While still not as well known or as widely appreciated as her husband's work, pictures by Grace Henry have been steadily growing in popularity during the last few years. This particular example, White Roses, featured in an exhibition of the two artists' paintings held at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art a decade ago and is now included in a summer show at Jorgensen Fine Art.
It possesses great authority and charm, thanks to the rich impasto and selected palette in which shades of grey and pink predominate. The angle adopted by Grace Henry is rather unusual as the eye hovers diagonally above the vase and blossoms and the principal plane is provided by the table cutting across the surface of the canvas.
A very typical example of Paul Henry's style can also be found in the same exhibition at Jorgensen's; On Killary Bay, Connemara depicts the western landscape of which this artist was so fond, with blue-tinged mountains spread below a low-slung grey sky. Although the picture also features an expanse of water, somewhat unusually for Henry, there are no cottages or any other houses in this painting. Aside from Grace and Paul Henry, the show numbers many other familiar names from 20th century Irish art such as Mary Swanzy - a richly coloured oil called Figure in a Wood - Charles Lamb, Mildred Anne Butler and Gerard Dillon.
There is also an especially fine picture by Roderic O'Conor, a still life of fruit and flowers which the artist exhibited in the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1924. Opening to the public next Wednesday, the show at Jorgensen Fine Art on Molesworth Street, Dublin continues until September 1st.