50
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
Estimate:
€20,000 - €30,000
Passed
Live Auction
Irish & International Art
ARTIST
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
Size
12 by 16in. (30.5 by 40.6cm)
Description
Title: SNOW IN CONNEMARA
Note: This is a very sophisticated composition. It has two major elements: the artist uses a 'reflex' angle to move the eye from the 'grey' pony to the grey jumper of the standing female figure to the grey foreground patch with the black hen.To prevent the middle and foreground elements being overwhelmed the artist arrests the eye with the green double gate echoed in the greenish head scarf of the standing female figure.It creates a sense of recession for the viewer, and the pattern of the snow covered Connemara stone walls closes the horizonline.Based on the artist's understanding of the " golden mean" it gives him control over the greys and whites. The Green Gates stop the eye from rushing out of the painting and the reds and russsets contain the balance of Dillon's pictorial statement.For a young painter (as he was at the time) this is a mature and considered work.Ciarán MacGonigal, November 2019
Note: This is a very sophisticated composition. It has two major elements: the artist uses a 'reflex' angle to move the eye from the 'grey' pony to the grey jumper of the standing female figure to the grey foreground patch with the black hen.To prevent the middle and foreground elements being overwhelmed the artist arrests the eye with the green double gate echoed in the greenish head scarf of the standing female figure.It creates a sense of recession for the viewer, and the pattern of the snow covered Connemara stone walls closes the horizonline.Based on the artist's understanding of the " golden mean" it gives him control over the greys and whites. The Green Gates stop the eye from rushing out of the painting and the reds and russsets contain the balance of Dillon's pictorial statement.For a young painter (as he was at the time) this is a mature and considered work.Ciarán MacGonigal, November 2019
Medium
oil on board
Signature
signed lower left; with typed label on reverse
Provenance
Acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1950s;Thence by descent
Exhibited
Maxwell Galleries, San Francisco, 1954
