Beschreibung:

BOWL OF FRUIT c.1944 William John Leech RHA ROI (1881-1968)
Signature: signed lower left; titled on Dawson Gallery label on reverse; also with ROSC [1980] exhibition label on reverse Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 20 x 22in. (50.80 x 55.88cm) Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin; Collection of George and Maura McClelland Exhibited: Literature: The Hunter Gatherer - the Collection of George and Maura McClelland, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2004, p. 38 (illustrated) Leech's Steele's Street studio was bombed twice during the Blitz of London in WWII but 20, Abbey Road, which May Botterell, Leech's subsequent second wife, had rented since 1938, had escaped with litt... tle damage. This fifth floor flat became Leech's home and studio until his Steele's Studio was repaired and until the couple moved to West Clandon, Surrey in 1958. Unable to paint in Regent's Park or down at the fish markets in Billingsgate, which reminded Leech of the earlier subject matter he enjoyed painting in the fishing village of Concarneau, Brittany. Indeed travel to France was now impossible so Leech's subject matter focused more on still-lifes, with views out of the window, flowers on a windowsill or a 'Bowl of Fruit'. The sunlight streams in the open window, highlighting the yellow of the bananas and some of the sides of the peaches, echoing the circular shape of the bowl. Leech's dramatic, characteristic, diagonal composition is evident in the framework of the Crittal windows and the edge of the windowsill. Areas of light contrast with the dark greens of the shadows of the trees in the garden below. This work was exhibited in Leech's first solo exhibition at the Dawson Gallery, Dublin, in June 1945. Surprisingly, Leo Smith reduced the price from Leech's £38 to £25 for the exhibition, perhaps indicating that Leech thought more highly of this work than Smith, as in most cases Smith invariably increased the prices submitted by Leech. The six works exhibited by Leech in the RHA in 1945, were mostly borrowed and were submitted from The Smith Gallery. 'Bowl of Fruit' was not exhibited at the RHA, possibly because Leech preferred to exhibit the work in his first exhibition with Leo Smith, a relationship which lasted until Leech's death in 1968, when all of Leech's finished works in his house and studio were bequeathed to Leo Smith of the Dawson Gallery for future exhibitions of his work after his death. This work, was purchased directly from the Dawson Gallery, by George and Maura McClelland, possibly during the period after Leech's death, when George McClelland had opened his art gallery in Belfast. George had an unerringly good eye and his love and appreciation of Leech's paintings remained unwavering throughout his life, with this work hanging constantly in the McClelland home. Dr Denise Ferran August 2016 [TRADITIONAL] more