Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974)

Carnival
Oil on board, 41 x 61cm (16¼ x 24")

Signed, inscribed with title verso

Provenance: The Waddington Galleries label verso, where purchased by present...

Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974)

Carnival
Oil on board, 41 x 61cm (16¼ x 24")

Signed, inscribed with title verso

Provenance: The Waddington Galleries label verso, where purchased by present owner

 

Exhibited: Daniel ONeill 1955 Exhibition, The Waddington Galleries, cat No.23.

Exhibited at ONeills final solo show at Waddington Galleries in Dublin in 1955, Carnival is similar in style to other works in the exhibition, Dinner in the Garden, 1925, Rehearsal and Chorus Girls when the artist was painting in an Impressionist style. It is highly likely that ONeill visited the National Gallery Jeu de Paume which housed Modern paintings, when he stayed in Paris in 1949. These series of works represent a deliberate move away from the artists characteristic moody subjects of the 1940s in favour of small group or multi-figure compositions.

Carnivals normally occur during the week before Lent in Roman Catholic countries consisting of music, dancing, processions and the use of masquerade. Carnivals were however, also held in Paris and the renowned Paris Carnival snaked along Rue Saint Antoine till 1952 and consisted of the Walk of Masks. It is not known if this image was inspired by an actual event or has been adopted from the artists imagination. In another work Carnival sold in these rooms (Lot 106 1st October 2014) ONeill allows light from the background to dramatically filter through the crowd to revellers wearing hats in the foreground. Here ONeill has chosen to employ a spotlight effect or Tenebrism a technique in art favoured by Tintoretto and Caravaggio to cause dramatic illumination in the composition. In a moonlit scene, a single candle held by a masked figure adds drama to a group of eerily masked faces and to the left a young girl marvels at the unfamiliar theatrical scene imbued with excitement.

Daniel ONeill explained his passion for painting to fellow Belfast man Seamus Kelly, (Quidnunc) a columnist in the Irish Times following the success of one of his exhibitions at the Waddington galleries I believe that to experiment, to make discoveries in technique and apply them, is the excitement of painting. Above all else ONeill enjoyed the discovery of something new and he continued to experiment in the 1960s with Polymer colours and painting techniques till his death in 1974.

Karen Reihill, November, 2015

 

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