Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
Artist's Studio
Oil and mixed media on board, 45 x 55cm (17¾ x 21½'')

Provenance: Gerry Dillon, nephew of the artist; thence by descent to Martin Dillon, New York;...

Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
Artist's Studio
Oil and mixed media on board, 45 x 55cm (17¾ x 21½'')

Provenance: Gerry Dillon, nephew of the artist; thence by descent to Martin Dillon, New York; Adam's Sale 28th May 2008, Lot 63; Private collection.


In the late 1950s, the Belfast artist Noreen Rice (1936-2015) painted with Dillon when she lived in a flat above him in Molly Dillons house in Abbey Road in St. Johns Wood in London. This painting Artists Studio was probably executed during this period when Dillon was going through an intense period of creativity and experimentation with various materials and mediums. Years later in a retrospective of Dillons work Noreen Rice recalled their time working in his studio together;

We were enlightened and stimulated when the Spanish School led by Tàpies, the Tachists with Jackson Pollock, and Cézar, the French sculptor, were first shown in London. All at once, we changed from figurative to abstracts. We made pictures or objects from things found in dumps to recycle into art parts of sewing machines, gas cookers, bicycles, leather, sand, hessian, anything which suggested a new aspect of their quality metamorphosis into a new life. (Memories of Gerard Dillon, Gerard Dillon 1916-1971 A Retrospective Exhibition, Droichead Arts Centre, 2003)

Bold shapes of colour and an abstract painting depicted on the artists easel suggest a period of metamorphosis into a new life. Dillon explored making papier mâché masks, sculpture, sewing suits, ties, hats, designing and hand weaving tapestries. He also explored the area of home furnishing by designing Holland blinds, lamp shades and wall paper. The appearance of another easel on the right side of the composition suggest another artist at work. The wallpaper tools displayed on the floor, scissors and roll of paper on a table signify someone working with wall paper. This subject may therefore relate to the period when Noreen Rice was in Dillons studio when he was making wall paper. In a retrospective catalogue in 2003, Dillon is photographed sitting on the stairway of his family home in Belfast with his wall paper behind him. The motif on the paper signifies Dillons passion for the Theatre. (Photograph reproduced courtesy of Tristram Giff)

Karen Reihill
November, 2018

 

 

View more View less