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Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Boat Anchored with Three Figures Working Pastel on paper, 19 x 25cm (7½ x 9¾) Provenance: With Pyms Gallery, London, label verso, stock no. 84
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Crowd Relaxing Outside a Church Pastel on paper, 19 x 25cm (7½ x 9¾) Provenance: With Pyms Gallery, London, label verso
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) FLOWER MARKET oil on canvas signed lower right; signed and titled on reverse h:18 w:14 in. Provenance: Adam's, 23 March 2016, lot 20; Private collection Exhibited: 'Irish Women Artists 1870-1970', Adam's, Dublin, July 2014 and AVA Gallery, Clandeboye August to September 2014, catalogue no. 24
Whyte'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) THE BUSINESSMAN oil on board with Pyms Gallery [London] label on reverse h:10 w:7 in. Provenance: Pyms Gallery, London; Private collection; Whyte's, 19 February 2007, lot 57; Private collection
Whyte'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) KING AND QUEEN and SELF-PORTRAIT WITH PAINT TUBE, c.1976 mixed media with oil on paper; (works on obverse and reverse) signed lower right on obverse; inscribed with titles and media on frame on reverse h:8.50 w:11 in.
Whyte'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Portrait of Mary St. Claire Swanzy Tullo (1933) Oil on board, 50.8 x 44.4cm (20 x 17½) Signed and dated Sep. (19)'33
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) BY THE POOL, 1962 oil on canvas signed lower left; titled and dated on label on reverse h:21 w:18 in. Provenance: Adam's, June 1975, lot 29; Private collection Although By The Pool dates to 1962 - a period in Mary Swanzy's oeuvre characterised by satire and the fantastical - the present work in terms of its style and subject matter does not neatly fall into this category but rather appears to draw on elements of different phases from earlier in her career. Very few details are known of Swanzy's life during the period 1951 to 1968 (when her Dublin retrospective took place). She did however continue to travel visiting Switzerland, Germany and Italy and was in Pisa in 1962 the year this work was executed. The present work shows the influence of Italy on many levels. Here the viewer is presented with an outdoor scene comprising a large, muscular Madonna and child in the foreground while behind her is a pool enclosed by Classical architectural elements which recall her red roofs of the 1910s. The figures of three women (three Graces perhaps) and a long-eared dog are positioned to the left of the water, while opposite them is a large-leafed tree reminiscent of those luscious fronds of her Samoan paintings. The transparent layering of the paint and swift brushstrokes call to mind the Futurism movement which impacted her work from the 1920s onwards and in the present work this adds a dynamism which it might otherwise be lacking. By The Pool is a testament to Mary Swanzy's unique absorption of Modernism. Unlike many of her contemporaries she did not fully commit to any one style to the exclusion of others, she consumed it all and created her own visual language which, much like the Mannerist Madonna in the foreground, is experimental and unapologetic. Adelle Hughes, November 2022
Whyte'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Figures Gossiping Oil on Canvas 30 x 50cm (11¾ x 19¾) Provenance: With Pyms Gallery, London, label verso. * Lots 10 - 12 (incl) may be subject to importation charges.
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Olive Trees in Walled Fields Pastel on paper 18.5 x 25cm (7¼ x 9¾) Provenance: With Pyms Gallery, London, label verso. * Lots 10 - 12 (incl) may be subject to importation charges.
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) A Heavenly Laden Fishing Vessel Pastel on paper 16.5 x 25cm (6½ x 9¾) Provenance: With Pyms Gallery, London, label verso. * Lots 10 - 12 (incl) may be subject to importation charges.
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Cubist Landscape, Trees, Houses Oil on canvas, 34 x 47.5cm (13¼ x 18½'') Provenance: With Pyms Gallery, London, label verso; With Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin, from where purchased by the current owner. Mary Swanzy 1882-1978 was introduced to Picasso's early cubist paintings in 1906 in Paris at Gertrude Stein's home. She was one of the first Irish painters to investigate the new way of seeing, not for her the school of André Lhote or Albert Gleizes, the masters who informed the important work of subsequent Irish cubists Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone. In the 1920s she regarded herself primarily as a landscape painter and here in Cubist landscape, trees, houses we see her unique interpretation of the major modernist trend. Her use of dynamic, elliptical shapes alongside diagonals creates an energy and movement in this painting reminiscent of Italian Futurist paintings of a similar period. Swanzy's facility for beautifully balancing colour with form creates a distinct tension. While her continued use of perspective, against the laws of cubism, creates a sense of depth, despite the flattened picture plane. As with so many of her cubist paintings Swanzy's love of mathematics especially the geometry of her native Georgian city is very much in evidence. Liz Cullinane, 2021
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Cote de Donegal Oil on canvas, 43.5 x 52cm (17 x 20½'') Signed; inscribed verso
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Street Parade, Czechoslovakia Coloured pencil, 19.5 x 25cm Provenance: The Artist's Studio; Collection of Antoinette & Patrick J. Murphy
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Townscape with Palm Trees Coloured pencil, 25.5 x 17cm (10 x 6¾) Provenance: The Artist's Studio; Collection of Antoinette & Patrick J. Murphy
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) The Pink House Oil on board, 45 x 27.5cm (17¾ x 10¾'') Signed Starting Bid: € 4200
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Fishing Boat Moored Coloured Pencil, 17 x 25cm (7 x 10'') Provenance: With Pyms Gallery, London. Starting Bid: € 700
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Busy Harbour Scene Coloured Pencil, 19.5 x 25.5cm (7½ x 9¾'') Provenance: With Pyms Gallery, London; Christie's, London, 'The Mary Swanzy Studio Sale', May 2007. Starting Bid: € 700
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) THE SHIP INN oil on board signed lower left; with Dawson Gallery label on reverse h:10.50 w:15 in.
