Bagdad

Artist Gerard Dillon (1916 - 1971)

Date1963

MediumOil and mixed media on board

Dimensions54.5 x 68 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by the Contemporary Irish Art Society, 1964. © The Estate of Gerard Dillon.

Object number1223

Description'Bagdad', painted in 1963, is an example of Dillon's inventive, mature style. During this period of his life he was particularly concerned with the use of new materials in his art and began to incorporate cloth, sand, stones, pieces of bone and other objects in his paintings. 'Bagdad' is a richly worked, almost completely abstract painting, which relies on a dense trail of sand filled pigment for its visual effect. Beneath an outer veil of roughly textured patches and lines, architectural elements and geometric patterns, reminiscent of the art of Islam, are visible. The painting is at once instinctive and intellectual and shows Dillon's awareness of a variety of modern trends in art. While improvisation and accident clearly played an important role in these sand paintings, the thickly encrusted effect was not easily achieved. It was the result of painstaking tests, which he carried out to ensure the pieces would not crack or crumble after being fired. Pictures of this type led Dillon in the 1960s and 1970s to explore collage as a medium in his art.

(Extract from 'Images and Insights', Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 1993, p. 130)

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