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Daniel O’Neill (1920-1974)
The Flower Girl
Oil on board, 56 x 40.5cm (22 x 16”)
Signed
Daniel O’Neill’s wife, Eileen, whom he married in 1943, recalled in conversation that O’Neill was not
interested in working directly from the model. However, she also stated that while she did not actually
pose for him, it was her image which inspired his work of the 1940s and early 50s.
1
In Eileen, O’Neill
had found the embodiment of his ideal feminine form and in
The Flower Girl
he gives full expression to
his feeling, employing the full range of the newly discovered techniques he was experimenting with at
the time.
The placing in a parkland setting, embroidered with millefiori, reinforces the romantic nature of the image
as does the crinoline dress.The blue and green colour harmonies unify the composition and the vigorous
treatment both in brushwork and impasto effects, modified by subtle glazes, transcend the subject and
become the primary interest.
Not interested in making naturalistic representations on canvas, O’Neill’s subjects became the vehicle for
the expression of his own intense feeling, and even at this early stage of his career as a painter, he had
developed an impressive skill in the handling of pigment with a delight in its application.
James McIntyre, on a visit to O’Neill’s studio, was impressed by his glazes and delicate impasto effects
which had been achieved by applying the paint directly, through a small hole pierced in the cap of a paint
tube and extruded directly on to the surface of the work, thus creating a raised contour.
2
This technique
is used to great effect in
The Flower Girl,
particularly in defining the foreground flowers and in the sug-
gestion of texture on the bodice of the dress and decorative defining line on the skirt. The treatment of
the framing trees in free brushwork, creates an interesting counterpoint to the more detailed aspects of
the composition. Critic Edward Sheehy, noted that O’Neill ‘has an imagination which transmutes rather
than translates reality’.
3
From the beginning O’Neill displayed an innate feeling for colour as a means to create mood and atmos-
phere. He also realized that surface quality was an important element in painting as it allowed for the
exploration of the abstract qualities of the chosen medium.This device facilitated transcending the subject
matter and, in so doing, becomes the main focus of the work in process.
O’Neill’s second solo exhibition was held at the Waddington Gallery, Dublin, during September 1949.
The wide variety of theme, colour and treatment of the work was favourably commented on, with
The Mat-
ador
attracting attention for “its dignity not untouched by pathos”.
4
In this work, the painter used many
of the techniques previously employed in
The Flower Girl
and, inretrospect, the critical comment could be
equally applied to this piece.
Anne-Marie Keaveney BA Fine Art (Painting) MLitt Visual Culture.
1
O’Neill, M., interview, London, 13 February 1999
2
McIntyre, J., interview Greenisland, Co. Antrim, 13 November 1998
3
Sheehy, Edward,The Dublin Magazine, September, 1949
4
Social and Personal, October 1949, p.28
€15,000 - 20,000