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Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
LITTLE BOY PLAYING AT GOD, 1945-46
oil on canvas
signed and dated lower left; titled on Waddington Galleries [London] label on reverse
20 by 30in. (50.80 by 76.20cm)
Provenance:
Waddington Galleries, London;
Private collection;
Bonhams, 12 August 2014, lot 236;
Private collection
This early work by Gerard Dillon shows children playing in the West of Ireland. One boy prays while another
older one stands as if he has just been brought back to life. A wooden cross in the currach behind him adds to
the religious theme.Two girls embrace each other in mock fear as they look on. Another figure, possibly a
fisherman, strides off, making a gesture that suggests he does not take their game very seriously.The barren
yellow setting adds to the incongruousness of the subject. A puddle of water reflects the praying child, while a
large black mass behind the children adds solidity to the composition.
Dillon was captivated by the West of Ireland which he first visited on a cycling holiday in 1939 and to which he
returned many times in subsequent years. It became a central theme in his work and featured in the first
paintings that he exhibited in Dublin and Belfast during World War II when he was embarking on his career as an
artist. In many of his paintings of the West, as in this one, Dillon combines his fascination with the region with an
astute knowledge of modern art, often making humorous references to the work of other and more famous
artists.The latter he knew from visiting museums in London where he lived before being marooned in Ireland
during the war. He also gained much knowledge of modern French art through colour reproductions in
illustrated art books, then becoming more widely available.
Little Boy Playing at God appears to make reference to Puvis de Chavannes’s 1881 painting,The Poor Fisherman.
It plays on the simplicity of life in the West of Ireland and on the inherent spirituality of its inhabitants.The
children are able to re-enact a powerful religious story through the power of their imagination. But typically of
Dillon it also brings in a note of levity that is absent from more established representations of the West as seen
in the work of Paul Henry or Sean Keating, two older and more senior artists than he.This novel way of
approaching the subject delighted a new generation of Irish art lovers who sought a less reverential way of
portraying the West, one that related to their experience of it.
Dr. Róisín Kennedy
October 2014
€
15,000-
€
20,000 (£12,000-£16,000 approx)