WHEN I first encountered Tony O'Malley's work, I shared his interest in St Ives artists and their comfortable absorption of diverse influences ranging from 20th century French and Italian art to American abstract expressionism. I admired O'Malley's weathered surfaces and his painted constructions evocative of totems, of Sioux Indian painted hides or of panels from whale houses in Alaska which reinforce his individual hallmark.
In 1975, a reviewer of O'Malley's exhibition in Dublin observed. "For at least 10 years, I have regarded him as one of our most distinguished artistic emigres, along with Mary Swanzy, William Scott and Patrick Collins, but the average Dublin gallery goer seems hardly to have heard his name." The writer, Brian Fallon, became O'Malley's longest standing and most articulate advocate, and it is appropriate he contributes the core essay to his new book, published to coincide with simultaneous O'Malley exhibitions in the Taylor Galleries, Dublin, and the Coram Gallery, London.
That 1975 exhibition was initiated by the English artist/critic Patrick Heron, and was organised by playwright Hugh Stoddart, who was then Visual Arts Officer of the South Western Arts Association in Exeter, and both contribute essays on this exhibition. The sculptor F.E. McWilliam advised the artist to contact the Arts Council in Belfast and offer the show. Though responsible for the gallery programme, I was, like "the average Dublin gallery goer", unaware of O'Malley's substantial talents, knowing only that he was admired by such as William Scott and F.E. McWilliam. The Belfast show followed The Secret Block for a Secret Person in Ireland, an exhibit ion in Belfast and Dublin of 250 drawings by the German artist Joseph Beuys, revealing the nature and development of the ideas behind his objects.
For O'Malley, like Beuys, drawing was a way of thinking or a thinking form. Beuy's works were subsequently included in ROSC `77 and ROSC `84, but it was not until ROSC `88 that O'Malley secured inclusion. Pat Murphy's essay here on the artist's graphic works reflects much of the Beuys ethos. Aidan Dunne's catalogue, introduction to ROSC `88 observed. "Now in his seventies, Tony O'Malley is one of the exceptional group of painters, sculptors and ceramists associated with St Ives in Cornwall and his beautifully made, abstracted but rarely abstract images are dominated by three distinct realms of light and texture stony earth Ireland the sand, sea and clouds of St Ives and the watery luminescence of the Bahamas." Dunne also writes convincingly about the later work. James White, the former Director of the National Gallery, appropriately contributes an essay on O'Malley's early years and, like all the writers here, places him in context by invoking Louis le Brocquy, Patrick Collins and the other prominent Irish artists of their generation.
This is a beautifully illustrated book with images arranged more or less chronologically, and commentary shadowing the evolving imagery and punctuated by the artist's comments, thus casting an alternative light on the images and the critical texts. Explaining his motivation in making on the spot" drawings at the King's River, he," says. "I had to speak to myself and answer to myself." The artists' subject matter is that of conventional easel painters the figure, the landscape, still life, flower pieces, the seasons and the texts focus on family life, place and the prevailing artistic climate.
The page by page image layout of the book eloquently adumbrates the artist's life story his love for land, for labour, for the seasons and for sunshine and rain. "O'Malley's consistent confidence in the handling of line, form and colour is evident from the beginning the virtuosity in applying colour and in the orchestration of vigorous etched lines flourishes from the mid Seventies, and his characteristic sgraffitto technique was perhaps informed by his friendship with the potter Bernard Leech, but his most significant and enduring influence is that of Peter Lynon.
The art historian Vera Ryan covers the period of O'Malley's life from 1955 to 1962 and concludes that the move to St Ives was probably "the single most important artistic decision in his life". For Frances Ruane, The personal inscapes we are allowed to traverse in O'Malley's paintings are exhilarating because they bring out the best in us, allowing the viewer to experience O'Malley's world with his sense of reverence and obvious delight." Other biographical milestones are identified in exhibitions, his illnesses, the move to Cornwall, his marriage to Jane, awards, a documentary film, and election by members of Aosdana as a Saoi, its highest honour.
This anthology of essays by eloquent writers with narrative skills and connoisseurship is a convincing testament to the greatness of Tony O'Malley's art. Twenty five years on, I am still convinced, and feel this book is an essential purchase for everyone interested in the visual arts.