Daniel O'Neill
BATHERS
Lot 104
Result:
Not Sold
Estimate:
€20,000 - €30,000
Daniel O'Neill. 1920-1974
BATHERS
Oil on board, 14" x 18" (35.5 x 45.7cm), signed; inscribed verso.
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin (partial label verso); Adams, Important Irish Art,Dublin, 28 March 2007, no. 17; Private Collection.
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Lot 104
Daniel O'Neill
BATHERS
Lot 104
Daniel O'Neill
BATHERS
Estimate:
€20,000 - €30,000
Daniel O'Neill. 1920-1974
BATHERS
Oil on board, 14" x 18" (35.5 x 45.7cm), signed; inscribed verso.
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin (partial label verso); Adams, Important Irish Art,Dublin, 28 March 2007, no. 17; Private Collection.
Daniel ONeills Bathers is an intimate and quietly mysterious work, the components of which are arranged in a predominantly landscape orientation. Cool blue sky and sea meet warmer earth tones in horizontal bands that are enlivened by pleasing colour and textural shifts. Indeed, the artist and critic Cecil Ffrench Salkeld once wrote that texture was One of ONeills strongest weapons, a visual element that he uses with great subtlety.[1]
A dark-haired nude reclining in the midground blends in with her surroundings, possibly referencing a connection between the earth and undulating female form that has been forged in art since the Renaissance. Although the seated woman in the foreground is clothed in blue and white, her breasts are exposed. She is, in appearance, reminiscent of the subject of the artists acclaimed painting The Blue Skirt (1949), and sustains an upright pose that provides the composition with a strong vertical thrust.
Each figure is thoughtfully reflective and emotionally remote from the other. Although their expressions have been obscured (perhaps hinting at the ambiguity of dreams), the mood, overall, is melancholic. The subject of bathers is one that recurs, both in this artists body of work and more generally among the works of early modernists, such as Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso. The sea also features in many of his paintings.
During a trip to Paris in the late 1940s, Daniel ONeill was particularly inspired by Georges Rouault, Maurice de Vlaminck and Maurice Utrillo. His sensual, often tender style won public favour, but also drew on a troubled private life. A retrospective of his work the first in 70 years was held at the Farmleigh Gallery in 2022. Curated by Karen Reihill, it brought a welcome focus on the oeuvre of an artist who died prematurely, aged 54, in 1974.
Dr. Susan Campbell
[1] Cecil Ffrench Salkeld, Daniel ONeill, A Critical Appreciation, Envoy: An Irish Review of Literature and Art, Volume 1, Number 1, December 1949, pp31-43.
BATHERS
Oil on board, 14" x 18" (35.5 x 45.7cm), signed; inscribed verso.
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin (partial label verso); Adams, Important Irish Art,Dublin, 28 March 2007, no. 17; Private Collection.
Daniel ONeills Bathers is an intimate and quietly mysterious work, the components of which are arranged in a predominantly landscape orientation. Cool blue sky and sea meet warmer earth tones in horizontal bands that are enlivened by pleasing colour and textural shifts. Indeed, the artist and critic Cecil Ffrench Salkeld once wrote that texture was One of ONeills strongest weapons, a visual element that he uses with great subtlety.[1]
A dark-haired nude reclining in the midground blends in with her surroundings, possibly referencing a connection between the earth and undulating female form that has been forged in art since the Renaissance. Although the seated woman in the foreground is clothed in blue and white, her breasts are exposed. She is, in appearance, reminiscent of the subject of the artists acclaimed painting The Blue Skirt (1949), and sustains an upright pose that provides the composition with a strong vertical thrust.
Each figure is thoughtfully reflective and emotionally remote from the other. Although their expressions have been obscured (perhaps hinting at the ambiguity of dreams), the mood, overall, is melancholic. The subject of bathers is one that recurs, both in this artists body of work and more generally among the works of early modernists, such as Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso. The sea also features in many of his paintings.
During a trip to Paris in the late 1940s, Daniel ONeill was particularly inspired by Georges Rouault, Maurice de Vlaminck and Maurice Utrillo. His sensual, often tender style won public favour, but also drew on a troubled private life. A retrospective of his work the first in 70 years was held at the Farmleigh Gallery in 2022. Curated by Karen Reihill, it brought a welcome focus on the oeuvre of an artist who died prematurely, aged 54, in 1974.
Dr. Susan Campbell
[1] Cecil Ffrench Salkeld, Daniel ONeill, A Critical Appreciation, Envoy: An Irish Review of Literature and Art, Volume 1, Number 1, December 1949, pp31-43.
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