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J ames White believed that Dillon’s discovery of Connemara was the most important event in his life and suggests
that he saw the west of Ireland as a kind of rural idyll, free from both the political repressions of the North and the
social constraints of Irish society. Like many others, Dillon saw Connemara as the most ‘authentic’ Ireland unspoilt
by modernisation. In 1950 he wrote, ‘I love the country and hate to see Dublin or Belfast or any Irish town growing
modern…Modern Ireland, my foot’. (3)
In The Past in the Present Dillon is aligning himself with Irish history and a romantic idea of Ireland. However the
contrast between the grey stone reliefs and the vibrant image of western landscape, places him firmly in the present
and in Connemara.
Dr Riann Coulter
August 2015
Footnotes:
1. Gerard Dillon to John Hewitt, December 1949.
2. Niamh NicGhabhann, ‘Ancient and Modern’, Nano Reid and Gerard Dillon, eds. Riann Coulter & Aoife Ruane,
Highlanes Municipal Art Gallery, 2009, p. 56.
3. Gerard Dillon to Bernard Smith, 28 August 1950.
€25,000-€35,000 (£18380-£25730 approx. approx.)
Large Image & Place Bid Lot 66IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART · 28 SEPTEMBER 2015