Gerard Dillon RHA RUA (1916-1971) The Jockey (1950) Oil on ...
Gerard Dillon RHA RUA (1916-1971) The Jockey (1950) Oil on board, 76 x 63.5cm (30 x 25'') Signed; inscribed with title verso Provenance: With George Waddington Galleries, Montreal, 1957; Sale, DeVeres Art Auctions, Irish Art, 17 November 1998, Lot 28. (Illustrated front cover of catalogue); Sale, Adam's, Important Irish Art 4 December 2012, Lot 57; Collection of Reeta and Frank Hughes, Warrenpoint, Co Down, thence by descent. Exhibited: San Francisco, Paintings By Gerard Dillon, Maxwell Galleries, (July-August), 1954; Montreal, Six European Painters, George Waddington Galleries, (March) 1957; Sligo, Collectors Eye, An Exhibition from a Private Collection, The Model Arts & Niland Gallery, (January-February); Limerick, The Hunt Museum, (March-April) 2004, Cat. No.5; Clandeboye, Co. Down, Ulster Artists, Adam's at The Ava Gallery, April 2010; Clandeboye, Co. Down, Ireland: Her People and Landscape, Adam's at The Ava Gallery, (June- September) 2012, Cat. no.10; Clandeboye, Co. Down, Gerard Dillon: Art & Friendships, Adam's Summer Exhibition, The Ava Gallery, (July) and travelling to Adam's, Dublin (August), 2013, No. 48. Literature: The Model Arts and Niland Gallery & The Hunt Museum, Collector's Eye, An Exhibition from a Private Collection, 2004. Illustrated, p.4; Adams Clandeboye, Ulster Artists, 2010. Illustrated, p.10; Adams Clandeboye, Ireland: Her People and Landscape, 2012. Illustrated, p.17; Karen Reihill, Gerard Dillon: Art & Friendships, Adam's Summer exhibition, 2013. Illustrated, p. 53; James Morrissey, Omey, Crannog Books, 2018. Illustrated, p.88-89; Brendan Rooney, Irish Horse, National Gallery of Ireland, 2020. Illustrated, p.93
In 1950, Gerard Dillon rented Paki Joyce's cottage in Moyard, Connemara for several weeks in August while preparing work for his first solo exhibition at Victor Waddington's gallery in Dublin. The cottage became a lively hub that summer, animated by visits from friends travelling from Belfast, Dublin and London. On one occasion, Australian art historian Bernard Smith stayed with him, overlapping with a visit from Dillon's older sister, Mollie. Dillon had first met Smith in 1948 at the Abbey Art Centre and Museum in Hertfordshire, then owned by William Ohly, who let out studios to artists in the surrounding outbuildings. 1
Their friendship deepened in 1949, and the two friends continued to correspond after Smith's stay in Connemara, where he had travelled in search of his Irish roots. The details in Dillon's letter to Smith convey the enthusiasm and exhilaration of witnessing his first race day at Omey. He described the scene with characteristic immediacy,
'The horse racing began, and the sound of the hoofs pounding the sand as they ran gracefully in race after race. The Jockeys were local boys from Omey, and some girls too. People were barking on the beach, and there was great excitement. With the clouds racing in the sky over the Twelve Pins and the mainland looking most strange with crags in every field and stone walls around the crags-you'd have loved it, and the whole day without rain, not even a shower. I painted some of the subjects.' 2
Omey Island is a tidal island near Claddaghduff on the western edge of Connemara. Surrounded by views of the Atlantic in one direction and the Twelve Pins in the other, its mile-long strand appears only as the tide recedes. Each August, at low tide, a makeshift racecourse is marked out on the sand. Rooted in local tradition, jockeys and horses are quickly groomed and exercised, and the races begin, always in tension with the advancing tide that will soon reclaim the beach. After several hours, the tide comes in and swallows the entire track.3
Dillon exhibited three works from his Omey Island series in his 1950 solo exhibition: Omey Island Regatta, Omey Island Strand, and Omey Island Race Day. Other works from this group include Before the Races, Spectators Omey Island Race Day, and Omey Island Ponies. The Jockey belongs to this series. Dillon recorded this work under the descriptive title, Children on Horse with Walking Jockey, a title that Victor Waddington likely revised to The Jockey when the painting appeared in Dillon's first American solo exhibition at the Maxwell Galleries in San Francisco. Waddington occasionally altered titles of artists to suit international audiences.
Further research revealed that The Jockey was later exhibited in George Waddington's gallery in the group exhibition, Six European Painters, held in the newly opened premises in 1956-7. No catalogue appears to have been produced for the show, but an art reviewer singled out The Jockey in The Gazette, noting its distinctive presence among his other works on display.
