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Patrick Collins HRHA (1910-1994)
DRUID’S MOON, 1981
oil on canvas
signed and dated lower left; with inscribed Arts Council exhibition label
on reverse; also with typed Sligo Art Gallery exhibition label on reverse
32 by 38in. (81.28 by 96.52cm)
Provenance:
Collection of the artist
Exhibited:
’Patrick Collins: Retrospective Exhibition’, Arts Council/An Chomhairle
Ealaíon and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, touring exhibition,
Cork, Dublin and Belfast, 1982, catalogue no. 84 (loaned by the Artist);
‘Patrick Collins’, Sligo Art Gallery, 27 March - 21 April, 1985
Literature:
Frances Ruane, Patrick Collins, An Chomhairle Ealaíon/The Arts Council,
Dublin; The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast, 1982, pp.92
(illustrated) pp.113 (listed)
After living in France for six years, Collins returned to Ireland in 1977 and
produced some remarkable work for an exhibition in 1979. The canvasses
increased in size, the colour became more complex and the gestures
became rounder and more active. After a brief period when personal and
fnancial difculties made it impossible for him to paint, he received
assistance from the Arts Council and from friends in 1980 and was able to
pick up where he left of.
The dynamism and sweeping movement typical of paintings done around
this time can be seen in Druid’s Moon. Collins pivots the composition
around a central point, the paint is applied with gusto and the serenity of
the 1960s and ‘70s has given way to a livelier, more ebullient mood. In
Druid’s Moon Collins returns to using a ‘frame within a frame’ device, the
main body of the painting hovering within a rectangle. It has the efect of
isolating the subject from the reality of its surroundings, a self-contained
vignette abstracted from a specifc moment and place. However, in this
painting the rectangle is incomplete and, together with the head-like
moon, it suggests a fgure whose arms are open in a comforting embrace.
Collins had certainly achieved some stability in his life around this time
and, with a major retrospective of his work planned for the following year,
had fnally received institutional approbation. It is not surprising to fnd
this sense of security refected in paintings like this one.
Frances Ruane HRHA
April, 2012
€14,000-€16,000 (£11,475-£13,114 approx).
The Jim O’Driscoll Collection WHYTESS I N C E 1 7 8 3
,