Ireland and the British Empire

Name: Ireland and the British Empire
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Author: Fintan Cullen
ISBN: 978-1-78874-302-0

Cullen, Fintan

Ireland and the British Empire

Essays on Art and Visuality

by Fintan Cullen (Volume editor)

The Arts

Series: Reimagining Ireland, Volume 120

Summary

«This dazzling collection of essays draws out the complexity of Ireland’s connections with British imperialism.　The volume takes an admirably wide-ranging and generous approach to Irish visual culture, showing how features such as Irish fashion, architecture, and museum display have been affected by empire.　Those interested in Irish art, in Irish culture, and in the legacies of imperialism more generally will find this book insightful, illuminating, and provocative.»
(James Moran, Professor of English, University of Nottingham)
　
«Ranging across a broad chronological span, this stimulating collection’s focus on the role of the British empire within Irish art and visuality is much-needed. This book will be invaluable not just for scholars of Irish culture, but for the study of the crucial significance of the visual in the historical formation of empire more generally.»
(Fionna Barber, Reader in Art History, Manchester Metropolitan University)
This collection of essays discusses how the British empire resonates in a huge array of visual culture in Ireland from the late eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. The book is about the way empire has pervaded and continues to pervade Irish art and visual culture. The collection of essays expands the analysis of things visual in terms of Ireland and the British empire to include a broad range of cultural matter: art exhibitions, museums and their displays, architecture, photography, illustrated books, fashion, public and private performances and entertainments, as well as paintings, sculpture, prints and book illustration. The essays only touch on some of the issues that need to be discussed in relation to Ireland and the visual culture of imperialism, but it is hoped that this volume will spark others to investigate the topic and thus greatly expand Irish visual historiography.

Excerpt

Cover
Title
Copyright
About the author
About the book
This eBook can be cited
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Ireland, the Visual and the British Empire (Fintan Cullen)
1 An Index of Civility: Ireland, Imperialism and Histories of Medieval Architecture (Niamh NicGhabhann)
2 Seeing the Second City of the Empire: The Engraved Illustration in Dublin Travel Guides (c.1820–30) (Angela Griffith)
3 ‘Pilgrims of the Sun’: John Shaw Smith and the Practice of Empire in Early Irish Photography (Justin Carville)
4 Museums and Empire: Reconnecting Uncomfortable Colonial Histories (Rachel Hand)
5 From Parnell’s Suit to Casement’s Closet: Masculinity, Homosexuality and the Fashioning of the Irish Nation (Joseph McBrinn)
6 Fancy Dress and the ‘Colleen’ as Imperial Signifier (Elaine Sisson)
7 ‘Figures Suddenly Leap from Frames’: Myles na gCopaleen, Modernism and Irish Art (Luke Gibbons)
Notes on Contributors
Index
Series Index

←vi | vii→

Illustrations

Figure 1. Edward Smyth, Arms of Ireland, 1780s, portland stone, Custom House, Dublin, south-west pavilion. Courtesy of the Irish Architectural Archive, Dublin. Photo: c.1922.

Figure 2. Fusiliers’ Arch, Dublin, 1907, granite and limestone; architects: John Howard Pentland and Thomas Drew. Courtesy of the Irish Architectural Archive, Dublin. Photo: c.1975.

Figure 3. Unveiling of Frederick William Pomeroy’s monument to Lord Dufferin and Ava in Belfast, 1906, photograph by Robert French. Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 4. George Petrie, Royal Exchange, engraving in G. N. Wright, An Historical Guide to Ancient and Modern Dublin (London: Baldwin, Craddock, and Joy, 1821). Thanks to the Board of TCD.

Figure 5. James Malton, Royal Exchange, Dublin, engraving in James Malton, A Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin (Dublin, 1794). Thanks to the Board of TCD.

Figure 6. Anon., View of Dublin from the Phoenix Park, engraving in John James McGregor, New Picture of Dublin: Comprehending a History of the City, an Accurate Account of Its Various Establishments and Institutions, and a Correct Description of All the Public Edifices Connected with Them… (Dublin: A. M. Graham, 1821). Thanks to the Board of TCD.

←vii | viii→

Figure 7. George Petrie, Sackville Street, Post Office & Nelson’s Column, engraving in G. N. Wright, An Historical Guide to Ancient and Modern Dublin (London: Baldwin, Craddock, and Joy, 1821). Thanks to the Board of TCD.

Figure 8. Thomas H. Shepherd, Waterloo Place and Part of Regent Street and Regent Street from the Quadrant, engravings in James Elmes, Metropolitan Improvements: or London in the Nineteenth Century (London: Jones and Co., 1827). Thanks to the Board of TCD.

Figure 9. John Shaw Smith, ‘Head of the Sphinx’, February 1852, from John Shaw Smith, Photographs, Temples and Scenery of Egypt and Nubis, albumen print in Photographic Society of Ireland Album 2. Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 10. John Shaw Smith, ‘Western Entrance to the Great Hall, Karnak’, January 1852, from John Shaw Smith, Group of Negatives Organised by the Photographer, Entitled Thebes. Calotype, image: 17.6 x 22.7 cm. Courtesy of the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York, gift of Alden Scott Boyer.

