Gerard Dillon
Self-trained as an artist, Belfast-man Gerard Dillon worked as a house-painter and decorator in his early years, though an interest in the arts was apparent even as a teenager. In 1939 he and a friend went on a cycling holiday in the Connemara, an event which his biographer James White has since labelled the most important development of his life (Gerard Dillon: An Illustrated Biography, Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 1994). The imagery of the land, criss-crossed as it was by stone walls and dotted with cottages, and of the people in their brightly coloured home-spun clothes, remained with him for life and reappeared in many of his works. Dillons first solo exhibition was held in 1942 in the Country Shop on St Stephens Green, Dublin, and was opened by the champion of modern art in Ireland, Mainie Jellet. In 1943 Dillon showed his first work at the RHA. During the 1940s and 50s he became the rising star of the Irish avant-garde, his works widely exhibited and written about. His career has commonly been characterised as a succession of different phases, from his early naοve landscapes, to his final dream-scapes, populated by harlequins. Dillon died of a stroke in 1971. A retrospective was held the following year at the Ulster Museum and later at the Hugh Lane Gallery of Art, Dublin.
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'GIRL HIDING'
- Price Realised: 132,000
- Sale: 26 April 2005
- oil on panel
- 41 by 51cm., 16 by 20in.
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'LITTLE GIRL'S WONDER, circa 1955'
- Price Realised: 125,000
- Sale: 19 September 2006
- oil on board
- 64 by 76cm., 25 by 30in.
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'COTTAGE INTERIOR, circa 1952'
- Price Realised: 90,000
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- oil on board
- 36 by 61cm., 14 by 24in.
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'ITALIAN WASHER WOMEN'
- Price Realised: 70,000
- Sale: 28 November 2006
- oil on board
- 39 by 50cm., 15.5 by 19.5in.
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'HOME WITH THE CATCH'
- Price Realised: 60,000
- Sale: 26 May 2014
- oil on canvas
- 23 by 23.5in., 57.5 by 58.75cm.
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'THE WALL, 1940'
- Price Realised: 56,000
- Sale: 20 September 2005
- oil on canvas
- 36 by 56cm., 14 by 22in.
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'CATTLE AND COTTAGE'
- Price Realised: 52,000
- Sale: 25 February 2008
- oil on board
- 36 by 51cm., 14 by 20in.
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'YOUNG COUPLE IN A LANDSCAPE'
- Price Realised: 52,000
- Sale: 25 February 2008
- oil on board
- 30 by 41cm., 12 by 16in.
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'ITALIAN WITH FOWL, 1948'
- Price Realised: 48,000
- Sale: 27 November 2017
- oil on board
- 24 x 20in. (60.96 x 50.80cm)
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'WASHING DAY'
- Price Realised: 42,000
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- oil on board
- 46 by 61cm., 18 by 24in.
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'TOMaS BAKER, MOYARd, 1950'
- Price Realised: 40,000
- Sale: 19 September 2006
- oil on board
- 30 by 45cm., 11.7 5 by 17.7 5i
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'CURRACHS OFF ROUNDSTONE'
- Price Realised: 40,000
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- oil on board
- 51 by 61cm., 20 by 24in.
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'ENCOUNTER, circa 1968'
- Price Realised: 39,000
- Sale: 28 November 2006
- oil on canvas
- 51 by 69cm., 20 by 27in.
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'MEN AND BOATS, CONNEMARA'
- Price Realised: 36,000
- Sale: 29 May 2017
- signed lower left, with Dawson Gallery, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Municipal Gallery Dublin labels on reverse
- 12½ x 15in. (31Ύ x 38.10cm)
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'WEST OF IRELAND COUPLE AND HORSES'
- Price Realised: 36,000
- Sale: 30 May 2016
- oil on canvas
- 16½ x 21½in. (41.91 x 54.61cm)
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'THE HOLY ISLAND'
- Price Realised: 36,000
- Sale: 28 November 2006
- oil and sand on board
- 91 by 122cm., 36 by 48in.
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'LANDSCAPE ARTIST, circa 1966'
- Price Realised: 33,000
- Sale: 19 February 2007
- oil on canvas
- 50 by 60cm., 19.7 by 23.7in.
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'YOUNG COUPLE IN A LANDSCAPE'
- Price Realised: 30,000
- Sale: 14 March 2011
- oil on board
- 30 by 41cm., 12 by 16in.
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'GIRL ON BEACH'
- Price Realised: 29,000
- Sale: 28 November 2011
- oilon hessian sackcloth
- 56 by 66cm., 22 by 26in.
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'MAC DARA'S YARD'
- Price Realised: 29,000
- Sale: 17 September 2002
- oil on canvas laid on board
- 36 by 47cm., 14 by 18.5in.
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'MAGIC IN THE SKY'
- Price Realised: 28,000
- Sale: 31 May 2010
- oil on canvas
- 76 by 88cm., 30 by 34.5in.
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'YOUNG COUPLE'
- Price Realised: 25,500
- Sale: 26 November 2007
- oil on board
- 60 by 39cm., 23.5 by 15.5in.
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'ENCOUNTER, c.1968'
- Price Realised: 25,000
- Sale: 01 October 2012
- oil on canvas
- 20 by 27in., 51 by 69cm.
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'INISHLACKEN'
- Price Realised: 25,000
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- oil on canvas
- 41 by 51cm., 16 by 20in.
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'THE FISH EATERS, 1946'
- Price Realised: 24,000
- Sale: 30 May 2016
- oil on board
- 17Ό x 21in. (43.82 x 53.34cm)
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'LITTLE BOY PLAYING AT GOD, 1945-46'
- Price Realised: 24,000
- Sale: 24 November 2014
- oil on canvas
- 20 x 30in. (50.80 x 76.20cm)
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'ENTERTAINING COUNTRY GIRLS'
- Price Realised: 23,000
- Sale: 19 September 2006
- mixed media collage
- 38 by 56cm., 15 by 22in.
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'PORTRAIT OF DAN O'NEILL, 1952'
- Price Realised: 21,000
- Sale: 30 November 2015
- oil on canvas
- 22 x 18in. (55.88 x 45.72cm)