Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Ego Mixed media, 39.5 x 29cm (15.5 x 11.5") Signed Dawson Gallery labe

Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Ego Mixed media, 39.5 x 29cm (15.5 x 11.5") Signed Dawson Gallery label verso; where purchased by the current owner Dillon's adoption of the masked pierrot as his alter ego was in homage to the Harlequin and Pierrot in works by Picasso, Braque and Miró, but the artist developed this disguise in a time of grief, social conservatism and as a way to express his inner world without religious or social indignation. The artist's interest in the personality behind the mask also relates to the psychology of Carl Jung. (see lot …'Clown with Red Canvas"). Due to the artist's Catholic Nationalist background, he had grown accustomed in a period of illegality, to keeping his personal and public personae completely separate. The masked Pierrot in oversized coat and fur collar may display the "masquerade" of his ego, and the other faceless figure may manifest the concealment of his private life. The image of horse and bareback rider is a subject that features in the artist's work including in his last series of etchings. Passionate about prehistoric history, the circular lines may be linked to the megalithic art of spiral designs on the kerbstones at the eastern and western entrances at the great passages graves of Knowth in the Boyne Valley, which were discovered in the late 1960's. The artist had a habit of finding old frames similar to this one, which he sometimes hand painted or embellished with small objects to enhance the finished work. Karen Reihill