Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) King and Queen of Spades Timber sc...

Estimate

€2,000 - €3,000

Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
King and Queen of Spades
Timber sculpture (objets trouvé) 44 x 9 x 55cm high (17¼ x 3½ x 21½") and 40 x 9 x 45.5cm (15¾ x 3½ x 18")
Provenance: Collection of Sir Basil Goulding, thence by descent.
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This rare and engaging objets trouvés sculpture by Gerard Dillon exemplifies the artist’s inventive and often playful approach to form and material. Composed from the handles of two wooden garden spades, the piece abstracts the human figure into a pair of totemic shapes — one male, one female — rendered with a simplicity that belies its wit and sensitivity.
Created around 1960, King and Queen of Spades belongs to a period when Dillon was increasingly experimenting beyond painting, exploring collage, construction, and assemblage as part of a wider search for expressive freedom. The use of found objects reflects his delight in transforming the everyday into something poetic and symbolic — a theme central to his practice throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
The sculpture’s provenance further enhances its importance: it was acquired directly from the artist by Sir Basil Goulding, one of Dillon’s key patrons and among the most discerning collectors of modern Irish art of the period.
At once humorous, intimate, and deeply human, King and Queen of Spades encapsulates Dillon’s unique sensibility — his ability to invest humble materials with spirit and meaning, and to find beauty in the ordinary.