Donal Maguire selects an illustrated letter, written by Walter Osborne, from the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art
In 1884 he made his first painting trip to England. He produced paintings representing life in the village of North Littleton, depicting both interior and street scenes. In this letter, he tells his father that he has finished a picture ‘of two boys in a yard looking at an apple tree and an old woman in a doorway watching them’. He is also ‘pretty far advanced on a KitKat of a girl feeding fowl’. Entitled Feeding the Chickens, this oil painting is now considered a major work of the artist’s. He admits to some difficulties, particularly with the rendering of the chickens, which are ‘very troublesome’. He includes a delicately realized drawing of the composition that features much of the detail of the finished painting. Rendered in short and controlled vertical pencil strokes, his technique reflects the ‘square-brush’ style that was popular among Realist painters.
Proving that good design is timeless, Virginia Teehan presents a selection of rare artefacts travelling to Boston College, celebrating Irish design from the Arts and Crafts Movement.
In response to the 1916 centenary, EVA International takes as its theme, the post-colonial legacy on the psyche and imagination of colonized communities, writes Michaele Cutaya.
A recent visit to Sligo County Library prompts Peter Harbison to ask, could our national institutions do more to give local communities access to their treasures?