Beschreibung:

*********THIS WORK IS NOT SIGNED******* Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Looking Back Oil on canvas, 76 x 122cm (30 x 48'') Exhibited: IELA 1967, cat. no. 10 Executed in the 1960's, ''Looking back'' belongs to Dillon's final stage or period of painting, when the artist painted images with impersonal masked figures or Pierrots that represent himself. An almost ghostly white pierrot stands facing forward with arms and hands stretched out as if pressed up against glass as he looks down on a dark blue landscape, and at eye level, in red, three animals, which may represent Dillon's brothers appear to float upwards. Dillon often divided his compositions into sections or panels to convey a message. He adapted this technique over time initially seen years earlier from the figurative stone carvings on Muirdeach High Cross, Monasterboice while visiting his friend Nano Reid in Co. Louth. He embraced the idea of the Monks imparting a message much like the frescoes in Continental churches, and as his work developed he became bolder in his approach, substituting panels of images with lines or stonewalls to divide his image with colour. The central theme of this composition is related to past incidents in Dillon's life centered around the death of his three brothers, who all died from the same heart defect, and which Dillon himself was to die from in 1971. In 1962 Joe died, and over the next four years, the artist was to suffer further tragedy with the death of two more brothers, Patrick and John. The mood and colour in these pictures from this period were dark and melancholic, such as ''The Brothers'' (1965), where the Pierrot kneels down over three skeletons buried on top of the other in the earth. In ''Looking Back'', the image of the crouching Pierrot appears again with cottages perhaps linked to his memories of his life in the West of Ireland, but also the painful memory of each of his brother's deaths. In other Pierrot works from this period, his brothers appear in different forms indicating each brother's passing, such as ''Connemara Dream'' (1966), where his brothers are represented as two masked brown figures in a currach, and a fetus like figure curled up in branches of a tree. In ''Looking Back'', the proximity of the crouching Pierrot to the animals in different stages may indicate the artist's fear of his own mortality. In 1967, Dillon had a coronary, and after recuperation, his Pierrots begin to appear in more imaginary and romantic landscapes. In ''Magic In The Sky'' (private collection), the colours become vibrant, and his message more abstract. His remaining Pierrot paintings such as ''Red Nude with Loving Pierrot'' (1970) convey a final message, that perhaps the surreal is an easier avenue to take than having to deal with the darker side of life. Karen Reihill, November 2010 Karen Reihill is currently researching the life and work of Gerard Dillon *********THIS WORK IS NOT SIGNED******* Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Looking Back Oil on canvas, 76 x 122cm (30 x 48'') Exhibited: IELA 1967, cat. no. 10 Executed in the 1960's, ''Looking back'' belongs to Dillon's final stage or period of painting, when the artist painted images with impersonal masked figures or Pierrots that represent himself. An almost ghostly white pierrot stands facing forward with arms and hands stretched out as if pressed up against glass as he looks down on a dark blue landscape, and at eye level, in red, three animals, which may represent Dillon's brothers appear to float upwards. Dillon often divided his compositions into sections or panels to convey a message. He adapted this technique over time initially seen years earlier from the figurative stone carvings on Muirdeach High Cross, Monasterboice while visiting his friend Nano Reid in Co. Louth. He embraced the idea of the Monks imparting a message much like the frescoes in Continental churches, and as his work developed he became bolder in his approach, substituting panels of images with lines or stonewalls t