Auction Date:2012 Oct 01 @ 18:00 (UTC+01:00 : BST/CET)
Location:Clyde Hall, Royal Dublin Society (RDS), Ballsbridge, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) - ENCOUNTER, c.1968
oil on canvas
signed lower left; titled on reverse
20 by 27in., 51 by 69cm.
Dawson Gallery, Dublin;
Where purchased by the previous owners;
Whyte's, 28 November 2006, lot 56;
Whence purchased by the present owner
’Gerard Dillon’, Dawson Gallery, Dublin, 12 June – 2 July 1968, catalogue no. 20
In the original frame of the Dawson Gallery, Dublin.
Encounter belongs to a series of works that Gerard Dillon painted from the mid 1960s that features the figure of Pierrot. First appearing in paintings such as The Brothers, circa 1965, Dillon’s Pierrot acted as an alter ego for the artist. James White (1) has suggested that the introduction of the Pierrot figure into Dillon’s work was partly in reaction to the untimely death of his brother Joe from a heart defect in 1962. Having recently suffered an illness related to his own weak heart, and fearing that he would soon follow his brother, Dillon began to paint tableaux of melancholy Pierrots contemplating death in imaginary landscapes. Although Pierrot was a manifestation of Dillon’s preoccupation with death, he could also express the artist’s other hopes and fears. In Encounter Pierrot reels from the sight of a figure – perhaps another Pierrot – who appears to be trapped in stone. While the cause of this fate is left ambiguous, the presence of two nuns who have emerged from a fortified convent implies that religion has had a role to play. Although Dillon had been raised by a devoutly Catholic mother, he soon became disillusioned with the Catholic Church and came to see organised religion as a threat to his personal liberty. Dillon’s decision to adopt Pierrot as his alter ego was not only a reference to the historical appearance of the figures of Harlequin and Pierrot in the work of seminal Modernist artists including Picasso, Braque and Miró, but also references his concealment of his ambiguous sexuality in the conservative Ireland of the time.
Dr Riann Coulter
Dr. Coulter was curator of ‘Nano Reid and Gerard Dillon’, Highlanes Municipal Gallery, Drogheda and F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Banbridge 30 January - 2 May 2010
(1) White, James, Gerard Dillon. An Illustrated Biography, Wolfhound Press, 1994
For further reading see: Reihill, Karen, 'Behind the Mask', Irish Arts Review, Vol. 29, No. 3 [September-November] 2012, p.104-107
Auction Location:
Clyde Hall, Royal Dublin Society (RDS), Ballsbridge, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
Previewing Details:
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Buyer's Premiums:
| From (Incl.) | To (Excl.) | Premium |
| 0.00 |
Infinite |
20% |
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