WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART 29 MAY 2023 AT 6PM

83 IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART - 29 MAY 2023 AT 6PM 55 Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003) SUMMER BREEZE, CALLAN, COUNTY KILKENNY, 1981 oil on board signed with initials and dated lower left; signed, titled and dated on reverse 48 by 24in. (121.9 by 61cm) Frame Size: 53.5 by 29.5in. (135.9 by 74.9cm) Provenance: Dyehouse Gallery, Waterford; Private collection Summer Breeze marries two important components in Tony O’Malley’s oeuvre, the influence of his native Callan in County Kilkenny and the light and palette of the Bahamas where he visited with his wife Jane O’Malley from the mid-1970s. O’Malley was a self-taught artist who began painting full-time when a disability pension facilitated his retirement from the bank in 1958. He had visited the artist’s hub St Ives in Cornwall first in 1955 and in 1960 he settled there in the company of fellow abstract artists Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon and Bryan Wynter among others. It was here he met his future wife the Canadian artist Jane Harris. At the time Summer Breeze was executed O’Malley had been married for eight years and the fusion of these two aforementioned elements of his practice were well developed. By 1990 the couple had moved back to Ireland and three years later he would be elected a Saoi of Aosdána. The portrait orientation of Summer Breeze coupled with the movement of shape and line evoke a strong sense of flowing water. Dashes of white paint appear to dart across the board like minute river fish with dragonfly-like forms fluttering in the foreground. Depth is created through the use of colour and its layered application while the deliberate punctures and incisions across the board reinforce the organic quality of the subject. King’s River - a tributary of the Nore - which passes through the town of Callan, may very well have been a source of inspiration for the present work albeit seen here through a tropical lens. The importance of Callan to the artist and his legacy cannot be underestimated. In 2010 the Royal Hibernian Academy, in collaboration with Jane O’Malley, established The Tony O’Malley Residency in the house where he grew up in Callan. Administered by the RHA School, it is awarded on an annual basis to an artist who wishes to work primarily in the medium of paint. Adelle Hughes, April 2022 €15,000-€20,000 (£13,160-£17,540 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot55