Rosemarie Devereux appraises the visual content of A Celtic Christmas, a supplement to AE’s The Irish Homestead
The Irish Homestead was one of the 230 periodicals produced in Ireland between 1850 and 1915. This was the period when nationalistic feeling symbolized by the Celtic Revival, was harnessed by three significant selfhelp organizations – the Gaelic League (1893), The Irish Agriculture Organization Society (IAOS) (1894) and The Irish Literary Theatre Society (1899) -whose main concerns were issues pertaining to land, literature and the revival of the Irish language. These concerns – along with the pros and cons of the controversial Home Rule Bills – were being circulated on a daily basis throughout the island via the pages of Ireland’s prolific printing industry. Recent technological advances enabling a more economical reproduction of drawings from line blocks were also providing Irish readers with a plethora of illustrated publications. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of contemporary journals for their value to historians in providing a chronicle of political, social and cultural events. Apart from providing a platform for writers and artists and a forum for national and local debate, these illustrated journals – such as The Irish Homestead’s Christmas edition A Celtic Christmas – allowed access to the world of culture that was often out of reach of the ordinary individual.
Mark Ewart visits the studio of Allihies-based artist Rachel Parry who transforms natural matter into mesmerizing art.
Kim Haughton’s portraits, on view now at the National Museum Collins Barracks, reflect on Ireland’s multi-layered society at the end of the first century of this nation state, writes Stephanie McBride
