Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 30th April 2018 at 6pm

I RISH & I NTERNATIONAL A RT A UCTION M ONDAY 30 TH A PRIL 2018 AT 6.00 PM 17 Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA ( - ) BULLDOG signed lower right oil on canvas 41 x 51cm (16.14 x 20.08in) Provenance: Private Collection Basil Blackshaw was without doubt one of the great painters of animals in 20th century Irish art. That is partly to do with the fact that virtually every picture he painted is alive with an acute nervous energy. He never took anything for granted and his edgy responses to his subject are ruthlessly honest. Without doubt, as well, his sympathies are firmly with the animals: with birds, dogs and horses, all of whom he has depicted with tremendous accuracy and without facile sentiment. Eamonn Mallie, one of his greatest fans, once wrote perceptively that Blackshaw paints “like a man wracked with guilt.” The blank canvas is always a puzzle to be solved. The same qualities that mark his depictions of animals, and indeed people, serve him equally well in his landscapes where the issue is, again, what should be left out. There is never anything extraneous in a painting by Blackshaw. €15,000-20,000 (£13,043-17,391)