Beschreibung:

Alicia Boyle (1908-1996) Bishops Gate, Derry, The Arch Bar and Pets Corner Oil on canvas, 60 x 50cm (23½ x 19½'') Signed with initials; also signed verso Alicia Boyle was born in Bangkok in 1908 to Irish parents. Shortly afterwards, the family returned to Ireland and settled in Derry, where Boyle spent the first decade of her life. At the age of ten, Boyle moved to London and it was here that she gleaned her artistic education, first at the Clapham School of Art and then, from 1929-34, at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting. Whilst still a student, Boyle won her first acceptance into the Royal Academy with a painting in 1932 and her skill later saw her being awarded a residency in Greece. She spent many years moving between countries, making frequent visits back to Ireland, before eventually relocating there permanently in 1971. Ever since she was a young child, Boyle was fascinated by natural patterns and this was the underlying rhythm to her work. In ‘Bishop’s Gate’, Boyle’s carefully executed brushstrokes generate the pattern of the brick, the layered paints playing with light as it simultaneously falls into crevices and glides across smoother surfaces. This beautiful patchwork is replicated on the slick pavement, wet with recent rain. The gloom of the grey chequered sky, just visible between a gap in the buildings is contrasted against the reflective light of the foreground. We are drawn inwards, moving from light to dark, until we are surrounded by the cityscape. Our feet dampen and we pull our coats tight around us, fearful of more rain to come. Through her understanding of colour and light, Boyle is able to expertly recreate a damp day in Derry. Her unique perspective affords a beauty to this man-made scene that would otherwise have been absent. We are forced to stop for a moment as we are invited to enjoy the rain, before darting onwards and resuming our search for shelter. Alicia Boyle (1908-1996) Bishops Gate, Derry, The Arch Bar and Pets Corner Oil on canvas, 60 x 50cm (23½ x 19½'') Signed with initials; also signed verso Alicia Boyle was born in Bangkok in 1908 to Irish parents. Shortly afterwards, the family returned to Ireland and settled in Derry, where Boyle spent the first decade of her life. At the age of ten, Boyle moved to London and it was here that she gleaned her artistic education, first at the Clapham School of Art and then, from 1929-34, at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting. Whilst still a student, Boyle won her first acceptance into the Royal Academy with a painting in 1932 and her skill later saw her being awarded a residency in Greece. She spent many years moving between countries, making frequent visits back to Ireland, before eventually relocating there permanently in 1971. Ever since she was a young child, Boyle was fascinated by natural patterns and this was the underlying rhythm to her work. In ‘Bishop’s Gate’, Boyle’s carefully executed brushstrokes generate the pattern of the brick, the layered paints playing with light as it simultaneously falls into crevices and glides across smoother surfaces. This beautiful patchwork is replicated on the slick pavement, wet with recent rain. The gloom of the grey chequered sky, just visible between a gap in the buildings is contrasted against the reflective light of the foreground. We are drawn inwards, moving from light to dark, until we are surrounded by the cityscape. Our feet dampen and we pull our coats tight around us, fearful of more rain to come. Through her understanding of colour and light, Boyle is able to expertly recreate a damp day in Derry. Her unique perspective affords a beauty to this man-made scene that would otherwise have been absent. We are forced to stop for a moment as we are invited to enjoy the rain, before darting onwards and resuming our search for shelter.