Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Digging the Field Oil on board, 15.5 x 28.5cm (6 x 11.25'') Signed and inscribed ''My sincere good wishes, to my good friend, Charlie Hennessy'' verso Provenance: From...

Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Digging the Field Oil on board, 15.5 x 28.5cm (6 x 11.25'') Signed and inscribed ''My sincere good wishes, to my good friend, Charlie Hennessy'' verso Provenance: From the Estate of the late Charlie Hennessy, Cork. This charming small work was probably executed when Dillon returned to Connemara in the early 1950's, when he worked with James McIntyre, George Cambell and Arthur Armstrong. He, like Campbell and Armstrong stayed in digs in Roundstone with Mrs. Connolly and Mrs. Woods when visiting and working in the area mostly working at the time on commission from Victor Waddington, who exhibited his works in the Waddington Galleries, Dublin. The cloudless blue sky indicates a warm day in the West of Ireland. Dillon contains the viewers eye to the centre of the composition by using a mass of brown colour, where men are busy raking and preparing soil, and a woman wearing a scarf stands nearby. As so often in Dillon's West of Ireland scenes, it is the simplicity of the inhabitants rural lives that stimulate him into capturing their gestures, social events, or as in this case working their fields on a calm dry day. The proximity of the surrounding thatched cottages conveys closeness between the villagers, their lands seperated only by stone walls, which act as boundaries, but also to protect the vegetables from the frequent wild Atlantic storms. Karen Reihill, December 2008

View more View less