Patrick Graham
, Irish, b.1943
Title
TransfigurationDate1986
MediumScreenprint on paper
Dimensions
76 × 56 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 2021
Object numberNGI.2021.30
DescriptionThis screenprint, created in 1986 in collaboration with master printmaker Joe Hanly, is based on Patrick Graham’s oil painting ‘To Lovers for Lovers’, now in the Arts Council’s collection. An edition of screenprints was planned to raise money for Temple Bar Galleries, then in debt. Skilfully printed, this image illustrates Graham’s expressive, gestural style and the dark background typical of his work at this time. The use of gold ink lifts the imagery and ties it to renaissance art. Graham wrote: ‘The core of it all of course is death and the paradox inherent in that … real truth or spiritual truth versus temporal or world truth if you like … I am a novice at faith really, but there in that dark I can glimpse, or am given, light which reveals the journey…’ The wrestling figures seem to symbolise the trauma that must be borne before a new beginning is possible. The strange, calm, zoomorphic couple below perhaps represent the lovers beginning their journey.Inscriptionbelow image: 25 /130 Transfiguration Graham ‘86
ProvenancePurchased, 2021Exhibition HistoryWinter 2020, Gallery & Invited Artists: Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, 1 - 24 December 2020