William Orpen (1878–1931): A Voice for Pluralism in the Long Nineteenth Century

Abstract

In 1898, the Irish artist William Orpen left Ireland for further training in London. Thereafter, until 1915, although officially resident in London, he spent up to five months each year in Ireland. In light of his experiences abroad, through an examination of his paintings Young Ireland: Grace Gifford (1907), Homage to Manet (1909), Sowing New Seed (1913), The Western Wedding (1914), and The Holy Well (1916), this essay explores Orpen’s multifaceted efforts to effect a reconfiguration of the visual arts in Ireland, a matter closely linked to his dismay at what he perceived as the narrow cultural identities under construction from within the Revival Movement and the Catholic Church. The essay discusses his collaboration with Hugh Lane in amassing a collection for the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art , particularly in the acquisition of late nineteenth-century French paintings, and it interrogates Orpen’s destabilization of the structures through which some revivalists and the Catholic Church pursued their aims.