CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Four Element Composition

painting by Mainie Jellett

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ21743163 ↗
Source-derived summary

Four Element Composition is a gouache on paper by Mainie Jellett from 1930.

Description

The gouache measures 28 × 21.5 centimeters.

It is in the collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.

Analysis

Four Elements suggests an influence from the four Evangelists from the Book of Kells.

Jellett combined Celtic illuminated manuscripts and Cubism.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Four Element Composition” as painting by Mainie Jellett. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Four, Element and Composition.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1930—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1930. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Four, Element and Composition providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Four Element Composition”, the useful work is to connect “painting by Mainie Jellett” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21743163. Authority coordinates are 53.340, -6.300. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1930.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Four Element Composition”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Four Element Composition primary sources, Four Element Composition archive and Four research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Four Element Composition”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Four Element Composition” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.