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Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) - BRIGID, 1960

Currency:EUR Category:Art / General - Paintings Start Price:0.00 EUR Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 EUR
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) - BRIGID, 1960

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Auction Date:2012 Oct 01 @ 18:00 (UTC+1)
Location:Clyde Hall, Royal Dublin Society (RDS), Ballsbridge, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) - BRIGID, 1960

oil on board
signed lower right; inscribed with title on reverse
23.5 by 17.5in., 60 by 44cm.
Dawson Gallery, Dublin;
Private collection
'Daniel O'Neill', Dawson Gallery, Dublin, November 1960, catalogue no. 17, as Bridgid [£80-0-0]


Daniel O'Neill exhibited at the Waddington Galleries between 1946 and 1955. After leaving Ireland in 1958 to move to London he exhibited with the Waddington Gallery in Montreal, Canada. During this period he also exhibited in New York (1947), in Beverly Hills, California (1948) and in a group show in Amsterdam. Ken Jamison writing in 1971 about the artist and referring to the period of his work circa 1949 could say:
'His work then had all the trappings of high romanticism - spatial ambiguity, mannerist proportions, emotive power, dramatic impasto'
By 1960 he was living in London where he painted Brigid using a palette knife to build up a rich texture to create a dark demure presence in restricted colours, mainly tones of blue. Portraits of women, at times with first name titles, always remained an important subject for the artist. Here he chooses to position the sitter in a frontal pose rather an in a three quarter turn which contributes to the primitive directness of the painting - 'the emotive power' to which Jamison refers. One of the impressive characteristics of this painting is its luminous quality. With O'Neill light often acts as a revealing protagonist. Brigid is a fine example of his work of this period.

Prof. Liam Kelly,
May 2012

Also shown in this 1960 show were Miriam (exhibition no. 2), Kitty (no. 4), Country Girl (no. 8), Martha (no. 11), Bridgid (no. 17), Girl in Blue Shawl (no. 18), Mother and Daughter (no. 19), Figure and Flowers (no. 26). Total exhibits included in the show were twenty-eight.