Paula Murphy examines the background to Oisín Kelly’s immortalization of Big Jim Larkin commissioned by the workers of Ireland
A quotation that dates back to the French Revolution – The great appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise!1 – is inscribed in English, Irish and French on the front of the pedestal that supports the statue of James Larkin (1874-1947) in the centre of Dublin. The monument is located close to the site of the former Imperial Hotel (now Clery’s), from a window of which Larkin famously communicated with the people of Dublin in 1913. However this was not the first position in Dublin, or the first memorial that was proposed for a Larkin commemoration. In the aftermath of his death and the establishing of a memorial fund, proposals to commemorate Larkin included a Memorial Hall and a gravestone in Glasnevin cemetery, with designs for the latter invited from union members.2 In the end the amount subscribed – £2,300 when the fund was closed in 1957 – was disappointing and, with insufficient funds for the Memorial Hall, some consideration was given to a statue.3 In 1959, when the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU), founded by Larkin in 1909, was underplaying his role in the union by making only brief references to him in their golden jubilee publication Fifty Years of Liberty Hall,4 the Workers Union of Ireland (WUI, which became the FWUI in 1978) was seeking to erect a public monument to Larkin in the capital city.
Eleanor Flegg visits ceramicist Mark Campden’s Kilkenny studio to witness the process behind his gleaming table-ware
Technical developments enable artistic development’: John Behan reflects on the circumstances which spurred his move to sculpture, in conversation here with Brian McAvera
Brian Fallon recalls his first impression on meeting Mary Swanzy and her Gauguin moment conceived during a visit to Samoa