Cultural Nationalism in Stone: Albert G. Power, 1881-1945

Abstract

In the decades before and after political independence, a number of Irish painters and sculptors grew actively concerned with producing an easily identifiable Irish art that offered a distinctive cultural expression of nationalism.1 From the early years of the twentieth century, a new canon of Irish subject matter had quickly emerged: the celebration of Irish life and landscape. Among painters, this new range of subject matter found expression in depictions of rural landscape, and in paintings of the everyday life of the peasant. Ruralism and rurality were, of course, already common elements in the depiction of Ireland during the nineteenth century; the earlier works, however, had provided an essentially escapist imagery, in which the peasantry was depicted engaged in such harmless activities as dancing, drinking, and otherwise enjoying a seemingly contented lifestyle.2 This established stereotypical representation—which was in itself a powerful agent in reinforcing the identity of the indigenous Irish as a feckless people—now made way for an entirely different, and more vigorous, view of Ireland and the Irish. From the beginning of the new century, artists had treated the peasant with a newfound respect. This is especially evident in the many pictures by such artists as Jack B. Yeats (1871–1957) and Seán Keating (1889–1977), who depicted those working on land and sea in the West with genuine regard and affection. These artists also perceived the location in which the peasants lived in a fresh way: the idealistic, pretty landscapes of the century before were replaced with a more realistic, and a more striking, depiction of the bleak but beautiful mountain terrain inhabited by these hard-working people. Between 1910 and 1950, Paul Henry (1876–1958) and his many followers produced a wealth of Western imagery, instantly recognizable as "'Irish" to the viewer by its distinctive geographical characteristics. In turn, these paintings were mass-produced in cheap print form, which helped to increase their popularity among a wider audience. [End Page 98] Such mass distribution assisted in the portrayal of the West asthe "real" Ireland. At a time when the fledgling state was determined to eschew any resemblance to its former ruler, this imagery usefully served to underpin the desired self-image of the nation as a rural utopia inhabited by a noble, Gaelic-speaking, and Catholic population. In sculpture, the challenge to create a recognizably Irish sculpture resulted in a greater recognition of the importance of representing nationalist heroes, both legendary and from the recent past, in commissioned portraits and monuments. From the mid-nineteenth century onward, an increasing number of public monuments to celebrate Irish heroes appeared in city squares and in government and public buildings.3 Such sculptures could visibly transmit political ideas and provide tangible signifiers of nationalist aspirations. In the first half of the next century, governments of the day to engaged prominent Irish sculptors to produce busts for the Dáil chamber, as well as monuments honoring the dead of both parties.4 Sculptors selected for these commissions included Oliver Sheppard (1865–1941) and Albert G. Power. Born in Dublin in 1881, Power had attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, and by 1912 had established himself as a monumental mason, specializing in ecclesiastical work of all kinds as well as architectural decoration. He quickly earned a reputation as a portraitist of note, and during his career he depicted many important political and cultural figures of the day including Michael Collins and William Butler Yeats. Power was also involved in the commission from the Cumann na nGaedhail government for a cenotaph honoring the lately deceased Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, erected on the lawn of Leinster House in 1923. A little more than a decade later, the Fianna Fáil government chose Sheppard's striking rendition of the legendary dying hero, Cuchulainn, to represent all those who had died during the Easter Rebellion of 1916.5 A bronze copy of the...