Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Memory Room Oil on canvas, 51 x 60cm (20 x 23.6'') Signed and inscribed with title verso Provenance: The Dawson Gallery. Private Collection, Cork. In 1945, Molly...

Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Memory Room Oil on canvas, 51 x 60cm (20 x 23.6'') Signed and inscribed with title verso Provenance: The Dawson Gallery. Private Collection, Cork. In 1945, Molly Dillon, Gerard's sister acquired a house at102 Abbey Road, London, N.W.6, and Dillon moved in as a tenant, converting the basement into a flat which had its own independent entrance. Dillon was to live here, on and off, for the next twenty years and during those years, well known paintings such as ''In The London Flat'' (Private Collection), ''Self Contained Flat'' (Arts Council of Northern Ireland), and ''The Red Attic'' (Private Collection) were executed there. The Belfast pianist, Tom Davidson, came to stay in 102 Abbey Road in the early fifties, and Molly rented him an upstairs room in the house as Hugh Heanon, another friend was already occuping the second bedroom in Gerards' basement flat. During these years, various people came and went, and at times Abbey Road was the meeting place for Belfast artists. George and Madge Campbell, Hugh Heanon, Tom McGreanor, Arthur Armstrong and his great friend Noreen Rice were regular guests, but it was Gerard's basement flat that was the centre of the social life of the house. Typical of Dillon's style at the time, the picture is divided in two. Dillon uses arches to direct our eyes to both sides of the painting. To the left, stairs lead to a closed door, and along a corridor, an open one. The abstract design from the ground outside is followed through to a rug leading to the open door, possibly Dillon's flat. Another open door leads to a room, where a woman sits bent over a piano, and a dog stands gazing out at the viewer in the middle of the room. Molly was sympathetic to stray animals, and would leave the front door open every day, so cats and dogs could come and go. Living in the basement, closest to the garden, Gerard was often called upon to attend to them at nighttime. To produce a more effiecient way to deal with the animal's needs, Molly installed a 'bell system' on the outside of the house - when someone in the house rang the bell, a person from each floor would lean out, and nominate a person to attend to the animals. The sitter could be any number of Dillon's friends visiting or staying at Abbey Road. His literary friends include, Aiden Higgins, Bill Naughton and Gerard Keenan and although Dillon is far from home, the title of the painting suggests a house, enriched with friendships from visual and literary backgrounds, igniting happy memories, and his interest remained at all times in his local community, and in this case the activities of 102 Abbey Road.

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