WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART 2 December 2019

64 50 Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) SNOW IN CONNEMARA oil on board signed lower left; with typed label on reverse 12 by 16in. (30.5 by 40.6cm) Provenance: Acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1950s; Thence by descent Exhibited: Maxwell Galleries, San Francisco, 1954 This is a very sophisticated composition. It has two major elements: the artist uses a ‘reflex’ angle to move the eye from the ‘grey’ pony to the grey jumper of the standing female figure to the grey foreground patch with the black hen. To prevent the middle and foreground elements being overwhelmed the artist arrests the eye with the green double gate echoed in the greenish head scarf of the standing female figure. It creates a sense of recession for the viewer, and the pattern of the snow covered Connemara stone walls closes the horizonline. Based on the artist’s understanding of the “ golden mean” it gives him control over the greys and whites. The Green Gates stop the eye from rushing out of the painting and the reds and russsets contain the balance of Dillon’s pictorial statement. For a young painter (as he was at the time) this is a mature and considered work. Ciarán MacGonigal, November 2019 €20,000-€30,000 (£17,240-£25,860 approx.) Click Here for Large Images & To Bid Lot 50