Roland Ossory Dunlop R.A., R.S.A., N.E.A.C., L.G. (1894-1973)

An author and painter in oil of landscapes, portraits and still life Ronald Ossory Dunlop was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1894 into a Scottish-Irish Quaker family. His mother was a watercolour artist and his father an author and great friend of W.B.Yeats, James Stephens and George Russell, thus Dunlop grew up surrounded by the seminal figures of the Irish Literary Renaissance. After the First World War Dunlop worked as a freelance designer whilst he studied art in London. During this time he was associated with a group of young artists who all exhibited at the Hurricane Lamp Gallery in Chelsea.

His first one-man exhibition was held at the Redfern Gallery in 1929. He went on to exhibit at the R.A., N.E.A.C., Leicester Galleries, R.S.A. and the Glasgow Institute of Fine Art. He also maintained his Irish connections, returning periodically to paint in Dublin and submitting a number of works to the R.H.A. in the 1940s and 50s.

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, characterised by the heavily loaded use of impasto.