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Tony O'Malley-IRISH INSCAPE - STUDIO, PHYSICIANSTOWN, CALLAN, 1984

Currency:EUR Category:Art / General - Paintings Start Price:0.00 EUR Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 EUR
Tony O'Malley-IRISH INSCAPE - STUDIO, PHYSICIANSTOWN, CALLAN, 1984

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Auction Date:2012 May 21 @ 18:00 (UTC+01:00 : BST/CET)
Location:Serpentine Hall, RDS, Anglesea Road entrance, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
Tony O'Malley-IRISH INSCAPE - STUDIO, PHYSICIANSTOWN, CALLAN, 1984

oil on wood with collage elementsigned with initials lower left; dated [November] lower right; signed again, titled and dated on reverse; also with artist's archival number [No. 832] on reverse; with typed Taylor Galleries exhibition label on reverse
48 by 36in., 121.92 by 91.44cm.
Orientation of Image: P

Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin


Exhibited: 'Tony O'Malley', Taylor Galleries, Dublin, October 1986, no. 18

Literature:

Notes: After many years in Cornwall Tony O'Malley began extensive visits back to Ireland in the late 1970s, establishing a studio at Physicanstown, near to Callan Co. Kilkenny where he was born. This, like his studios in the Bahamas and St. Ives, often formed the subject of his paintings. The work is not a representation of an actual location but an 'inscape'. This word, which recurs in a number of O'Malley's titles, comes from the writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Inscape is a term used to describe 'individually-distinctive beauty' or in visual art terms an interior landscape, a poetic evocation of the artist's thoughts and responses to a place or object rather than a conventional outward view. O'Malley's introspective practice came from his early isolation as a self-trained artist but it was also informed by his years of working with English modernist artists in Cornwall. Through the St. Ives school he developed a sophisticated understanding and engagement with modern art which is reflected in the distinctive language of forms found in this work.

The pale blue of the painting contained within a darker blue frame suggests space and light. But the seeming simplicity of the blue expanse and its floating birdlike forms is disrupted by its rich, three dimensional surface. As in his other work O'Malley adds material to his paint to create thick lines that project up from the surface. Elsewhere paint is scraped back so that the underlying board is visible. The resulting rhythmic lines compliment the painted floating grid of colourful forms. The simple and direct treatment of the work in conjunction with its exotic elements and colours evoke a primitive space while its marked surface anchors it within the physical world of the artist's studio.
Dr. Róisín Kennedy
April 2012We are grateful to the Taylor Galleries for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Jim O'Driscoll was a renowned barrister by profession but also a passionate patron of the arts with a keen eye for beauty. Director of the Fenton Gallery in Cork for ten years, he built lasting ties with the arts community buying regularly from galleries throughout Ireland as well as from artists directly. His strong connections with Cork in particular are reflected in both his subject choice and his support for its native artists, among them, Maurice Desmond and Pat Connor. He was an early supporter and friend of Tony O'Malley and the late William Crozier and their paintings within his collection are testament to his access to the very best from their respective oeuvres. All the masters in Irish art from the eighties and nineties are well represented here, although some, for example those by Patrick Collins and Gerard Dillon, come from an earlier generation. This outstanding collection represents the powerful imprint of a true collector who was guided not only by his trained eye for quality but by a passion for interesting and authentic artworks.