Gerard Dillon, R.H.A., R.U.A.

Alongside the lyrical landscapes of the West of Ireland, Dillon's favourite painting location in the 1940s and early 50s, it was the local people of Connemara that particularly intrigued the artist; '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).  In the present work, the composition focuses on two figures in the centre, a man relaxing on Inishlacken beach wearing his characteristic tam o'shanter, and a woman in the distance, clothed in the traditional shawl, head scarf and brightly brightly coloured skirt, both framed by the intense tones of the Connemara sea and the Aran Islands in the distance.

The prominent stones across the foreground and those circling the figures are particularly significant as it was the traditional walls which break up the West of Ireland landscape creating distinctive patterns of enclosed spaces that especially appealed to Dillon's sense of design.  They clearly inspired the organisation of compositions such as his seminal West of Ireland Landscape (fig.1, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin) and in the present work, rather than merely providing the motif by which to divide different parts of the composition, the stones feature at the forefront of the composition, highlighting their importance to Dillon.

The simple contours and naive forms of the present work also reflect Dillon's increasing interest in the stylized forms depicted in ancient Irish stone carvings such as the Celtic crosses at Monasterboice which incorporate smaller scenes of people into their overall design. Tinkers on the Beach combines this inspiration with bold yet simple colours reminiscent of illustrations in Medieval manuscripts. 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 exempllifies Dillon's vision of an ideal Ireland, past, present and future.