Gerard Dillon

James White, Gerard Dillon: An Illustrated Biography, Dublin, 1994, p. 55.

Original canvas. There is a small patch approx. 2 by 2in. attached to the reverse in the bottom left corner. There are some minor paint losses along the upper and lower edges from old frame abrasions and there are some areas of paint separation scattered throughout, notably to the lighter pigments. The surface is dirty and would benefit from cleaning. In the upper left quadrant, there is a fine line of surface craquelure approx. 3 in long across the blue blanket with a small area of surface craquelure above it, there are some small areas of lifting paint and corresponding paint loss to the red pigments around the beds and to the blanket of the first bed by the left edge, there is a fine vertical tear approx ½in. long between the two heads of the seated men in the upper right corner of the table. In the bottom left quadrant, there are small areas of lifting paint and minor paint loss in and around the kneeling monks. In the upper right quadrant, there are a few small spots of paint loss and lifting paint to the cheeks of the standing man on the left and there is a fine line of surface cracquelure approx. 1in long across the centre of the upper right quadrant and two further horizontal fine lines of craquelure approx 1½in long to the man's arm by right edge. In the lower right quadrant, there is a small area of paint loss to the red tile between the men's legs and another small areas of loss below the left monk's right foot. Under ultraviolet light, there are a few small areas of retouching in the upper left quadrant to the blanket of the man on the left. There is an area of retouching in the lower left quadrant, corresponding to the patch on the reverse. There are different pigments which flouresce, however these would appear to be the hand of the artist. Held in a simple stained wood frame.
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Gerard Dillon first visited Connemara on a cycling holiday with his friend and fellow aspiring artist, Ernie Atkin. In comparison to the urban life Dillon had grown up with in Belfast, he was astounded by the apparent simplicity of the lives led by the Connemara farmers, villagers, and fisherman. The people of Connemara came to represent his notion of Ireland in its most idealised form; 'these people are a race apart, very friendly and polite, they never intrude. They carry this politeness to a degree unbelievable to me...' (Dillon, 'Connemara is Ireland to me,' quoted in James White, Gerard Dillon, Dublin, 1994, p.72). His enthusiasm for the place spread to painting the walls of his family house in lower Clonard Street, Belfast, totally white in homage to the white-washed Connemara cottages. In The Community, it appears Dillon has gone so far as to locate himself within this ideal. There is a striking resemblance between the standing monk on the right, with his oblong face and wide forehead, and Dillon himself, who chose to wear his moustache in the curled longish manner of Connemara men.

The Community is a testament to Dillon's appreciation of the Connemara people, and it also highlights his increasing interest in ancient Celtic works of art. The painting's simple contours and naïve figures reflect the stylized forms depicted in ancient Irish stone carvings, such as the Celtic crosses at Monasterboice and the stones at New Grange Tumulus, which Dillon visited with fellow artist Nano Reid (1905-1981). The Celtic crosses incorporate smaller scenes of people into their overall design, and Dillon drew particularly on this motif, separating each vignette with simple rectangular borders. In his biography on the artist, James White stated that Dillon succeeded in The Community in 'creating a consciously primitive or naïve variation of combined styles of early manuscripts and stone carvings created by Irish monks of the early period from the seventh to the tenth century' (James White, op.cit., p.55).

As such, in harking back to Celtic tradition whilst at the same time fresh with a modernist reduction of form and perspective, the present work exemplifies Dillon's vision of an ideal Ireland, past, present and future. Dillon creates a patchwork impression using flattened perspective and blocked out areas of rich earth tones. This quilted effect is emphasized by the pattern of bricks, the tiles on the floor, the stylized speckled flowers in the meadow, and the balance of colours, as in the maroon hue of the upper left that is echoed in the lower right. The interconnectedness of the composition stresses the sense of unity evident in this community of monks. They participate in the daily riggers of life as a collective. No individual is set apart from the rest as they slumber peacefully, partake of their daily meal, and deal with the inevitability of death.  The standing monks, whose faces are depicted with beautifully subtle variations of colour, are steadfast pillars. Their prominent interlocking fingers are another testament to the strong sense of shared communal identity.

The central dining scene is related to two other works Dillon produced during this period, Fish Eaters (1946, sold in these rooms, 13th May 2005, lot 97) (fig. 1) and Fast Day (Exhibited IELA 1950, Drogheda Corp. Museum & Library). In Fish Eaters, a family sit around the table eating the day's catch with a view out towards the magnificent landscape of Western Ireland. Fast Day again depicts a community of monks seated about a square table, and the swirling linear elements of ancient Celtic carvings pronounce themselves even more prominently in this design. The Celtic-inspired stylized forms of all three compositions mark a particular period in Dillon's oeuvre before he embarked on a more abstract idiom of the late 1950s. The depiction of the Connemara people, one of Dillon's favourite motifs, and the overwhelming sense of family and community in these paintings, celebrate Dillon's affinity with the West and his vision of it as the ideal Ireland.