William John Leech
On the invitation of his friend and fellow art student Sydney Thompson, Leech first visited the small Breton fishing village of Concarneau in 1903 and painted there periodically until 1917. Concarneau at this time was already a well established artist's colony, attracting among others Aloysius O'Kelly and John Lavery, both of whom were to befriend Leech and influence his work. In the 1907-1910 period Leech was making long sojourns from his base in Dublin to Concarneau where he lodged at the Hτtel des Voyageurs. The hotel provided artist studios on the top floor from which Leech had a view directly over the top of the market place. He painted a number of these 'birds-eye-view' market scenes, as well as others which were painted en plein air amidst the hustle and bustle of the daily market. These latter works were often on small 7 by 9 inch wooden panels which slotted into a pochade box, a useful article designed to accommodate wet oil sketches and which had been used by Whistler and after him Lavery. Characteristic of these small market scenes were the use of strong verticals balanced against the long, horizontal shadows, and as Denise Ferran has written, a fluidity of brush work in which "the laden brush is drawn with assurance to depict the subject with great vividness" and "splashes of alizarin crimson contrast with the greys and earth colours of the surround", signalling the direction Leech would follow in his later, Impressionist works. (Denise Ferran, William John Leech: An Irish Painter Abroad, NGI, Dublin, 1996, p.38).
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'THE TERRACE, c.1940'
- Price Realised: 9,500
- Sale: 23 February 2015
- oil on panel
- 15 x 18in. (38.10 x 45.72cm)
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'REGENT'S PARK, SUMMER, 1937'
- Price Realised: 9,000
- Sale: 26 November 2018
- oil on canvas board
- 10 x 14in. (25.40 x 35.56cm)
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'PLAYING BY THE SHORE'
- Price Realised: 9,000
- Sale: 26 November 2018
- oil on canvas board
- 8 x 12½in. (20.32 x 31Ύcm)
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'THE POOL OF LONDON'
- Price Realised: 8,500
- Sale: 21 September 2004
- watercolour and gouache
- 39 by 57cm., 15.5 by 22.5in.
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'SEASCAPE SKETCH'
- Price Realised: 7,200
- Sale: 25 February 2008
- oil on canvas laid on board
- 16 by 21cm., 6.25 by 8.25in.
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'STEPS OF THE COURS'
- Price Realised: 5,000
- Sale: 26 September 2016
- oil on panel
- 9½ x 7Όin. (24.13 x 18.42cm)
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'THE FAIR, CONCARNEAU, FRANCE'
- Price Realised: 4,200
- Sale: 06 June 2022
- oil on board
- 6Ό x 8in. (15.88 x 20.32cm)
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'STUDY OF A YOUNG GIRL IN PENSIVE MOOD'
- Price Realised: 2,800
- Sale: 16 September 2003
- contι crayon on paper
- 61 by 48cm., 24 by 19in.
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'LANDSCAPE, SOUTH OF FRANCE'
- Price Realised: 2,000
- Sale: 04 December 2023
- watercolour
- 13Ό x 19in. (33.66 x 48.26cm)
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'STUDY FOR "BLACK SLIPPERS", c.1930'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 27 November 2017
- pencil
- 22 x 15in. (55.88 x 38.10cm)
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'YOUNG GIRL'S HEAD'
- Price Realised: 1,270
- Sale: 26 June 2000
- pencil
- 36 by 25cm., 14 by 10in.
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'HEAD OF A GIRL [A BOTTERELL FAMILY MEMBER]'
- Price Realised: 1,000
- Sale: 28 November 2016
- pencil
- 11Ύ x 9Ύin. (29.85 x 24.77cm)
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'MAY BOTTERELL'
- Price Realised: 800
- Sale: 27 February 2017
- pencil
- 13Ό x 14Όin. (33.66 x 36.20cm)