Low Tide

Artist Paul Henry (1876 - 1958)

Datec. 1929

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions35.9 x 41.3 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by Joseph Holloway, 1944.

Object number930

DescriptionBy 1920 Paul Henry had evolved a style of landscape painting, inspired by the west of Ireland, which he continued to pursue for the rest of his career. That style, evident in 'Low Tide', was based on bold simplification of masses and an exploration of a depopulated landscape through a limited palette. In Henry's mature style emphasis is placed on the abstract qualities of the landscape, indicating his commitment to the modernist tradition and the continuing influence of Whistler. In this work the tendency towards simplification is taken to its furthest. The tension created between abstraction and the figurative, enhanced by the stillness of the scene, is strangely compelling.

Painted fro a low vantage point and with little indication of form in the sand banks in the foreground, space is compressed. The serpentine line of the rivulet moving up through the canvas emphasises the effect. There is no motion, no stirring on the water despite the presence of the cloud. The painting is dominated by the muted dusty pink of the strand seen in the pre-dawn light and the pale cream of the cloud. The pink is picked up again in the reflections on the water and cloud. The horizontal deep blue of the sea is the only relief from this close modulation of tone, which is again evidence of the lasting impact of Whistler.

(Catalogue Entry [34]: A Century of Irish Painting - Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 1997, p. 152)

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