Maurice Canning Wilks ARHA RUA (1911-1984) Near Doochary, Co. Donegal oil on canvas signed lower

Maurice Canning Wilks ARHA RUA (1911-1984) Near Doochary, Co. Donegal oil on canvas signed lower left 51 x 61cm (20.08 x 24.02in) Provenance: The Graves Gallery, Birmingham (label verso) Private Collection Irish landscape painter Maurice Wilks was born in Belfast in 1910 He attended evening classes in drawing and painting at the Belfast School of Art, and managed to become a day pupil by winning the Dunville scholarship. An exhibitor with the newly formed Ulster Academy of Arts, he was duly elected an associate member in 1935 During the next half century (1933-83), Wilks showed 35 works at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) in Dublin, most of them landscape paintings. During his early career, one of his mentors was the landscape artist James Humbert Craig. In 1946 Wilks exhibited several times at the Victor Waddington Galleries in Dublin.