MAURICE CANNING WILKS: MORGAN O'DRISCOLL 8 MARCH

Maurice Canning Wilks is a ubiquitous presence at Irish art auctions. His output during a lengthy career (he died aged 74 in 1984) was considerable and his work appears at auction more often even than those hardy perennials Markey Robinson and John Kingerlee. In the past 30 years more than 1,500 of his works have gone under the hammer. While the majority of his paintings are well-executed, benign landscapes from around his native Antrim, he also regularly painted in Connemara and in Kerry. He spent a period in Sutton, Co Dublin too and painted many scenes around Dublin Bay. This is mild, decorative art for which there is always good demand. His Wash Day at Morgan O'DriscolI's March auction is far from a bucolic landscape and is very much an exception within the Wilks oeuvre.