Biography
Gerhardt Gallagher was born in Waterford and while largely self-taught, studied art there at the Technical College under the artist Robert Burke. He pursued further courses at the National College of Art, Black Church Pint Studios, Temple Bar and Airfield Print Studios. His parents were involved in the visual arts and music development in Waterford and his grandmother Margarethe Gerhardt was a well-known painter and etcher of the north German landscape, particularly in the region of Warnemünde on the Baltic Sea. She studied etching in Berlin and took masterclasses with the graphic artist Herman Struck, whose students included Marc Chagall and Max Liebermann. These influences, together with the urban and landscape environment of Waterford, had a significant role in the development of Gerhardt's painting practice.
Other influences on his work came from family holidays spent on Irish west coast, particularly County Mayo, walking in the Dublin-Wicklow mountains and frequent travels to Greece where he stayed with the English painter and musician Jack Rogers.
Gerhardt's work comprises stylised compositions in oils and acrylics, figurative and landscape watercolours, inks and pastels. Earlier works concentrated on hard-edged acrylic and oil paintings using brushwork and sprays and also a series of mainly knife-applied oils, sometimes incorporating mythological and historical themes. Over his lifetime, he used a variety of drawing techniques, dry and wet brush inks and charcoal. In later years he developed drypoint and aquatint etchings, for which he was highly respected. Drawing continued to be an important part of his work process, with sketches worked into different compositions. His collection of sketchbooks, which dated from the 1950s to his death, was a key element for new works. Other work included set designing and book illustration.
Over the course of his lifetime, Gerhardt had twenty 'one' and 'two' person exhibitions and exhibited in numerous group shows in Ireland. Venues include the Waterford Municipal 'Greyfriars' Gallery, Kennys (Galway), Greenacres (Wexford), the RUA (Belfast) and the RHA, Combridge and Kennedy Galleries (Dublin).
Arts centres which showed his work include the Waterford Garter Lane Arts Centre, the Linen Hall Centre in Castlebar, the James Joyce Centre, Dublin, and the Dundalk Arts Centre. He was regularly involved with the Ranelagh Arts Centre with whom he often exhibited, including a solo exhibition of drypoint etchings and drawings 'A Sketchbook Diary'
Other public spaces include the Goethe Institute, Airfield House, Microsoft, Arnotts, the RDS, Liberty Hall, Irish Life the Bank of Ireland and Rathfarnham Castle. He participated in open exhibitions in Ireland, France (Tregastel International Watercolour Exhibition), the US, and China, the mini-print Biennale in Ottawa, Canada and the Enter into Art Exhibitions in Rhineland venues, Germany. His works are in public, business and private collections in Ireland, including the Arts Council, Waterford Art Collection, RTE, Dublin VEC, Comhaltas Ceoilteoiri, Office of Public Works and the Airfield Trust. He is also represented in collections in France, Germany, Finland, the US and the UK. He was a contributor to the Annual Hospice Exhibition in Dublin for more than a decade.
In 2008 Gerhardt exhibited his own etchings with those of his grandmother Margarethe Gerhardt at the Glucksman Library, Limerick University, under the auspices of the Centre for Irish German Studies. This exhibition was subsequently reproduced in 'Connections- Verbindungen: Irish German Perspectives through Etching' (Cambridge Scholars 2011) which he co-authored with Gisela Holfter and Micheal O'Haodha.
Gerhardt Gallagher was an involved member of the Artists Association in Ireland during most of its period of activity served on its Dublin Branch Committee and later a professional member of Visual Artists Ireland and a fulltime member of Black Church Print Studios. He was married to the playwright and author, the late Miriam Gallagher. They are survived by three children.
Reviews include the Irish national press, UK and Irish publications.
