Sold for: $73,250

PROVENANCE
The Waddington Galleries Inc., Montreal
Private Collection, Ontario, February 1962
By descent to the present Private Collection, Ontario

EXHIBITED
Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin, Group Exhibition, September 1947, catalogue #22
Heal’s Mansard Gallery, London, Four Ulster Painters, May - June, 1948, catalogue #38
Waddington Galleries, Montreal, Six European Painters, January-March, 1957

Between 1944 and 1946, Gerard Dillon made two visits to the Aran Islands. The Islands represented a place of tranquility for writers and painters during and after the war. The Currach dates from Gerard Dillon’s second trip to Aran in 1946, when he likely stayed with the English painter, Elizabeth "Betty" Rivers (1903-64). Elizabeth Rivers had moved to Inishmore in 1935, where she became friendly with Pat Mullen. Mullen had worked as assistant director on location for Robert Flaherty in the making of the film Man of Aran (1932-33), and Rivers later rented the Man of Aran Cottage to paying guests. In 1943, Rivers moved to London to participate in the auxiliary fire service, but returned to Inishmore in 1946.

It is unclear how long Dillon stayed on Aran, but we know this painting was purchased directly from the Dublin dealer Victor Waddington in 1947, with other paintings from the same sketching holiday. These include Sunday Afternoon, Aran, Island Disaster and Home With the Catch, which were exhibited in group shows in Dublin and London in 1947 and 1948.

Although no catalogue can be traced to the exhibition Six European Painters at George Waddington’s gallery in Montreal, an art critic did review the exhibition in 1957 in The Gazette, and commented " 'The Currach' shows two girls in a craft off shore and a man with an oar on the beach."

We thank Karen Reihill, art historian and author of Gerard Dillon, Art and Friendships, for contributing the above essay. This work is included in Redhill's catalogue of works by the artist.

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