WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART Monday 19 October 2020

100 65 Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003) AIR, WATER, LIGHT, BAHAMAS, 1979 oil on board signed with initials and dated 48 by 70in. (121.9 by 177.8cm) Frame size: 48 by 70in. (122 by 178cm.) Provenance: Bank of Ireland Collection; Adam’s, 24 November 2010, lot 91; Private collection Tony O’Malley’s work came to the attention of art lovers in Ireland comparatively late in the artist’s life. He spent the 1960s painting in Cornwall, absorbing the prevailing aesthetic of abstraction to his own ends. He did exhibit, but much work remained unsold. His creative harvest from the 1970s was magnificent. Marriage to Jane Harris in 1973 led to winters in the Bahamas, where he began painting outdoors on canvas. Sales however remained sporadic. O’Malley’s life changed when Northern artists, F. E. Mc William andWilliam Scott, introduced him to Belfast dealer, gallerist and collector, George McClelland in 1979 or 1980. 1 This commanding oil on board, Air, Water, Light, Bahamas, dates to this critical period in the artist’s career. A soft palette of pastels in pink, blue, yellow and orange decorate this work, which is divided into three vertical planes, a characteristic typical of this period. The board is thinly and flatly painted but O’Malley creates a luminous quality through his expert use of light and shade and delicate incising across the surface of the picture plane. Although abstract in style, the title roots this painting firmly to the natural world of air, water and light, and encourages the viewer to explore and seek out these elements within the composition. 1. Vera Ryan in The Hunter Gatherer - The Collection of George and Maura McClelland, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2004 €30,000-€50,000 (£26,670-£44,440 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot65