Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 29th April 2019

I rish & I nternational A rt M onday 29 th A pril 2019 at 6.00 pm 35 29 Kenneth Webb RWA FRSA RUA (b.1927) Summer Poppies signed lower right oil on canvas 51 x 61cm (20 x 24in) Provenance: Ballinaboy Studio, Co Galway (label verso); Gladwell & Patterson Gallery, London (label verso); Private Collection As a student, colour made a deep impact on Webb, colour in nature and in natural forms, the form itself being of less interest. Since those early days he has been experimenting with his own free romantic ideas and concepts, using direct colour in a subjec- tive expressionist manner. Colour is an all-embracing experience which pervades the whole of the painting. Throughout his career, Kenneth has been fascinated by a variety of themes. He gets hooked onto an idea, becomes almost obsessional in exploring it, and has to paint his way out of it. “Whenever I am taken by a theme, I seem to have to start all over and invent my own pictorial structure”. These pictures are deeply personal, evocative of his remarkable garden in Connemara, and of the blanket bog around his home there. We see the wild flowers, the pools, the rocks, the turf banks, the textures and shapes and moods of an ever-changing land- scape. There is a real sense of place about his work, the place being Ballinaboy which is for him magical, full of mystery, sensual- ity and colour. The artist needs an emotional element in his paintings which gives them an atmosphere and a mood. €5,000-€7,000 ($5,617-$7,865) (£4,237-£5,932)