Decades later, The Jockey was selected for inclusion in the National Gallery of Ireland's planned 2020 exhibition The Horse, conceived as the first in-depth study of the horse's cultural significance ranging from the eighteenth century to the present day within the Irish psyche and its psychological influence on Irish life. Although the exhibition was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the painting's intended inclusion underscores its enduring relevance within Dillon's oeuvre and within broader narratives of Irish visual culture.4
Karen Reihill, October 2026
Currently preparing a manuscript that re-examines key aspects of Dillon's life and work
1 Bernard Smith, A Pavane For another Time, 2002, p.388
2 Letter from Gerard Dillon to Bernard Smith (August, 1950). Copy in Centre for the Study of Irish Art, National Gallery of Ireland, 709.415DIL
3 Karen Reihill, catalogue entry for The Jockey, Adams Important Irish Sale, 4 December, 2012, p.84
4 Sean Rainbird, Foreword, Irish Horse, National Gallery of Ireland
Gerard Dillon RHA RUA (1916-1971) The Jockey (1950) Oil on board, 76 x 63.5cm (30 x 25'') Signed; inscribed with title verso Provenance: With George Waddington Galleries, Montreal, 1957; Sale, DeVeres Art Auctions, Irish Art, 17 November 1998, Lot 28. (Illustrated front cover of catalogue); Sale, Adam's, Important Irish Art 4 December 2012, Lot 57; Collection of Reeta and Frank Hughes, Warrenpoint, Co Down, thence by descent. Exhibited: San Francisco, Paintings By Gerard Dillon, Maxwell Galleries, (July-August), 1954; Montreal, Six European Painters, George Waddington Galleries, (March) 1957; Sligo, Collectors Eye, An Exhibition from a Private Collection, The Model Arts & Niland Gallery, (January-February); Limerick, The Hunt Museum, (March-April) 2004, Cat. No.5; Clandeboye, Co. Down, Ulster Artists, Adam's at The Ava Gallery, April 2010; Clandeboye, Co. Down, Ireland: Her People and Landscape, Adam's at The Ava Gallery, (June- September) 2012, Cat. no.10; Clandeboye, Co. Down, Gerard Dillon: Art & Friendships, Adam's Summer Exhibition, The Ava Gallery, (July) and travelling to Adam's, Dublin (August), 2013, No. 48. Literature: The Model Arts and Niland Gallery & The Hunt Museum, Collector's Eye, An Exhibition from a Private Collection, 2004. Illustrated, p.4; Adams Clandeboye, Ulster Artists, 2010. Illustrated, p.10; Adams Clandeboye, Ireland: Her People and Landscape, 2012. Illustrated, p.17; Karen Reihill, Gerard Dillon: Art & Friendships, Adam's Summer exhibition, 2013. Illustrated, p. 53; James Morrissey, Omey, Crannog Books, 2018. Illustrated, p.88-89; Brendan Rooney, Irish Horse, National Gallery of Ireland, 2020. Illustrated, p.93
In 1950, Gerard Dillon rented Paki Joyce's cottage in Moyard, Connemara for several weeks in August while preparing work for his first solo exhibition at Victor Waddington's gallery in Dublin. The cottage became a lively hub that summer, animated by visits from friends travelling from Belfast, Dublin and London. On one occasion, Australian art historian Bernard Smith stayed with him, overlapping with a visit from Dillon's older sister, Mollie. Dillon had first met Smith in 1948 at the Abbey Art Centre and Museum in Hertfordshire, then owned by William Ohly, who let out studios to artists in the surrounding outbuildings. 1
Their friendship deepened in 1949, and the two friends continued to correspond after Smith's stay in Connemara, where he had travelled in search of his Irish roots. The details in Dillon's letter to Smith convey the enthusiasm and exhilaration of witnessing his first race day at Omey. He described the scene with characteristic immediacy,
'The horse racing began, and the sound of the hoofs pounding the sand as they ran gracefully in race after race. The Jockeys were local boys from Omey, and some girls too. People were barking on the beach, and there was great excitement. With the clouds racing in the sky over the Twelve Pins and the mainland looking most strange with crags in every field and stone walls around the crags-you'd have loved it, and the whole day without rain, not even a shower. I painted some of the subjects.' 2
Omey Island is a tidal island near Claddaghduff on the western edge of Connemara. Surrounded by views of the Atlantic in one direction and the Twelve Pins in the other, its mile-long strand appears only as the tide recedes. Each August, at low tide, a makeshift racecourse is marked out on the sand. Rooted in local tradition, jockeys and horses are quickly groomed and exercised, and the races begin, always in tension with the advancing tide that will soon reclaim the beach. After several hours, the tide comes in and swallows the entire track.3
Dillon exhibited three works from his Omey Island series in his 1950 solo exhibition: Omey Island Regatta, Omey Island Strand, and Omey Island Race Day. Other works from this group include Before the Races, Spectators Omey Island Race Day, and Omey Island Ponies. The Jockey belongs to this series. Dillon recorded this work under the descriptive title, Children on Horse with Walking Jockey, a title that Victor Waddington likely revised to The Jockey when the painting appeared in Dillon's first American solo exhibition at the Maxwell Galleries in San Francisco. Waddington occasionally altered titles of artists to suit international audiences.
Further research revealed that The Jockey was later exhibited in George Waddington's gallery in the group exhibition, Six European Painters, held in the newly opened premises in 1956-7. No catalogue appears to have been produced for the show, but an art reviewer singled out The Jockey in The Gazette, noting its distinctive presence among his other works on display.
Decades later, The Jockey was selected for inclusion in the National Gallery of Ireland's planned 2020 exhibition The Horse, conceived as the first in-depth study of the horse's cultural significance ranging from the eighteenth century to the present day within the Irish psyche and its psychological influence on Irish life. Although the exhibition was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the painting's intended inclusion underscores its enduring relevance within Dillon's oeuvre and within broader narratives of Irish visual culture.4
Karen Reihill, October 2026
Currently preparing a manuscript that re-examines key aspects of Dillon's life and work
1 Bernard Smith, A Pavane For another Time, 2002, p.388
2 Letter from Gerard Dillon to Bernard Smith (August, 1950). Copy in Centre for the Study of Irish Art, National Gallery of Ireland, 709.415DIL
3 Karen Reihill, catalogue entry for The Jockey, Adams Important Irish Sale, 4 December, 2012, p.84
4 Sean Rainbird, Foreword, Irish Horse, National Gallery of Ireland
