Gerard Dillon RHA RUA (1916-1971)
Norah and Johnny Conneely Resting
Oil on board, 61 x 77cm (24 x 30")
Signed; inscribed with title verso
Nora and Johnny Conneely Resting is a stunning oil painting on board by Dillon, featuring an idyllic, intimate snapshot into life in the west of Ireland. Both figures sit with their legs stretched out on the field after what appears to be a long day working. Johnny Connelly sits smoking a cigarette with his back against a dry stone wall, which is synonymous with rural Ireland, along with the cottages that appear in the background of the painting. The figure of Nora Conneely fills the front of the composition, framing her partner and the wheat field to the right of the painting. She chews upon the stem of a wheat stalk taken from the field they are working in, her forlorn expression in contrast to that of Johnny’s, who gazes directly at the viewer.
The west of Ireland represented a place of wonder and awe for Dillon, who spent many periods there, observing, sketching and painting. Born in Belfast, and living in London from the age of 18, the west of Ireland offered Dillon a sanctuary away from the red brick cities. For many artists, the west of Ireland was alluring. Due to the isolated, hard-to-reach nature of the west, the people here developed their own way of life through their sense of dress, history and mythology, and so forth, which lent itself to the appeal of outsiders. Dillon, along with many other artists, saw this region and its inhabitants as a true representation of what it meant to be Irish. The west of Ireland became a recurring theme in Dillon’s oeuvre, featuring in many of his paintings from the 1940s onwards, such as West of Ireland Landscape (1945) and The Cottage Gable (c. 1950). Even when he began to experiment visually, with paintings such as The Brothers (1968), Dillon often included visual motifs or reminders of the west of Ireland, like the stone cottages found throughout the region, not unlike the one in our picture.
Dillon’s application of paint is quite striking, which makes the painting all the more intriguing. Johnny Conneely’s clothes and the grass which the figures sit upon have been painted with thinned layers of oil paint, giving them a translucent appearance and quality. This is in striking contrast to Nora Conneely’s dress, which has been painted with a deliberate thickness and heaviness, not dissimilar to the texture of the stone wall. Similarly, the sky itself is painted in a similar manner, in a flat cool blue colour. Dillon’s application of the paint is interesting, it is almost as if he is carving out, with paint, the contours of the cottages and the dry stone wall. There is a deliberateness to the marks Dillon makes, doing so in such a quick and confident manner. The bundles of wheat stems to the right of Johnny give an insight into the realities of the west of Ireland, as agriculture played a massive role in the way of life in this region, in particular the Aran Islands, where Dillon was known to travel and spend time there. Dillon often depicted similar scenes of daily life in this part of the world, a seen in such scenes as Potato Pickers (1944) or Island People (c. 1950).
Patrick Hickey
May 2023
Gerard Dillon RHA RUA (1916-1971)
Norah and Johnny Conneely Resting
Oil on board, 61 x 77cm (24 x 30")
Signed; inscribed with title verso
Nora and Johnny Conneely Resting is a stunning oil painting on board by Dillon, featuring an idyllic, intimate snapshot into life in the west of Ireland. Both figures sit with their legs stretched out on the field after what appears to be a long day working. Johnny Connelly sits smoking a cigarette with his back against a dry stone wall, which is synonymous with rural Ireland, along with the cottages that appear in the background of the painting. The figure of Nora Conneely fills the front of the composition, framing her partner and the wheat field to the right of the painting. She chews upon the stem of a wheat stalk taken from the field they are working in, her forlorn expression in contrast to that of Johnny’s, who gazes directly at the viewer.
The west of Ireland represented a place of wonder and awe for Dillon, who spent many periods there, observing, sketching and painting. Born in Belfast, and living in London from the age of 18, the west of Ireland offered Dillon a sanctuary away from the red brick cities. For many artists, the west of Ireland was alluring. Due to the isolated, hard-to-reach nature of the west, the people here developed their own way of life through their sense of dress, history and mythology, and so forth, which lent itself to the appeal of outsiders. Dillon, along with many other artists, saw this region and its inhabitants as a true representation of what it meant to be Irish. The west of Ireland became a recurring theme in Dillon’s oeuvre, featuring in many of his paintings from the 1940s onwards, such as West of Ireland Landscape (1945) and The Cottage Gable (c. 1950). Even when he began to experiment visually, with paintings such as The Brothers (1968), Dillon often included visual motifs or reminders of the west of Ireland, like the stone cottages found throughout the region, not unlike the one in our picture.
Dillon’s application of paint is quite striking, which makes the painting all the more intriguing. Johnny Conneely’s clothes and the grass which the figures sit upon have been painted with thinned layers of oil paint, giving them a translucent appearance and quality. This is in striking contrast to Nora Conneely’s dress, which has been painted with a deliberate thickness and heaviness, not dissimilar to the texture of the stone wall. Similarly, the sky itself is painted in a similar manner, in a flat cool blue colour. Dillon’s application of the paint is interesting, it is almost as if he is carving out, with paint, the contours of the cottages and the dry stone wall. There is a deliberateness to the marks Dillon makes, doing so in such a quick and confident manner. The bundles of wheat stems to the right of Johnny give an insight into the realities of the west of Ireland, as agriculture played a massive role in the way of life in this region, in particular the Aran Islands, where Dillon was known to travel and spend time there. Dillon often depicted similar scenes of daily life in this part of the world, a seen in such scenes as Potato Pickers (1944) or Island People (c. 1950).
Patrick Hickey
May 2023
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