| Biography
Tony O'Malley was one of the major figures in Irish contemporary art. Born Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. 1933-58 worked in a bank, apart from army service at the beginning of 1940s. Became full time painter in 1959, though was not content due to considerable frustration at what he believed was a barrier of polite disregard towards his works and ideas in Ireland. O'Malley moved to St Ives in 1960 where he found he could express himself to an abstraction based on natural forms that had originated in Central Europe in the 1920's. He also was inspired by the freedom of the international artist community of St Ives. O'Malley spent time in the Bahamas in 1974 which inspired a series of paintings. Moved back to Ireland in 1990, where he continued to work. 1993, was invested by the Irish President Mary Robinson with the Aosdana title of Saoi, granted only to five living artists. Also received the prestigious IMMA/Glen Dimplex Lifetime Achievement Award. Earlier one-man shows at Sail Loft Gallery, St Ives, 1961 and 1962. After a string of British and Irish exhibitions, in 1984 had an Ulster Museum, Belfast, retrospective which toured to Dublin and Cork, with a retrospective of paintings 1950-95 at Coram Gallery, 1996. In 2001, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Kilmainham, showed work by O'Malley from the McCelland Collectiion. That museum gave O'Malley an retrospective in 2005, Tate St Ives showing a small selection of the pictures from it on 2006. |
