Robert Ballagh (b.1943)

Portrait of J.P. Donleavy

Oil on canvas, 89 x 68.5cm (35 x 27'')

Signed lower right

 

 

Born to Irish immigrants in New York, James Patrick Donleavy (1926-2017)...

Robert Ballagh (b.1943)

Portrait of J.P. Donleavy

Oil on canvas, 89 x 68.5cm (35 x 27'')

Signed lower right

 

 

Born to Irish immigrants in New York, James Patrick Donleavy (1926-2017) served in the US Navy during WWII and moved to Ireland in 1946 to attend Trinity College, which he did for several years, leaving without a degree. Invigorated by the work of Jack B Yeats, he took up painting, which was gradually supplanted by writing. His first novel, The Ginger Man, published in 1955 (its caddish title character generally thought to be based on one of his college contemporaries), established his literary reputation and was an enormous commercial success. It financed his purchase of a country estate on Lough Owel near Mullingar. Donleavy never gave up painting or drawing and began to exhibit more in the early 21st century. To mark his 60th birthday, the dealer Damien Matthews commissioned a portrait by Robert Ballagh.

 

Ballagh visited Donleavy at his home and took a number of reference photographs. His outstanding portrait positions the writer seated with relaxed formality before a window flanked by white-painted shutters. The composition subtly references Edward McGuires iconic 1974 portrait of Seamus Heaney, seated at a table and holding a book. In the Ballagh painting, a small stack of books on the floor is topped by a first edition of The Ginger Man. Outside, budding montbretia add a dash of warm colour, though while a wry smile plays at the edge of Donleavys lips, his reflective gaze is cool and slightly sardonic rather like his literary style. Soon after completion, the portrait was included in a retrospective of Ballaghs work at the RHA Gallagher Gallery.

 

One of the best-known and popular contemporary Irish artists, Ballagh is renowned for his portraiture, in which the detailed realism of his style is often leavened by wit. A Dubliner, he initially studied architecture at Bolton St but then diverted into playing bass guitar for a group called The Chessmen. A friend, artist Micheal Farrell, took him on as an assistant when he won a large commission. Ballaghs natural facility, drafting skill and enthusiasm for Pop Art won him over to the visual arts and launched him on a remarkable and versatile career. Apart from many ambitious, large-scale subject paintings, his output has included more personal, autobiographical works, portraits, photographic work and design projects, from stamp design to book jackets and theatre sets the latter including, most famously, Riverdance.

 

 

Aidan Dunne, November 2019.

 

 

 

 

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