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Robert Ballagh ( b.1943)
DOLLY MIXTURES 9, 1971
mixed media with collage
signed in pencil on reverse; with typed David Hendriks Gallery
exhibition label on reverse; with Compass Gallery, Glasgow, exhibition
label on reverse; also with Gorry Gallery exhibition label on reverse
13.25 by 19in. (33.66 by 48.26cm)
Provenance:
David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin;
Private collection;
Exhibited:
David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, 1971; ‘Three-man Show (Cecil King,
Patrick Collins & Robert Ballagh), Compass Gallery, Glasgow, until
November 1971; ‘Robert Ballagh Works from the Studio 1959-2006’,
Gorry Gallery, Dublin, in association with Damien Matthews Fine Art, 20
September - 5 October 2006, catalogue no. 20
Literature:
The Gorry Gallery in association with Damien Matthews Fine Art,
Robert Ballagh Works from the Studio 1959-2006, Damien Matthews
Fine Art Publications, 2006, p. 40 (illustrated)
“Tea Cakes and Dolly Mixtures were part of a series commenting on mass
culture and popular taste, using very sweet subject matter. Other subject
from 1971 included gob stoppers, liquorice comfts, iced caramels,
chocolate beans and liquorice allsorts, all painted as literal examples of
monumental contemporary kitsch against patterned backgrounds.
Although these works may now appear to have a ‘retro style’, at the time
they were quite shocking in their vulgarity, using as they did materials not
yet appreciated for their kitsch qualities. The quite hallucinatory intensity
with which Ballagh has portrayed his sweet subject is both amusing and
disquieting.”
From Robert Ballagh Works from the Studio 1959-2006, p.39
€2,000-€3,000 (£1,639-£2,459 approx).
147
Patrick Scott HRHA ( b.1921)
MEXICAN TAPESTRY, 1983
wool tapestry on cotton warp; unique
signed on label sewn at rear
85 by 51in. (215.90 by 129.54cm)
Provenance:
Gift from the artist to the present owner
Literature:
Walker, Dorothy, ‘Contemporary Irish Tapestry’, Irish Arts Review, Vol. 1 no. 2, 1984,
pp. 14-19; Peter Lamb, ‘Patrick Scott Tapestries’, Irish Arts Review, Vol. 19 no. 1,
2002, pp. 48-53
Hand-woven by Benito Hernandez y Hermanos, Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Patrick Scott’s tapestry designs are a highly signifcant part of his oeuvre. The
designs vary according to the tapestry technique employed, taking into account
attributes such as the depth of pile and method of tufting. Thus, as Dorothy Walker
once noted, ‘his tapestry is no mere transference of his paintings to a woollen
surface’ (Irish Arts Review, 1984, pp. 18-9). Scott has also embraced a rainbow-
coloured palette of colours for his tapestry designs. He has worked with the famed
Aubusson frm of Tabard Frères et Soeurs, in addition to the Irish frm V’Soske Joyce
in Galway and individual weaver designers such as Alice Roden and Leonora Fowler.
In 1980 he was introduced to a family of weavers in Mexico, resulting in a series of
rugs, wall hangings and tapestries being produced over the following four years.
Peter Lamb has described this series as follows: The Oaxacan weavers of Mexico
operate a cottage industry version of Aubusson. They also produce a fne product,
but one which is much looser and more rustic in character. Unlike both V’Soske
Joyce and Tabard Frères et Soeurs, which both use chemical dyes, the Oaxacans use
mostly animal and vegetable dyes, particularly indigo and cochineal, which are
locally produced. Scott worked with Benito Hernandez, a Zapotec Mexican, and his
extended family in the weaving village of Teotitlán del Valle from 1981 to 1984 and
some of the work was subsequently exhibited in the Museo del Arte
Contemporaneo in the city of Oaxaca. (Irish Arts Review, 2002, p. 52)
€4,000-€6,000 (£3,278-£4,918 approx).