The art of Owen Walsh reflects a passionate commitment to
painting throughout a life. From the early scenes of Westport to the
strong, almost abstract colour harmonies of
his later work, Walsh’s career was one of intense attention to the
visual world, to questions of representation, to the relationship
between the different elements of a work, and to the act of painting
itself.
Walsh was born in 1933 in Westport, Co. Mayo. From his early
training in Dublin’s National College of Art, he was immediately marked
as a student of promise, winning several prizes. He studied in Spain,
Italy and France, bringing the vibrant, rich colours of the Mediterranean back to Dublin and Mayo.
Walsh’s studio was at the heart of the lively artistic,
literary and theatrical scene around Dublin’s Baggot Street. With James
McKenna, Elizabeth Rivers, Noel Sheridan, Patrick Pye and Charles Brady,
he founded the Independent Artists in 1959, which was dedicated to
carving out intellectual and imaginative space outside of the Irish
Exhibition of Living Art and the Royal Hibernian Academy.
His paintings reveal a unique approach to the painting of
landscape, of urban scenes and of the nude figure, and he is regarded as
one of Ireland’s most important colourists.
A key aspect of this exhibition is a consideration of his work
as a graphic designer in the 1950s, which opens a window into a
lesser-known aspect of the creative careers of artists in
mid-twentieth-century Ireland. These designs reveal Walsh’s strikingly
accomplished, innovative vision and style as a designer and illustrator.
This exhibition aims to reposition Walsh’s work within the history of Irish painting and design in the twentieth century.
Dates and Venues of Exhibition
The 1 – 30 June 2012, Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
5 July – 8 September 2012, NCAD Gallery, 100 Thomas St., Dublin 8
The exhibition is accompanied by a full-colour
catalogue, with an introduction by the art writer and critic Brian
Fallon, essays by curator Dr. Niamh NicGhabhann and art historian
Kathryn Milligan, and reflections and recollections of the artist by his
family and friends, and by artists Camille Souter, Michael O Nuallain,
Brian Bourke and John Behan.