Lot 18: mf - Charles Tyrell , b.1950 Suas agus Timpeall oil on canvas

oil on canvas

213 by 147.5cm.; 84 by 58in.

Dublin, An tOireachtas, 1974

Tyrrell studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and was influenced by the American Abstract Expressionists and by Morris Louis and Richard Diebenkorn in particular. During the early 70s, he developed the vibrant abstraction of the present work which is a rare early example of his style that combines a minimalist underlying structure with a particularly expressive application of paint. Tyrrell later explained that in his work, '..there is a constant battle or state of flux between the order of the imposed geometrical structure and the demands of an emerging painting that might not wish to conform to this structure...' (Tyrrell, quoted in Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, on-line catalogue). Tyrrell has exhibited extensively internationally and in the year of the present work, he won the Carrolls Award at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. In 1981, he was awarded the Jury's Special Mention at the International Festival of Painting, Cagnes - sur - Mer. He was elected a member of Aosdána in 1981 and went on to represent Ireland at the Paris Biennale in 1982. He was honoured with a 10 year retrospective at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 2001 where Pat Murphy, Director of the R.H.A, aptly surmised in the catalogue that 'Charles Tyrrell is probably the best painter of his generation in Ireland...'.