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Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
WEST OF IRELAND COUPLE AND HORSES
oil on canvas
signed lower right; with partial handwritten label on reverse detailing artist’s name and address [26 Lower
Clonard Street, Belfast]; also with canvas stamp verso [CH West / 115 Finchley Road / N.W.]
16.5 by 21.5in. (41.91 by 54.61cm)
Provenance:
Collection of Phil Rafferty (friend of the artist);
Thence by descent
Roundstone and Inishlacken were recurring sources of material and inspiration for Gerard Dillon, who be-
came preoccupied with the ‘Western idyll’ (1) following his first trip to the west of Ireland in 1939. The pres-
ent work shows a couple taking a leisurely stroll at the days end. Ahead of them along the narrow road are
two horses grazing and, their bodies coupled with the neat stone walls, invite the viewer’s eye into the picture
and towards the centre of the composition. The peacefulness of the rural setting is echoed in the soft rhyth-
mic brushstrokes and gentle changing of light in the dominant sky. There is an aura of calm surrounding
the scene and this is further enhanced by the horses who appear unaffected by the approaching pair. Horses
appear in several examples of Dillon’s west of Ireland paintings such as The Jockey and Omey Island Ponies;
the latter shown at the artist’s retrospective exhibition in 1972-1973. In these works the figures are also shown
interacting in a very natural way with the animals, riding bareback and with minimal reins.
In 1949 Eileen Philomena (Phil) Rafferty (1919-1996) - to whom the present work pertains - and Alice West,
both amateur artists, accompanied Dillon to Roundstone. Dillon had met Rafferty in London where he was
working on building sites and they became firm friends. Dillon’s oeuvre had a significant impact on her work
and she would later exhibit at the IELA in 1960. In subsequent years Dillon’s pilgrimages west drew others
such as artist George Campbell and his wife Madge, author Kate O’Brien, Drogheda artist Nano Reid, Dr
Maura McQuaid and artist Oisín Campbell among others.
1. White, James, Gerard Dillon: An Illustrated Biography, Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1994, p.60
€30,000-€50,000 (£23,620-£39,370 approx.)
Large Image & Place Bid Lot 39