"Hollywood beckons as artist Donleavy reaches 80"

by Emma O'Brien

Presently showing at the Molesworth Gallery, Dublin, is a collection of work by the artist and writer J.P. Donleavy. Although pre-eminently known for his work as an author, he began his career as a painter, holding his first solo show in 1948. Those who have previously enjoyed his literary style and black comic sense of humour will be equally impressed by the wit that dominates this exhibition. Donleavy's fame and popularity are to be furthered with the recent announcement that his most celebrated book, The Ginger Man, is to be adapted for the big screen.

Born in New York City in 1926, J.P. Donleavy immigrated to Ireland following World War II. Attending Trinity on the GI Bill, he left the glamour of a New York high-society upbringing to ground himself in the mayhem of Dublin city in the late '40s - a poverty-stricken city, saddled with the tension of religious repression, censorship and the need to identify the capital of the Republic as a modern metropolis. From the noble arches of Trinity to the hedonistic Georgian vaults, that were The Catacombs, Donleavy immersed himself in college life and Dublin’s bohemia. It was here he found accomplices such as Brendan Behan and Gainor Stephen Crist to inspire and pattern the pages of his first novel, The Ginger Man (1995). In 1951 Brendan Behan would be the first to read the original manuscript of The Ginger Man and respond by saying, "This book is going to go around the world and beat the bejasus out of the bible." Gainor Crist would be the inspiration for the protagonist of the book, Sebastian Dangerfield.

From the onset The Ginger Man was met with trepidation. After trying the publishing houses here and in the States, Donleavy ventured to Olympia Press in Paris to have it published. It was put to print in 1955 as No.7 in a series of porn novels. For the following twenty-three years he would enter into litigation with Garnier-Olympia Press to redeem his manuscript from the bawdy stigma of ‘dirty book'.
With its adaptation to the big screen, The Ginger Man has seen a host of Hollywood’s finest vying for the leading roles. The boozing, brawling, wife-abusing anti-hero Sebastian Dangerfield is to be played by the eminent Johnny Depp. Donleavy has expressed his delight at this, citing Depp as "one of the greatest actors of all time, like Gielgud or Olivier. In that class or better."

Also in the line up is scallywag Shane McGowan, who has accepted the role of Brendan Behan.
The Ginger Man, as Behan predicted, has circled the globe and has been published in more the twenty-four languages. In the fifty years since it was originally published it has never been out of print. The History of the Ginger Man was published in 1994 as an autobiographical account by Donleavy of some of the events that bought the novel to its current status.

Donleavy's exhibition "Beastly Beasts, Birds People and Places," is a varied selection of his work, with pieces stemming from the late '40s to 2005. Each painting has been defined by a title or quip, which serve the works well and illustrate the artist’s sensibilities. His enjoyment of the absurd is somewhat Kafkaesque, with strange contrived beasts turning to face the spectator and juxtaposed one-liners to enhance the humanistic expressions on their faces. The whimsical nature of his brightly coloured watercolours contrasts with the intensity and weight of his works in oil. This is his fifteenth exhibition during a rich artistic career that has been seen him to the celebrated age of 80.

"Beastly Beasts, Birds People and Places" closes on the 20 February.

Sources:
J.P. Donleavy, The History of the Ginger Man, an Autobiography, Penguin Group, London, 1994
Exhibition catalogue, Beastly Beasts, Birds, People and Places. Damien Matthews Fine Art Publications (2006)
Victoria Mary Clarke, When J.P. met Johnny, Life supplement, The Sunday Independent, 29 January 2006 p. 19

To purchase books by J.P. Donleavy, go to the Buyers' Guide.