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Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
Kathleen Joyce
Oil on board, 33 x 29cm (13 x 11½”)
Signed. Inscribed with title verso
Exhibited :
Gerard Dillon - Early Paintings of the West
Exhibition,
The Dawson Gallery, March 1971 Cat No 24. (Label verso)
Provenance: Important Irish Art Sale, these rooms, 15th March 1990, Cat. No. 138 where
purchased by the current owner
In the late 1940’s Gerard Dillon with his friends, George Campbell and Daniel O’Neill entered
into a stipend arrangement with Victor Waddington which allowed the artist to rent accommo-
dation in the West of Ireland to execute subject matter in preparation for his solo exhibitions
with the gallery. A frequent visitor to Connemara, Dillon formed friendships with the locals
and also those with holiday homes in the area. Sometimes he asked his friends to act as models
for his paintings,
Tom Baker, Moyard
, was a neighbour in the area and
Island Man
depicts Paddy
McDonagh, who rowed Dillon to and from Inishlackan Island and Roundstone in 1951.
Dillon executed three versions of his friend, Kathleen Joyce.
Girl in Blue
was exhibited at the
Irish Club in London, 1955 and
Kathleen
; a monotype was exhibited with the Council for
the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), 1956. This version,
Kathleen Joyce
first
appeared at an exhibition,
Gerard Dillon and Early Paintings of The West
at the Dawson Gallery
in March 1971. In a pink dress, the model appears distracted by something to the right of the
picture plane. She is wearing a hat, dark coat and fur collar. In the smaller version,
Girl In Blue
Kathleen gazes directly at the viewer in a cottage in a similar coat with the door closed. Here,
the sparse furnishings, white washed walls, chickens and the rural landscape through open door,
however indicate isolation. Traveling to remote parts of Connemara, Dillon was often alone
for long periods of time.
Whilst Dillon’s two friends, George Campbell and Daniel O’Neill were enjoying some success
in the 1950’s Dillon’s quirky naïve West of Ireland images struggled to find buyers. Victor
Waddington held only two solo exhibitions of his work in 1950 and 1953. In 1955, in a letter
to John Hewitt, Dillon expressed his frustration at his inability to win over the public,
I’m still
painting away, but I sometimes ask myself for what? The answer is nearly always the same, “for my
own amusement it seems like!
Following the exhibition at the Dawson Gallery in 1971, critics favourably reviewed the show
and Dillon wrote to his friend Patrick Kelly expressing his delight at the success of his show.
Three months later following the artist’s death, Bruce Arnold remarked inThe Independent,
He
had an inner confidence that nothing could shake and he masked it with wry good humour. The world
he has left us in his paintings is one that in time we will learn to appreciate.
Karen Reihill
Currently researching Gerard Dillon & Friends
€25,000 - 35,000
