Star Lot: Six original woodblock prints by famous Irish arti...

Hammer

€410

Star Lot: Six original woodblock prints by famous Irish artist Harry Kernoff, each signed Hand signed by kernoff in pencil. Three titled "The Dublin Worker", one titled "Dawn" and two titled "Unemployed". Each are concerned with working class Dublin characters in Kernoffs signature style. In fantastic preserved condition. Kernoff does fabulously at auction, with a woodblock sale at Whytes for €2,600. I have seen framed versions of these sell for €300-500 each
Mm: 23 x 29 cm

The son of Jewish parents of mixed Russian and Spanish descent, Kernoff was born in London but moved to Dublin at an early age when his father opted to begin a cabinet-making business there. Kernoff’s artistic training began with night classes at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. Upon winning the prestigious Taylor Scholarship in 1923, he became a day student and henceforth devoted all his energies to art, working also for a time on designing stage sets in the company of actors such as Mícheál MacLíammóir and Hilton Edwards. Some time after this he visited Paris, staying for a month painting and sketching. In 1926 Kernoff began exhibiting at the RHA, continuing to do so nearly every year for the next five decades. He joined the Dublin Society of Painters in 1927 and held many solo exhibitions at their studio in no. 7 St. Stephen’s Green. He also had two solo exhibitions with the Victor Waddington Galleries in 1936 and 1937 and numerous shows abroad in London, Glasgow, Paris, Amsterdam, New York, Chicago and Toronto. In 1930 he visited Russia and later published on article on his experiences there prior to the Stalinist regime. At home, from his Dublin studio at no. 13 Stamer Street, Kernoff supported himself largely through selling woodcuts; three books of these were published, the first in 1942. He also contributed to other publications such as James Stephen’s Crock of Gold and A Broadside (Cuala Press) among others. His depictions of working-class Dublin and smaller towns across the country are much sought after by collectors, as are his portraits of Ireland’s leading literary and theatrical figures, some of which now hang in the Dublin Writer’s Museum among other public collections.