Gerard Dillon, R.H.A., R.U.A. 1916-1971

Acquired directly from the artist circa 1950 and thence by descent to the present owner

‘My numerous stays in Connemara have always been heaven…’
(Dillon, ‘Connemara is Ireland to me’, quoted in James White, Gerard Dillon, An Illustrated Biography, Dublin 1994, p.72).

Dillon first visited Connemara in 1939 on a cycling holiday with his friend and fellow aspiring artist, Ernie Atkin.  He was immediately impressed by the rugged elements of the West of Ireland landscape and the dramatic hills and loughs in contrast to the white washed cottages. In comparison to the urban life Dillon had grown up with in Belfast, he was also astounded by the apparent simplicity of the lives led by the Connemara farmers, villagers and fisherman.  The people and landscapes of Connemara came to represent his notion of Ireland in its most idealised form and his enthusiasm for the place spread to painting the walls of the family house in Lower Clonard Street, Belfast, totally white in homage to the white-washed Connemara cottages. In the present work, he is about to play a record and situates himself directly within one of the white-washed cottages he rented in Roundstone where he was clearly at his happiest and most relaxed.

Roundstone became one of his favourite painting locations and during the 1940s and early 50s, he came as often as he could afford to, legendarily swapping works of art in return for the rent of his cottages. He was frequently accompanied by friends and in 1949, Alice West and Phil Rafferty stayed with him in Roundstone.  Alice later remembered Dillon’s dedication to his work, insisting on painting every day and recalled that he had been disappointed that she had forgotten her sketchbook and would not be painting alongside him (see James White, Gerard Dillon, An Illustrated Biography, Dublin 1994, p.62). George and Madge Campbell were also regular companions and Dillon fondly recollected, ‘…happy carefree evenings spent in the company of artist friends, George Campbell and Oisin Kelly. As night fell we set out for a pub, Campbell bringing his guitar, and Kelly his fiddle, and there over a few ‘jars’ in a pleasant atmosphere we’d encourage the local people to sing and dance…’ (Dillon, quoted in White, ibid., p.72).

The exuberance he felt for Connemara and for Roundstone in particular is clearly reflected by the bold colours of the present cottage interior.  He was not only inspired by the dramatic combination of mountains, loughs and cottages, but, as is evident from the attention to detail in the present work, by the everyday ordinary objects to be found inside each cottage. The documentary nature of his Connemara interiors are a particular feature of his work from the period and the present work, together with Connelly’s Bar, Roundstone (fig.1, Arts Council of Northern Ireland) and The Yellow Bungalow (Ulster Museum, Belfast) are prophetic of his later larger scale and more well known interiors such as Self Contained Flat (Arts Council of Northern Ireland) executed in Abbey Road, London. Although on a smaller scale, Self Portrait in Roundstone is particularly significant as it places the artist within his favourite environment. It is not surprising that he chose Roundstone and its surroundings as the subject for his large scale 1950s tapestry Gentle Breeze, hand-stitched and exhibited at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1953.