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拍品专文
This important painting appears to be one of a distinctive series of works by AE of pairs or groups of children engaged on a variety of activities in a location that appears to be taken from a specific place. These more naturalistic canvasses placed in a real, if idealised world, contrast with the otherworldly images of fairies and dryads of his mystical works. The real activities of the rural Irish life depicted here, gathering peat or building stone walls, show an awareness of this hard existence more typical of his companions in the Celtic Dawn, such as William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory.
This series is thought to follow AE's invitation to join the Staff of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society to establish co-operative credit banks. During his work over many years he came into contact with some of the most traditional and isolated farmers still working in the ancient ways. Stone walls such as this are a feature of the Irish landscape, often found in areas of dramatic natural beauty such as the Mournes, with which AE would have been familiar. This painting captures the hard life of the wall builder but also shows the slower pace of life in what AE perceived initially as a rural idyll.
This series is thought to follow AE's invitation to join the Staff of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society to establish co-operative credit banks. During his work over many years he came into contact with some of the most traditional and isolated farmers still working in the ancient ways. Stone walls such as this are a feature of the Irish landscape, often found in areas of dramatic natural beauty such as the Mournes, with which AE would have been familiar. This painting captures the hard life of the wall builder but also shows the slower pace of life in what AE perceived initially as a rural idyll.