Adam's Important Irish Art 5th December 2018

112 104 GERARD DILLON (1916-1971) Street Scene in Belfast Watercolour, 10.5 x 16cm (4 x 6¼’’) Signed with initials Exhibited: Droichead Arts Centre, 2003, ‘Retrospective’. € 700 - 1,000 105 GERARD DILLON (1916-1971) The Visitor Gouache and ink, 24 x 32cm (9½ x 12½’’) Signed € 2,500 - 3,500 This subject is directly linked to two etchings, ‘Strange Visitor’ and ‘Little Girl’s Wonder’ completed in the last year of the artist’s life. The inspiration for these works was derived from an earlier oil painting ‘Little Girl’s Wonder’ which was exhibited in Dublin at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in August 1955, (Cat No. 103). Curiously, the young boy in this work is not included in the 1955 oil painting or in the prints. Perhaps when Dillon revisited this subject in 1970, he decided to explore the idea of including a boy. Further research may reveal more information but we do know that the narrative in these works relate to Dillon’s interest in the past and the present. Two children are depicted in an interior with a figure resembling a figure from a medieval manuscript. A little girl gazes at the visitor in a robe from behind a chair while a boy’s attention is directed toward the cat sitting on the visitor’s lap. The past is represented by the statuesque figure in medieval robes and the present signifies the children in an interior of a traditional cottage. The basket of turf in the foreground and the cross of St. Brigid on the wall behind the seated figure may be symbols linking the past and the present. The making of St. Brigid’s Crosses from rushes was traditional on St Brigid’s feast day, which was formerly celebrated as a pagan festival marking the beginning of Spring. The four arms tied at the ends and woven square in the middle were traditionally set over rural cottage doorways and windows to protect the home from any harm. Karen Reihill November, 2018