Figure 11. John Shaw Smith, ‘Minarets of the Tomb of Sultan Berkook’, November 1851, recto, from John Shaw Smith, Group of Negatives Organised by the Photographer, Entitled Cairo, Pyramids, Palms, Nile Boats. Calotype, image: 22.7 x 17.7. Courtesy of the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York, gift of Alden Scott Boyer.

←viii | ix→Figure 12. John Shaw Smith, ‘Temple at Ermont Built by Cleopatra’, 14 January 1852, from John Shaw Smith, Photographs, Temples and Scenery of Egypt and Nubis, albumen print in Photographic Society of Ireland Album 1. Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 13. John Shaw Smith, ‘Remeses [sic] III Offering to His Gods His Prisoners’, January 1852, from John Shaw Smith, Photographs, Temples and Scenery of Egypt and Nubis, albumen print in Photographic Society of Ireland Album 1. Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 14. John Shaw Smith, ‘Island of Thilie [sic] from the Island of Biggeh [sic]’, 8 January 1852, from John Shaw Smith, Photographs, Temples and Scenery of Egypt and Nubis, albumen print in Photographic Society of Ireland Album 1. Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 15. John Shaw Smith, ‘Sphinx and Pyramid of Cephrenes’, February 1852, with copperplate script on left, from John Shaw Smith, Photographs, Temples and Scenery of Egypt and Nubis, albumen print in Photographic Society of Ireland Album 2. Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 16. Figure of a heiva tupapa'u (mourner’s costume). Copied from life by Kenelm Digby while on display in TCD Museum. From Digby’s ‘The Naturalists Companion’, 221. Courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales.

Figure 17. Birch bark tray embroidered with moosehair floral designs. Created by a Huron-Wendat artist, Great Lakes, North America, to hold calling cards or trinkets. Donated to the RDS in 1874 by Hugo Richard Huband. © NMI (AE:1880.1856).

Figure 18. An Edo hip-pendant, uhunmwun-ekhue, with the head of an Oba edged in stylized mudfish. Worn on the left hip by chiefly court officials at palace ceremonies. Part of the loot from Benin City ←ix | x→acquired in 1897 by Charles Graham. © NMI (AE: 1907.403).

Figure 19. Hawaiian handheld weapon, with shark-teeth lashed to the edges. Despite the label’s claim the type of weapon that killed Cook is unknown. © NMI (AE:1882.3664).

Figure 20. Model of headhunting canoe carved by Chief Ango, Solomon Islands. Decorated with traditional painted hull designs, inlaid pearl shell, with tradecloth and cowrie shells on the prow and stern. © NMI (AE:1923.226).

Figure 21. The densely displayed New Zealand case in NMI’s Ethnography Gallery in the mid-1970s. Photography by Peter Gathercole, courtesy of the author.

Figure 22. A wooden staff weapon (taiaha) with a collar of dog hair and parrot feathers. Collected by Captain George Meyler 1846–56. Purchased in 1909 from Dr Isaac Asher. © NMI (AE:1909.125).

Figure 23. Sydney Prior Hall, Portrait of Charles Stewart Parnell, 1892, oil on canvas, 112 x 86 cm, NGI 481. Photo: © NGI.

Figure 24. Charles W. Furse, Portrait of John Gordon Campbell, Seventh Earl of Aberdeen, c.1889–90, oil on canvas, 128 x 102 cm, Dublin Castle. Photo: Dennis Mortell. Courtesy of OPW.

Figure 25. Seaghán MacCathmaoil [John P. Campbell], ‘Home Industry, Begorra. Mr Francis J. Bigger, M.R.I.A.’, Nomad’s Weekly and Belfast Critic, 466 (8 August 1908), 11. Photo: the author. Courtesy of Belfast Central Library.

←x | xi→

Figure 26. Photograph of Roger Casement on board Amazon riverboat, 1910 (NPA CAS3C, Roger Casement Papers). Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 27. Photograph of Roger Casement in formal dress around the time of his knighthood in 1911, (Ms 21, 536, F. J. Bigger Papers). Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 28. Photo: Keough. ‘Our Day. Tableaux Vivants at The Theatre Royal’. Top left: Lady Decies as Mavourneen in the tableau ‘Come Back to Erin’; top right, Priscilla, Countess Annesley, in the tableau ‘In a Persian Garden’; bottom right: Mrs Cecil Darcy, ‘In a Persian Garden’; bottom left: Miss O’Connor and Mr AJ Macgillycuddy illustrating the song ‘Coming Through the Rye’ [by Robert Burns]; centre: Ladies who took part in the Kerry Dance tableau, Mrs AJ Macgillycuddy, Miss St Lawrence, Miss Pike, Miss Stirling, Miss Hancock, Miss Russell, Miss Coyle. Irish Life, 30 November 1917. Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 29. Anon., ‘Ireland and the Empire’, advert for McClinton’s Colleen Soap, The Sphere, 23 August 1914. Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 30. Anon., ‘Ireland and the Empire’, advert for McClinton’s Colleen Soap, The Graphic, 26 September 1914. © Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans.

Figure 31. Anon., ‘Britannia and Her Allies, Red Cross and St John Ambulance Pageant, Tyrone’. Irish Life, 20 August 1915. Image courtesy of the NLI.

Figure 32. Anon., ‘Children’s Fancy Dress Ball at the Gresham Hotel, Dublin’. