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Cian McLoughlin , Irish, b.1977

Title

Tronie - Pink Head

Date2018

MediumEtching

Signedlower right (graphite): Cian McLoughlin

Credit LinePresented, 2021

Object numberNGI.2021.105

DescriptionTronie - Pink Head, dated 2018, is one of a pair of etchings, the other titled Tronie - Invert Head, gifted to the Gallery in 2021. This pair of prints are three plate etchings. Combining various techniques - soft ground, hard ground, aquatint, burnishing and roll ups - they were made as part of a Dublin City Council visiting artist residency, which was awarded to McLoughlin by Graphic Studio Dublin (GSD). Made in collaboration with master printer Niamh Flanagan, the works form part of the artist’s ‘Tronie’ series, which he has been developing for several years. This body of work comprises a series of abstract heads inspired by studies of the Flemish Baroque and Dutch Golden Age. The term 'tronie' translates literally as 'head', 'face' or 'countenance', and was applied to depictions of the head and face that are not portraits as one would normally understand them, but studies of expression, type, physiognomy or character. McLoughlin has reinterpreted the term, and in several examples has appropriated it to self-portraiture. The 'likeness' on which conventional portraiture relied historically is present but vestigial. The artist exhibited his first ‘tronie’ painting as part of the 2014 Hennessy Portrait Awards at the NGI.
Inscriptioncentre (graphite): Tronie - Pink Head
ProvenancePresented, 2021Exhibition HistoryGraphic Studio Gallery, Dublin