Traditionally western portraiture has been concerned with the representation of likeness whether idealised or naturalistic; social or political status and personality/identity. With notable exceptions the probing of the sitter's personality or psychological disposition is a relatively recent approach ushered in by the Romantic movement in the 19th century and later explored by Expressionist artists in the 20th century with the focus on the inner life of the individual especially by means of the self-portrait. Over the centuries portraiture has been deployed to commemorate, document and celebrate, taking many material forms - painting, drawing, sculpture, medals, stamps as well as photography and more recently video.

We know Dan O'Neill was largely self taught, learning about art via books and journals and interaction with fellow artists, Gerard Dillon, George Campbell and Colin Middleton. He spent time in London and visited France. From his first important exhibition in 1946 with Victor Waddington in Dublin to his last major exhibition at the McClelland Galleries Belfast in 1970, he exhibited still lives, religious pictures, landscapes and many figure studies.

Portraits of women constitute a sub-theme in the oeuvre of Dan O'Neill whether mother, wife, lover, muse with the penumbra of 'Madonna' often filtering through his imagery. With Girl with a Tambourine we have an almost full length portrait in which the subject's face demurely looks out with 'Picasso' eyes, cast a little downwards. Her face is partly in light and partly in shade. Light always plays an important role in O'Neill's painting. Most of her form is lit with a warm creamy light while at the top of the painting a glimpse of a more spiritual, perhaps ominous, light is revealed among nocturnal clouds. In this category of his work the background whether a view from an open window or a landscape plays an extended role. The circular form of the tambourine sets the circular compositional format. With Girl with a Tambourine the background setting, composed of a series of swirling green and blue abstract elements, is in flux and in contrast to the more contemplative figure. O'Neill often relied on rich colours and impasto with dark yellows, blues and greens to support a visionary quality in his work drawing from the example of the French artist Maurice Vlaminck.

In the painting the girl wears a mantilla - traditional in Spain - covering her head, a sign of humility in the Catholic Church and often worn at Mass. It is an accessory that O'Neill often deploys, as in Echoes Past (Collection of IMMA) where the woman in more medieval costume strums a mandoline. I am not sure whether O'Neill visited Spain. However his friend, the artist George Campbell, was an aficionado of Spanish culture and music and they both made paintings of matadors. John Hewitt would cite El Greco as an influence on O'Neill's work.

Girl with a Tambourine is a fine example of O'Neill's purposeful exuberant use of paint and the romantic leanings of the artist.

Professor Liam Kelly
February 2022