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Ronald Ossory Dunlop (1894–1973) was an Irish author and painter in oil of landscapes, seascapes, figure studies, portraits and still life.

Life and career

Dunlop was born in Dublin, Ireland. He studied at Manchester School of Art, at Wimbledon College of Art and in Paris, having spent some time working in an advertising agency. He became a prolific exhibitor, venues including the Royal Academy, the New English Art Club, Leicester and Redfern Galleries, the Royal Society of Arts, the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.

His first one man show (1928) was at the Redfern Gallery in Cork Street, London. In 1923 he had founded the Emotionist Group of writers and artists, and his own work is characterised by a painterly exuberance. Dunlop's work is in a number of public galleries, including the Tate.

Most of his life was spent in England, latterly at Barnham, West Sussex, close to Chichester. He achieved fame in his lifetime, having been elected a full member of the Royal Academy in 1950, and his work is instantly recognisable, as are the many fakes which have appeared on the market over the past thirty years or so!

Alex Fraser of Vancouver was Dunlop's dealer in London and again later in Canada once Fraser had emigrated in the 1940s.

Dunlop's mother, Eleanor (née Fitzpatrick) was herself a watercolour artist. His father Daniel Nicol Dunlop (1868-1935), was a great friend of W. B. Yeats, James Stephens and George Russell ('Æ. Yeats, Russell and Daniel Nicol Dunlop had together published The Irish Theosophist from the home of Eleanor’s father, the Shakespearean scholar R. H. Fitzpatrick.

Thus Dunlop grew up surrounded by the seminal figures of the Irish Literary Renaissance, in an atmosphere smacking of mysticism and Spiritualism. The Dunlop family moved to New York in 1899, then London three years later. From here, they made the annual pilgrimage back to Dublin during Horse Show week, with Dunlop’s father returning to London clutching two or three more ‘Æ’ canvasses each time. Dunlop trained in art in London, associating with a group of young artists who exhibited at the Hurricane Lamp Gallery in Chelsea. In 1928 the group published a journal called Emotionism: Dunlop supplied a rather vague manifesto ("Art is the expression of the essence of life"), a poem, and an illustration of one of his paintings, "The Fish Market". Dunlop soon expanded his exhibiting circle, showing with the New English Art Club and later with the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of British Artists. He maintained his Irish connections, returning periodically to paint in Dublin and submitting a number of works to the RHA in the 1940s and 1950s.

Frances Spalding described Dunlop as an 'alla prima' painter of traditional subjects. At some stage he settled in Barnham, West Sussex, and in 1947 or 1948 exhibited at Bognor Regis, which led to a connectio with Bibby (see below).

He generally signed his work "Dunlop" and his correspondence "R O Dunlop", and as a result his given names were not widely known.

Books

In addition to painting, he was a prolific author; his books include:

• Modern Still Life Painting in Oil (London 1938)
• Understanding Pictures (London 1948)
• Painting for Pleasure (London 1951)
• Sketching for Pleasure (London 1952)
• How to Paint for Pleasure (New York 1953)
• Ancient Arundel (London 1953)
• Landscape Painting: Ma Yuan to Picasso (London 1954)
• his autobiography: Struggling with Paint: Some Reminiscences (London, 1956).

Dunlop's paintings can be seen in the Crawford Gallery, Cork, the Tate Gallery, Cheltenham Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Paintings

• Dunlop painted portraits of each of the four children of Cyril Bibby
• In Cheltenham art Gallery
• See

References

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1. "Stowe House 2". Antiques Roadshow. Episode 23. 2013-05-19. BBC Television. Retrieved 2013-05-19. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |transcripturl= (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)

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• 1894 births
• 1973 deaths
• Irish painters
• Irish writers
• People from Dublin (city)