Paul Rahilly 1933 - 2024 RIP

Paul Rahilly, artist, teacher and good friend to many aspiring artists in the Boston area, died yesterday, July 15, 2024. He was one the few keeping the flame of figurative art alive during the late 20th century, and taught several generations of students the figure drawing and painting skills to build their own styles and approaches. I first encountered him at a life drawing class at Mass Art night school in the early 80's, and immediately realized that he was offering the knowledge and attitude to art that I had been seeking. It could be summarized as a method for identifying the intuitive, gestural sense of a pose and relating it to an armature, a "system of lines," that made it possible to record the essentials with verve and accuracy without wasting energy on aimless scribbling or getting bogged down in compulsive recording of detail. I went on to take his classes repeatedly, and with a few fellow recidivists established a painting group (the "Rahilloids") to continue to develop our skills with this knowledge. He became a good friend to all of us, and his influence is present with me to this day, as are the close friendships I found in his classes.