Kildare Arts Service : Municipal Collection

‘Tory Harbour’ - Rory Rodgers

Medium: Oil on Board

Dimensions: 60cm x 121cm

Location: Athy Library

Rory Rogers is part of a recent tradition of artists without formal art training from Tory Island. The artists, known simply as the Tory Painters, work in a naïve primitive style. The tradition began with the arrival of British artist Derek Hill in the 1950s, who stayed on the island for many years establishing an artists’ community and mentoring many of the artists who would go on to make their name as the Tory Painters. Works by the Tory Painters have become much sought after and are shown internationally.

This landscape painting by Rodgers is painted in a naïve primitive style similar to that of the British artist L. S. Lowry, with its simple square buildings and blocks of colour. Like Lowry, Rodger’s was painting a landscape he knew well a place where he had lived his whole life. For both artists painting was a hobby first and foremost so they painted for themselves not art market.

Click here to compare this work to ‘A Riverbank’ by L.S. Lowry

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