Lot 73 Harry Kernoff

Harry Kernoff RHA 1900-1974 SELF PORTRAIT IN THE METROPOLITAN SCHOOL OF ART (THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS) Oil on canvas, 28'' x 36'' (71 x 91.5cm) Provenance: Acquired from Miss Lina Kernoff, the artists sister by the previous owner; Adams, 8th December 2004 (lot 148), where purchased by the current owner. Harry Kernoff was born in London of a Russian Jewish father and a Spaniard mother, but he moverd to Dublin at the age of fourteen. He took classes at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art while working as an apprentice in his father's cabinet-making business and was the first night student to win the Taylor Art Scholarship in 1923 in both watercolour and oil painting. In 1926 Kernoff exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1935, he became a full time member the following year. In 1936, 1937 and 1940 he exhibited at the Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin and in 1953 he was represented at the Contemporary Irish Art exhibition at Aberystwyth. Kernoff was an a/ccomplished graphic artist, producing woodcuts and illustrations for books, periodicals and ballad sheets. His involvement in Dublin's literary and theatrical circles allowed him to paint many portraits of actors and playwrights and he also designed theatre sets and costumes. Most of his life was spent in Ireland, but he also travelled to the Soviet Union and then to Nova Scotia in Canada. He was made a life member in 1974 of the United Arts Club, Dublin. In 1976 a memorial exhibition was presented at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art. His work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Ireland, the Dublin Writers Museum, the Waterford Municipal Collection, the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork and the National Self -Portrait Collection, Limerick. Dating to the early 1920's when Kernoff was in his early twenties, the present work which is believed to have been called ''The Judgement of Paris'' may well have been intended for entry to a competition such as the Taylor Scholarship in the RDS. Ciaran MacGonigal has commented ''It's reference is classical and he used the statue to deal with what would have been tricky for him being both Jewish and under the thumb of his mother and sister, and in addition in Dublin........any direct reference to a nude female figure would have broken several conventions.''