ARLIS UK & Ireland have published a series of guides on art library holdings in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including, to date, Edinburgh, Dublin, Manchester, Salford, and Cardiff and South Wales. The handy pocket-sized books all have the same format, general layout and design. This review focuses on the Art researchers guide to Dublin, edited by Olivia Fitzpatrick and Rose Roberto, and published in 2013 in association with the Royal Dublin Society (Declaration of interest: I contributed to the entry on the National Gallery of Ireland's library and archives).
The Dublin guide comprises information on 17 library and archive collections located throughout Ireland's capital city and with holdings relating to the visual arts. Its 138 pages are generously illustrated throughout with images of the libraries, institutions and items from the collections. Each entry provides an overview of the collection and essential practical information, such as contact details, opening hours, availability of wifi, accessibility, public transport, parking availability, etc. The expanding digital presence of these collections is noted and information regarding online catalogues and digitised collections is also included.
Dublin's rich artistic and cultural heritage is reflected in the diversity of the collections covered. The repositories vary widely in terms of collection size and subject matter covered. For students and scholars, the Guide's appeal and value is obvious, but it will also be of interest to ‘cultural snackers’ looking to explore lesser known art-related collections in Dublin. Many of the libraries are impressive spaces in their own right. The magnificent Old Library Long Room in Trinity College; the unchanged interior of Ireland's first public library, Marshe's Library, opened in 1707; the National Library of Ireland's domed reading room; and the nineteenth century reading room of the Royal Irish Academy – are all worth a visit for the architecture alone.
For the researcher, the guide provides information on collections relating to art and architecture from early times to the contemporary. The range of material held is striking: illuminated manuscripts, early printed books and treatises, exhibition catalogues, artists’ monographs, sales’ catalogues, manuscripts and archives, architectural plans and drawings, ephemera, photographs, maps, pamphlets, prints and drawings, paintings, miniatures, sculpture and objets d'art. A useful index at the back of the book highlights the key strengths of individual collections.
It will come as no surprise that Irish art and culture from Celtic times onwards feature prominently in many of these collections. Highlights include early Christian manuscripts such as the sixth century Cathach of St Columba, in the Royal Irish Academy, and the world-famous, ninth century illuminated manuscript the Book of Kells in Trinity College. A wealth of information on later developments in fine art such as easel painting, sculpture and print is available in the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art at the National Gallery of Ireland, which holds an important archive and library relating to Irish Art. The Royal Dublin Society, Royal Hibernian Academy, National Visual Irish Arts Library (NCAD) and Trinity Irish Art Research Centre (TCD) also hold significant material pertaining to the development of Irish art from the 18th century onwards. Information on architecture features in the collections also, most notably the Irish Architectural Archive, on Merrion Square, which has amassed an impressive collection relating to Ireland's built heritage.
Some of Dublin's art research collections are noteworthy in an international context and attract scholars from all over the world. The city is home to the Chester Beatty Library, located in Dublin Castle, which boasts a world-class collection of East Asian, European art and Islamic art dating from 2700 BC to the 20th century. The Sir Denis Mahon Library and Archive in the National Gallery of Ireland, is a remarkable collection relating to this important scholar and collector. Its holdings cover Italian art, including many early rare volumes, from the 15th century, which will be of immense importance to anyone studying the Italian baroque.
This small guide is an excellent introduction to the wealth of material available in Irish art library and archive collections. It is packed full of useful information and will certainly be relevant to many art library and Irish studies collections. As Christine Casey suggests in her introduction to the guide, it ‘whets the appetite for more’, highlighting the need for further publications on these important collections.
Another Dublin guidebook is Neal Doherty's user friendly volume, The complete guide to the statues and sculptures of Dublin City. Published in 2015 by Orpen Press, this book documents all of the public sculptures in Dublin located between the Grand Canal and the Royal Canal. Where the information is available the author has included the name of the work, the sculptor, the location and the year the work was erected, as well as an image for reference purposes. Each section of the book includes a map providing guidance on the precise location of the sculptures with works numbered in such a way as to easily facilitate a walking tour of a particular area. The guide covers over 250 works in total and includes statues, monuments, architectural pieces, engravings, plaques, mosaics and pavement art. These cover a range of media, including bronze, granite, portland stone, limestone, terracotta, steel, fibreglass, cement, ceramic tiles and wood, and date from the late 18th century to the present day.
