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

72 56 William Crozier HRHA (1930-2011) McCarthy’s Field (2003-4) signed lower left oil on canvas 40.75 x 51cm (16 x 20in) Provenance: Private Collection Literature: William Crozier by Katherine Crouan, S.B Kennedy and Philip Vann, published by Lund Humphries: Plate no.163, illustrated page 181 €10,000-€15,000 ($11,235-$16,853) (£8,474-£12,711) William Crozier was born at Yorker, Glasgow. But both his parents were from County Antrim and through- out his life he had a complicated sense of identity. He said that he felt like an exile, but he could never quite figure out from where. In fact, he seemed very capable of settling comfortably into many different settings, including Ireland particularly, and did feel that he was at heart a European. Perhaps the truth is that his real home was his studio. He had a serious work ethic: every day in the studio, no excuses. That stemmed from his student days at the Glasgow School of Art. His first experience of Ireland was in the mid-1950s. Crucially, during the years he was in Dublin then, he worked at devising and painting stage sets (and went on to do so in London). He was open in stating that the experience influenced his painting greatly: clear forms, expanses of not-quite-flat colour, an awareness of light. Another formative influence was a spell spent in Spain with Anthony Cronin in 1963, absorbing light, shade, heat and intense colour. Well into the 1970s he pursued a figurative course in his work and, while it produced many impressive results, he felt that he reached a dead end eventually. The symbolism was too laboured. In 1982 he painted a tree struggling to survive on a piece of urban green space. It marked a major change in direction. Around this time, he and his wife Katherine Crouan began spending more and more time in West Cork. The landscape there, with its startling colours and contrasts, inspired him beyond measure and he began to produce a series of vibrant, intensely coloured paintings that are among his best ever works and mark a distinct addition to Irish landscape painting. Aidan Dunne, March 2019