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Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
The Shadow Box
Oil on canvas, 35 x 25cm (13¾ x 11¾”)
Exhibited:
Gerard Dillon
Exhibition The Mercury Gallery, London April 1967 cat No 1
(Mercury Gallery label verso)
James White wrote the foreword in the artist’s exhibition at the Mercury Gallery,
Recently he
[Gerard] has become preoccupied with clowns-Pierrots in unlikely places which, one supposes, sym-
bolize the artist on his quest for himself amongst his fantasies…the degree to which the art of Dillon
is involved in the subconscious is readily apparent
. Gerard Dillon never liked to speak about his
painting and his work from this period can be difficult to interpret.
Influenced by Picasso’s depiction of the masked figure,Dillon discovered by adopting the masked
Pierrot as his alter ego, it enabled him to express his ‘counter ego’ or ‘shadow’. This interest in his
subconscious relates to Carl Jung’s dream theory. Dillon used his dreams as a window into his
unconscious enabling him to confront his fears and anxieties.
Following the deaths in quick succession of his three brothers, who all died in their fifties,
Gerard embarked on a personal journey to search for answers to these traumatic events. A
Pierrot is depicted in an inner enclosure or empty room with different coloured walls. There are
no windows or doors. A shadow appears against a white wall with its finger pointing upwards.
In 1991, Arthur Armstrong, a friend commented on the artist’s works from this period
he was
obsessed that he was going to die young too…and was preoccupied with death in his work.
In this dream the Pierrot is not equipped with his master tools, his hands. An innovative paint-
er, Dillon embraced all forms and mediums in art. In 1974, in handwritten notes for a radio
programme George Campbell recalled his friend’s dexterity,
he had strong nimble hands that were
endlessly tearing, shaping, sticking, painting or stretching. He even peeled his spuds with his hands.
Could the Pierrot be walking out of his ‘box’ towards his ‘shadow’ to join his three brothers in
the after life?
Two months before the exhibition at the Mercury, Dillon referred to these paintings as ‘Pierrots
in Poetic Fantasies”. The ‘Poetic Fantasies’ developed into highly sophisticated and complex
images till the artist suffered a stroke in 1971.
Karen Reihill
Currently researching Gerard Dillon & Friends.
€4,000 - 6,000
