Adam's Important Irish Art September 26th 2018

20 13 TONY O’MALLEY HRHA (1913-2003) Abstract Composition Oil on board, 92.5 x 17cm (36½ x 6¾’’) Signed with initials € 2,500 - 3,500 Kilkenny born painter Tony O’Malley began painting full time in 1958 having worked as a bank clerk, while painting in his spare time. He is best known for his paintings done in Cornwall, where he lived for thirty years after visiting St Ives in 1955. He returned to settle there in 1960. While he was strongly influenced by the St Ives artistic community, his relationship was one of engagement rather than direct participation, although he did meet and work with Peter Lanyon and Patrick Heron. In the 1970’s O’Malley married his wife Jane, an artist and they spent their winters in the Bahamas. Influenced by the light and surroundings of the Carribean, much of his work from this time became more colourful and vibrant, moving away from the more sombre tones of his work in the 1950’s and 60’s. His work has been exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Acad- emy, Taylor Galleries,Dublin, the Coram Gallery in London and he represented Ireland at ROSC ‘80. An honorary member of the RHA (elected 1990), he was elected Saoi of Aosdana in 1993 and the following year received an Hon- orary Doctorate from Trinity College Dublin. When he died in 2003 he was rightly regarded as one of Ireland’s leading painters.The Irish Museum of Modern Art held a major retrospective of his work in 2005. Paintings from the Brian and Anne Friel Collection