This publication is essentially a guide book for tourists and will be particularly useful for tour guides looking for interesting facts, stories and anecdotes about this particular aspect of Dublin's history. Although not arranged chronologically, the book shows how Dublin's sculpture has reflected and even documented Ireland's evolving story over the centuries. Key moments and individuals in Irish history are well represented in the city's sculpture. On College Green, outside Trinity College, the memorial to Irish nationalist Thomas Davis by Edward Delaney reminds us of Davis's important writings and the growth of Irish nationalism. John Henry Foley's monument to Daniel O'Connell (1866), ’the Liberator’, who secured Catholic emancipation, is located on Dublin's main thoroughfare, which is now named after him. Close by is the statue of James Larkin portrayed in mid-speech, standing firm with outstretched arms, the sculptor, Oisín Kelly captures the passion of this great champion of the working-classes. One of the leaders of the 1916 Rising and leader of the Irish Socialist Republican party, James Connolly stands proudly, in Beresford Place, in a work sculpted by Eamonn O'Doherty in 1966. Another important figure in Irish history, Michael Collins, killed in the Irish War of Independence, is remembered in a work by Dick Joynt (1988) located in the tranquil grounds of Merrion Square. Significant historical themes and events are also represented. Rowan Gillespie's Famine Memorial on the quays captures the trauma and devastation of the Great Famine. The Custom House Memorial (1956), by Brenton sculptor, Yann Renard Goulet, is dedicated to the men killed in the Battle of the Custom House, during the Irish War of Independence.
Irish mythology emerges as an inspiration for some of Dublin's most striking and symbolic monuments. Oisin Kelly's masterpiece, Children of Lir, located in the Garden of Remembrance, symbolises the impact of revolution on the people of Ireland. The emotionally charged bronze, Death of Cu Chulainn by Oliver Sheppard (1935), evokes a similar sentiment. It is on permanent display in Dublin's General Post Office, the main location of the Rising, and remains an enduring symbol of Irish nationalism.
Ireland's literary legacy is honoured in the many sculptures representing writers. Oscar Wilde, George Russell, James Joyce, John B. Keane and Brian Friel can all be found in the city. Favourites among the public are John Coll's sculpture of poet Patrick Kavanagh seated on a bench beside the canal at Wilton terrace and, on the other side of the city, Brendan Behan, sits on a bronze bench on the Drumcondra Road. The guide also records works inspired by literature. James Joyce's ‘Finnegan's wake’ is the inspiration for the controversial sculpture Anna Livia (Eamonn O'Doherty, 1988). Originally commissioned for Dublin's O'Connell Street, the large female nude reclining in a granite bath was not greeted with universal acclaim and nicknamed the ‘Floozie in the Jacuzzi’. Inspired by the poetry of Brendan Kennelly, Linda Brunker's giant bronze Wishing Hand (2001) is located outside the Department of Education. It is considered by the artist to be complete only when a child is sitting in it.
Some of the sculptures featured here celebrate individuals from Irish life who have made significant contributions in a variety of ways to the wider world. In Merrion Square is a statue of Robert Boyle (by Albert Power and Oliver Sheppard, 1912), the father of chemistry and the originator of Boyle's Law. Catherine McAuley, founder of the religious Sisters of Mercy, is immortalised in a statue by Michael Burke on Lower Baggot Street. A bust honouring Bernardo O'Higgins, the Chillean liberator, was erected in Merrion Square in 1995. Catherine Greene's 2002 work Throne, is dedicated to the ‘king of comedy’, actor and comedian Dermot Morgan who famously played Father Ted in the television series of the same name.
This guide book introduces the reader to the works of key Irish artists that are freely available for all to view on the streets and in the parks of Dublin. Important artists who have shaped the development of Irish sculpture through the centuries, such as Edward Smyth, Thomas Kirk, Jerome Connor, Andrew O'Connor, Thomas Farrell, John Henry Foley, Oliver Sheppard, Albert Power, Oisín Kelly, Edward Delaney and in more recent years Michael Bulfin, Rowan Gillespie and Vivienne Roche all feature in this book. The author notes in his introduction that, ‘often the work is not signed or credited to the sculptor, which is a shame as their input is very important’. Disappointingly, the artist's own stories are missing from this publication. In most cases there is little information other than the name of the artist responsible for the creation of the work. Notwithstanding this, The complete guide to the statues and sculptures of Dublin City, provides a very useful introduction for the layman to Dublin's sculpture and, indirectly, to Irish history - as a Dubliner myself, I found it a most enjoyable and informative read.
