IRISH RISING ARTISTS
Irish artists were often trying to convey a very particular viewpoint through their art. Most were filled with a sense of national pride and wished to portray their countrymen as noble and heroic. They tried to paint the events of the Easter Rising as favorably as possible, making sure the historic events were memorialized and the bravery of the Irish leaders was never forgotten.
Walter Paget
Walter Paget was born in 1863 in England and grew up in a family with two brothers who were also very artistic. He worked to illustrate books and magazines throughout the late 1800s into the early 1900s. His work was well received by most (Allingham).
His art was not generally very political in nature, but his painting Birth of the Irish Republic. This painting portrays the inside of the GPO during the rising. There is evidence that the painting was originally created for a motivational poster. The scene depicts the chaos of the rising, with nurses crouched among the wounded as fire burns in the background smoke clogs the air. The fact that the image doesn’t show the enemy but instead focuses on the heroics of the Irish is significant. Despite the chaos of the scene, there is a nobility to it and a lack of the gorier side of the conflict that makes it seem like a grand gesture. This image was clearly meant to be inspirational and while it does show some of the chaos of battle, its main goal is to portray the Rising in a more positive, noble light (Ballagh).
Kathleen Fox
Kathleen Fox was born in 1880 in Dublin and studied at the Metropolitan School of Art. In 1911, she traveled to England and France to study more . By 1916, she had returned to Ireland in time to witness the events of the historic Easter Rising. She used her skills to show the world what she had witnessed and completed her work in secret to avoid punishment from the British authorities. She eventually sent her work to New York in fear that it would be confiscated.
Fox’s most famous work The Arrest depicts the surrender arrest of Countess Constance Markievicz during Easter Week 1916. Markievicz stands in the uniform of the Irish Republican Army next to Michael Mallin. Fox included herself in the work, standing in the background in a straw boater and staring at the audience, encouraging them to take part in the scene. The image of Markievicz standing tall with Mallin and the rest of the IRA presents them as a noble, organized military force rather than a ragtag force that barely held off the much larger British fighters (Byrne).
Sean Keating
Sean Keating was heavily influenced by nationalist ideas in the majority of his work. He thought that the Easter Rising was a good time to revive Irish identity, and he chose to do that through his paintings. He heavily focused on the traditional life of an Irish peasant as the definition of “true Irish.” He also wanted Ireland to express its Gaelic identity.
In Keating’s Men of the West three men are depicted. These men are actually Keating himself and Keating’s brother Joe. Joe is depicted twice, both on the far right and at the center. Joe is the more militant brother, holding a rifle in both poses, while Sean is the more idealistic of the pair with Irish Tricolor slung over his right shoulder. Joe’s face is more obscured because he was more politically active and would not want to be recognized. Their dress is reminiscent of the American West and compares the Irish to those who participated in the American Civil War. The men are clearly unafraid to fight and stand ready for conflict (Keating).
Connections to Civil War
Irish artists were often trying to invoke a sense of national pride in their artwork related to the Rising. Again and again they portrayed those who fought for Ireland’s freedom as heroes who should serve as models for future generations. While some showed the chaos of battle, others painted the aftermath, and still others simply showed the nature of those who fought in any way they saw fit. Some Civil War artists did the same, trying to show the valor of those who fought for freedom for the oppressed. However, the thing that few Irish artists portrayed that was often depicted in Civil War art is the horrors of war. Irish artists did not spotlight the terrible consequences of violence as much as Civil War artisits often did.