On The Town: New paintings of ancient artefacts, such as an 8th-century iron bell from Clonmacnoise and an 11th-century crozier from the River Laune in Co Kerry, were unveiled by the artist Lorcan Walshe in Dublin this week.
"He has captured the essence of the objects, the spiritual dimension and the artistry of the objects," said Eamonn Kelly, Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the National Museum. He has "given them a new relevance through the medium of his art."
"The subject matter is ancient but the paintings are completely modern," he added, picking out his favourite painting, which is a triptych of 12th-century handbells because "they are very evocative of the curving arches of the interiors of cathedrals" as painted by 17th-century Dutch painters Johan De Witt and Pieter Jansz Saenredam.
Among those at the opening of the show in the National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin were writer and playwright Ulick O'Connor, cardiologist and writer Dr Risteárd Mulcahy and his wife Louise, artist and sculptor Paul Ferriter, broadcaster Fionn Davenport, art dealer Lawrie Cleary, Dr Finbar O'Mahony and his wife Fidelma, and poet and writer Hugh McFadden and his wife Liz.
"It's great to see a Westmeath man exhibiting here," said Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform BriaLenihan, who opened the show, when he commented on Walshe's family roots in Mullingar.
"His work speaks a language that immediately appeals for a time from which there was a grave silence," said John O'Mahony SC, chair of the National Museum.
Walshe, who was with his wife, Susan Russell, said he has been fascinated by indigenous art since he was a student in the 1970s. "I wanted to make a whole body of work that would connect directly with our indigenous culture," he said.
The Artefacts Project - Lorcan Walshe is at the National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin, until March 2008
Sacred cows roasted with relish
The distinct whiff of vitriol and bile was in the air. Eleven historians had sharpened their knives and cut some highly regarded Irish historic figures to shreds. They had jumped at the chance to topple figures including Seán Mac Bride, William Gladstone and Edward Carson off their pedestals.
"They were asked to choose a figure in Irish history that they disliked and talk about them for half an hour," explained broadcaster and historian Myles Dungan, who organised a conference around the idea. "The only proviso is that they had to be dead," he added.
The lectures were delivered at a conference last year in the National Museum, Collins Barracks, and the series was aired on RTÉ. This week saw the publication of the book of the series, Speaking Ill of the Dead.
When the contributors spoke, "there was a lot of relish, a lot of malice, a lot of bile and bitterness and begrudgery," recalled Dungan.
"The funniest was Ruth Dudley Edwards's lecture on Countess Markievicz, because she was vitriolic," said Dungan. "She had everybody in stitches."
Some contributors to the collection, including Sen David Norris, Martin Mansergh TD, Prof Terence Dolan and Dr Rosemary Cullen Owens, were at the launch.
They told "uncomfortable truths", said National Museum's director Dr Patrick Wallace, launching the book. "It's digging the body up and speaking ill of them, it's taking people down off their pedestals and telling uncomfortable truths," said Wallace, who was also one of the contributors.
His own subject, Dr Adolf Mahr, "was a horrible old man in his politics - he was a Nazi, but he was also the best director of the National Museum," said Wallace. "Before yourself," added a mischievous wag from the floor.
Seán MacBride "is shown up to be a very insincere, uncommitted, anti-human rights, very dictatorial" individual, said Wallace.
"Those personalities, those characters need to be revisited, re-interred but," he cautioned the eager academics to some laughter, "not disembowelled."
Among those at the reception were former minister for artsSíle de Valera, Gerry Mullins, author of Dublin Nazi No 1: The Life of Adolf Mahr, Malachy Moran of RTÉ Archives and Liam Webster of the Comic Store in Dublin's Temple Bar.
Speaking Ill of the Dead, edited by Myles Dungan, is published by New Island and RTÉ
Painting a terrible beauty
As an artist and a fisherman, Barrie Cooke is disturbed by the pollution of Irish rivers and waterways. His work since the 1980s has reflected these concerns, but his new show, which opened in Dublin this week, is concerned with the algae that is found in many of the rivers in New Zealand.
"It's very serious. I know a lot of fishermen and they are all disturbed by it," said Cooke at his opening in the Kerlin Gallery.
"I did this [ work] all in one burst," he said. The feeling he has when he paints is that, "I'm just depressed that it's happened. I've been accused of making [ the paintings] too beautiful but on the other hand, if you are honest, sometimes they are beautiful."
Cooke's work "is a totally original take on the landscape, in terms of form and colour, and there's a beautiful feeling of water", said Michael O'Reilly, fomer chair of the National Gallery of Ireland and owner of Dublin's Lemonstreet Gallery.
"I've admired his work since I was a student because it's fresh, it's sincere, it's authentic, it's individual and for me it relates to the starting point for everything," said Ennis-based artist, Lorraine Wall.
Artists including Ruth McDonnell, Fergal McCarthy, Patrick Pye and Marek Bogacki came to see the work. "He's getting better and better. He's really enjoying it," said Gwen O'Dowd, whose own work is currently showing at the Hillsboro Fine Art Gallery on Dublin's Parnell Square, and who was there to congratulate the painter.
"He's taken on something that is quite ugly and turned it into . . . paintings that are very energetic and expressive," said Darragh Hogan of the Kerlin Gallery.
Barrie Cooke continues at the Kerlin Gallery, Anne's Lane, South Anne Street, Dublin 2, until Saturday, December 22nd
Following their nose for nostalgia
The smells, the trams and Nelson's pillar were recalled with nostalgia by Dubliners who gathered in the city centre this week to celebrate the publication of Follow Me Down to Dublin, by Deirdre Purcell.
Writer Peter Sheridan recalled all the smells he misses in the city. "They are gone," he said. "When I was a lad they were very different. The river, the manure on the streets after the cattle in Seville Place, the smell from the knackers' yard where they killed the horses. It was a very distinct smell."
Anne Kelly was described at the launch as a legend by her two nieces Cora and Fran Devlin, because, they said, although she is 90, "she has a passion for living". And she had her own memories. "What I miss most are the trams and particularly when the luxury trams came in. And what I miss about Dublin is being able to go to the Gaiety Theatre for a shilling seat at the back and in the Gate for the same price." But yes, she agrees, "the Luas is wonderful".
Another interviewee, Frank O'Dea, who retired from Bests menswear shop in 1992, having started in 1948 when the shop opened, recalled the trams "pulling into O'Connell Street", and he said he missed Nelson's Pillar too. "Old Nelson was always there looking down on us." The Spire wasn't the same, he said.
Purcell said that interviewing individuals for the book had "taken me back to another life . . . it's like living other people's lives."
The book "encompasses a pictorial journey through the streets of Dublin, stark in its comparison to the changing Dublin of today, while capturing the beauty of so many Dublin people and places", said sporting hero Ronnie Delaney, when he launched the book.
Follow Me Down to Dublin by Deirdre Purcell is published by Hodder Headline Ireland.