Peasant Woman of Bonmahon
Edith Collier, Artist
This is one of the
paintings
in our collection.
It was made in
Bonmahon, County Waterford, Ireland
in 1915.
See full details
Object Detail
About the Work
A
large
number
of
key
works
in
the
collection
of
the
Edith
Collier
Trust
were
completed
during
time
she
spent
studying
and
working
with
the
Australian
artist
Margaret
Macpherson,
in
Bonmahon,
Ireland
in
1914
and
1915.
Collier
made
two
trips
to
Bonmahon,
and
wrote
to
her
parents:
‘A
grand
place
for
painting.
Models
of
all
sorts,
seascapes,
and
landscape
without
going
far’.
In
1915,
she
accompanied
Margaret
Macpherson
and
twenty-one
fellow
art
students
to
Bonmahon
for
a
stay
that
lasted
from
March
to
September
or
October.
The
fishing
village
offered
an
ideal
location
for
a
summer
school,
as
students
could
live
at
relatively
low
cost
with
local
families.
Edith was encouraged by Macpherson to use the people of Bonmahon as her most significant subject matter. Her family also eagerly awaited new insights into the life and people of the village. Edith’s sister Dorothy reported on how Peasant Woman of Bonmahon was received in Wanganui: ‘Dad likes your Irish Biddy very much, quite proud of you . . .’ In this work, as with other portraits completed in Bonmahon, Edith takes the traditional if not clichéd nineteenth-century theme of the worthy but impoverished peasant, and applies to it a new Post-Impressionist vision.
(from exhibition text Edith Collier Selected Irish Works Feb 2012 by Greg Donson)
Edith was encouraged by Macpherson to use the people of Bonmahon as her most significant subject matter. Her family also eagerly awaited new insights into the life and people of the village. Edith’s sister Dorothy reported on how Peasant Woman of Bonmahon was received in Wanganui: ‘Dad likes your Irish Biddy very much, quite proud of you . . .’ In this work, as with other portraits completed in Bonmahon, Edith takes the traditional if not clichéd nineteenth-century theme of the worthy but impoverished peasant, and applies to it a new Post-Impressionist vision.
(from exhibition text Edith Collier Selected Irish Works Feb 2012 by Greg Donson)
Measurements
Image 1010 x 757
Frame 1135 x 882 x 32
Frame 1135 x 882 x 32
Media
oil on canvas
Subject Place
Description
Oil painting portrait of an older woman seated outside a building. She is wearing a voluminous black dress with blue sleeves and a plaid shawl across her shoulders (with orange and grey stripes). Her grey hair is tied back with a central part and she is wearing what looks like a scarf far back on her head. She is seated facing the viewer and has her hands crossed over each other on her belly/lap. She is wearing a gold band on her wedding finger. Behind her is the exterior of a white-washed stone building with green painted door open. Coming through the door are three hens: one black (just visible), one yellow and one white, all three are pecking at the cobbled ground.
Credit Line
Collection of the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui. Gift of the artist, 1956.
Collection Type
Permanent collection
Acquisition Date
25 Jul 1956
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Accession Number:
1956/5/2