Press
The Times – More Than Just Good Friends by Cristín Leach
Irish Arts Review (Spring, 2016)- De Profundis by Seán Kissane
The Irish Times – Patrick Hennessy at IMMA: Temperament, truths and brooding youths by Aidan Dunne.
GCN – Queer View Mirror by Brian Finnegan
The Visual Artists’ News Sheet – Patrick Hennessy ‘De Profundis’ by Mary Catherine Nolan (www.visualartists.ie)
Selected Critical Quotes from the press of Hennessy’s time
Irish Press, Nov 1950, Our Arts Critic, Dublin Painters
Patrick Hennessy has always been an extraordinarily interesting painter both because of the way he paints and because of his failure to use his craft inventively.
Irish Times, November 1978, Desmond MacAvoc, Hendriks
A Patrick Hennessy Exhibition is predictable in subjects but also in standards. This is fully up to what one expects.
Irish Times, 6 November 1962, signed C.S.
There is no unity nor is there any wholeness. For example, No. 16, Entrance to the Chateau
The chief object represented is a sculptured lion. The stony texture of the lion is brilliantly rendered, it has an undoubted illusionistic presence (though really all this suggests is that one would be even happier with the actual stone lion)?
Same Review:
These paintings lack discrimination – discrimination between the importance of one part of them and another.
Irish Press, 6 December 1951, by Our Art Critic
Almost all lovers of painting are ready to sing his praises, but I still believe that in spite of the brilliance of his performance to date he has hardly begun to give full expression to the possibilities suggested by his mastery as a technician.
Cork Arts society, 31 May 1981, Hilary Pyle
Not all of these paintings are good. But for those who have tended to dismiss his fluent and popular work of the 60s – including myself – it’s surprising how it all stands up to the test of time.
Irish Press, 17 November 1969, Raymond Gallagher
There is no adventure and no discovery. He puts it all down as impeccably as ever, and the style and technique is a satisfactory complement. It would seem that Hennessy is at the height of his powers, but if you have seen one show, you’ve seen them all.
Irish Independent, November 1963, signed PHG
He probably paints every day of his life to perfect his technique and has no time to be a surrealist.
Irish Press, 19 June 1981, R.H.A. (Impressions)
Six of his photo-Realist paintings (Hennessy’s) have been lent by the Hendriks Gallery and they are all fine examples of his immense technical virtuosity, although it is debatable whether this type of Realist work is valid in the age of the camera.
Personally, I admire those calm, well-ordered compositions with their substratum of Surrealistic elements which evoke so effectively the passing of time.
