Tony OMalley HRHA (1913-2003)

Abstract Composition

Oil on board, 92.5 x 17cm (36½ x 6¾'')
Signed with initials

 

Provenance: The collection of Brian and Anne Friel

 

Kilkenny born...

Tony OMalley HRHA (1913-2003)

Abstract Composition

Oil on board, 92.5 x 17cm (36½ x 6¾'')
Signed with initials

 

Provenance: The collection of Brian and Anne Friel

 

Kilkenny born painter Tony OMalley 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 1970s OMalley 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 1950s and 60s.

 

His work has been exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy, 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 Honorary Doctorate from Trinity College Dublin. When he died in 2003 he was rightly regarded as one of Irelands leading painters.The Irish Museum of Modern Art held a major retrospective of his work in 2005.

 

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