Louis le Brocquy, H.R.H.A. (1916-2012)

Le Brocquy's 'Tinker period' of work spans 1945-1950. He first encountered a travelling community near Tullamore, Co. Offaly in the summer of 1945 and was immediately struck by the vitality and mystery of these individuals, commenting 'Most of all I was impressed by their insistence on freedom - freedom from every external regulation - observing only their own tribal rules, their tradition. Not, perhaps, altogether unlike the independence of the artist within society'.
According to Alistair Smith: 'le Brocquy's interest in the travelling way of being, like Synge's before him, is to be seen in the context of the century's "discovery" of so-called "primitives", or, rather, of societies where there still exist languages and customs which have not been eroded by modern society' (see Louis le Brocquy, official site).

We are very grateful to Pierre le Brocquy for his assistance in preparing the catalogue entries for lots 186 and 208.