Tony O'Malley, Irish, 1913-2003
Title: Self-Portrait, Winter, Heavy Snowfall at Trevaylor
Date: 1962-63
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
46 x 35.1 cm
Signed: lower left: OM
Credit Line: Purchased, the Artist, for the National Portrait Collection, 2000
Object Number: NGI.4685
DescriptionTrevaylor was the large house owned by Nancy Wynn-Jones in Gulval, between Penzance and St Ives, into which O'Malley moved in 1962. It inspired a number of representational and abstract (or, as O'Malley called them, 'non-objective') compositions. Here, O'Malley has used the presence or implied presence of snow to great atmospheric effect. Winter, which figures prominently in O'Malley's work, had various associations for the artist, personal and universal, literal and metaphorical. Over the course of his career, O'Malley was more committed to self-portraiture than portraiture per se, perhaps because of the former's innately introspective quality.
O'Malley began his working career in a bank. He did not commit himself fully to painting until 1948, when he was confined to hospital during a long illness. He was elected a member of Aosdána in 1981, made an honorary member of the RHA in 1989. In 1994 he was elected a Saoí of Aosdána and awarded an Honorary doctorate by Trinity College Dublin.
O'Malley began his working career in a bank. He did not commit himself fully to painting until 1948, when he was confined to hospital during a long illness. He was elected a member of Aosdána in 1981, made an honorary member of the RHA in 1989. In 1994 he was elected a Saoí of Aosdána and awarded an Honorary doctorate by Trinity College Dublin.
ProvenancePurchased, the Artist, for the National Portrait Collection, August 2000
Exhibition HistoryTony O'Malley, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 25 October 2005 - 24 September 2006; Tate St Ives, St Ives, Cornwall, 20 May 2006 - 24 September 2006
Taking Stock: Acquisitions 2000-2010, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 13 March 2010 - 25 July 2010
Artists Face to Face, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 30 June 2012 - 14 October 2012
Taking Stock: Acquisitions 2000-2010, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 13 March 2010 - 25 July 2010
Artists Face to Face, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 30 June 2012 - 14 October 2012