Whyte'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Cat in the Suburbs Oil on board, 50 x 60cm (20 x 24'') Exhibited: Mary Swanzy Retrospective, Hugh Lane Gallery, June 1968, Cat. No. 65 The image of a white cat appears in several pictures by Swanzy, including 'The Clown', 'Cat on the Terrace' and the present picture, suggesting that she may have owned such a pet in her later life, or remembered it from her childhood. Her view in all these pictures is plainly one of affection. 'Cat on a Terrace' included in the Mary Swanzy Exhibition at The Dawson Gallery in 1974, shows the animal sleeping, head resting on a ledge, facing towards the viewer, with its tail curled beside it. The sleeping cat in the present picture is viewed from the side. Its tail is curled beside it, but its front paw it tucked op, so that its pink pads are visible. It is evidently a particular cat for it has slight tortoiseshell markings on its head, and a pink collar with a golf bell around its neck. The cracked gatepost on which the cat sits, and the crumbling gateposts and wall with faded posters behind the old village, and neglected orchard of trees, are suggestive of neglect and decay, of times passed and memories of earlier days: perhaps a crumbling demesne which Swanzy remembered from her childhood in Ireland or from life in England, combined with a pretty Mediterranean or Balkan village with red and blue roofs, and orchards, remembered from her travels after the First World War. In spite of the friendly cat in the foreground, there is a faded, nostalgic mood, empty of people telling of other days, the losses of War, and the departure of friends. The run down setting is contrasted by the straight lines of the avenue that runs into the distance. Swanzy employs a soft palette of whites, pale pinks, yellows, pale greens and reds, to convey a faded dreamy atmosphere. 'Cat in the Suburbs' was included in the large Mary Swanzy Retrospective Exhibition held at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin in 1968. Julian Campbell
Adam'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Sleep Walker (1941) oil on canvas signed lower right and dated '41 h:46 w:53.50 cm. Provenance: Christie's, London, Artist's Studio Sale, 10th May 2007, Lot 320; Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin (label verso); Private Collection Born into a comfortable though strict Dublin household - her titled father was instrumental in establishing the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital and the family home was on Merrion Sq - Mary Swanzy blossomed in the nourishing environment of Alexandra College. Theatre and art were her early enthusiasms. In time she came to concentrate on art and John Butler Yeats was among her teachers. Sarah Purser became a friend, and encouraged her to study in Paris, where she was a hard-working, dutiful student. Prompted towards becoming a professional portrait painter by her father, she gave it a try and was very capable, but did not warm to it. Her parents' death left her sad but gave her financial independence and she opted to travel. She also worked hard and established herself as a painter. In 1920, the turbulent political situation in Ireland spurred her to travel again, quite extensively. Most famously, she gravitated towards the tropics and visited Honolulu and Samoa, relishing the warmth, light, colour and sensuality, all of which enriched her work. Rather than returning to Dublin, she opted to settle in London (while spending several of the war years in Dublin with one of her sisters). By 1941, she had experimented with aspects of the trends in art of the Machine Age, Expressionism and even Surrealism, to varying effect. Sleep Walker, with its allegorical elements, including the nude sonambulist, a shattered urn, portfolios, a concentric globe and allusions to time and loss, vividly deployed in a manner that recalls the graphic decisiveness of Max Beckmann's work, is an especially successful synthesis of all of these influences plus the continuity of her French training. It is also personally expressive in a way that is quite rare in her output. Aidan Dunne, October 2020
Morgan O'Driscollsigned lower right, inscribed label on reverse and with studio stamp on stretcher
Whyte'sMary Swanzy, H.R.H.A. (1882-1978) Pink-roofed town, France oil on canvas 16 ¾ x 20 7/8 in. (42.5 x 53 cm.)
Christie'sMary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978)Crouching Figure with Bowed HeadOil on canvas, 51 x 61cm (20 x 24'')Signed and dated (19)'41Provenance: With Pyms Gallery, London, Catalogue No.52.
Adam'ssigned lower left; inscribed with title in French and numbered [5] on canvas on reverse; also titled (in English) on Dawson Gallery label on reverse; a second label verso shows title in English, date [1961] and number [4]
Whyte's