Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 21st October 2019

I rish & I nternational A rt M onday 21 st O ctober 2019 at 6.00 pm 33 25 James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1878-1944) Portnablagh, Co. Donegal signed lower left oil on canvas 51 x 61.5cm (20 x 24in) Provenance: Private Collection €10,000-15,000 (£8,849-13,274) The Irish landscape painter James Humbert Craig was born in Belfast but spent his youth in the countryside of County Down. Craig briefly attended Belfast College of Art where he studied drawing and fine art painting. He took all his inspiration from the scenery, people and culture of Ireland - above all, from what he saw with his two eyes. He never attempted to embellish or distort nature. His job, as a landscape painter was to reflect nature as it was. Despite this fidelity to nature, Craig was not above dramatising his landscape painting in the style of Paul Henry. Also, despite his indifference to Barbizon landscape art, Craig’s plein air painting method was similar to that of the Impressionists, as he was at his happiest out-of-doors either painting or fishing. Many of his colour schemes are consciously sober and the raw beauty of the landscape is expressed in rugged paintwork. He painted in many different locations, including the Glens of County Antrim, as well as the more inhospitable coastal landscapes of Donegal and Galway. A successful painter of his day, Craig exhibited regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1915 and was elected to both the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA).