irish, 1882-1978) South of France landscape signed 'SWANZY' (lower left) oil on canvas 53.5 x 46 cm. (21 x 18 in.) Footnotes: Provenance The Dawson Gallery, Dublin, 18 January 1975, where acquired by the father of the present owner Thence by family descent Private Collection, Ireland Unusually for a woman, and especially a woman painter, born in the Victorian era, Mary Swanzy travelled extensively throughout her life from childhood to old age, both in Europe and further afield. After studying in Paris and absorbing the new Modernist shifts that brought forth the advent of Cubism, she had planned to settle in Florence, but outbreak of the First World War forced her back, temporarily, to Dublin. The death of her parents afforded Swanzy financial independence and visits to France, Italy and the former Yugoslavia, where her sister was working, were all immediate priorities and she later drew parallels with Paul Gauguin for her critically acclaimed tropical works, painted in Hawaii and Samoa. Although Swanzy had tried her hand at portraiture (mostly to please her father), it was landscape painting that became her passion. Offered at auction for the first time and having resided in the same family collection for almost half a century, the present work depicts such a landscape. The setting is likely the French Riviera, where she regularly visited Saint Tropez and its environs, and is rendered with impressionistic energy and bold, fauvist colour. The faded terracotta facade, so typical of buildings in the region, forms a perfect Mediterranean backdrop for the lush array of trees, flowers and plants. Sinuous trunks guide the eye upwards to a hot azure sky and purple hued mountains while in the foreground a horizontal area of criss-crossed leaves punctuated with jewel like flora emerge from the rocks. There is a sense of immediacy, and the viewer is immersed in the joy the artist derived from the natural world. Swanzy was made an honorary member of the R.H.A. in 1949 and showed with them in 1950 and 1951. A major retrospective at The Hugh Lane Gallery followed, as well as shows at the Dawson Gallery, Taylor Galleries and more recently at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Sometimes described as 'Ireland's first Cubist', Swanzy also worked in a Futurist and eclectic style that rightly leads to her being credited as a true pioneer of European Modernism. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing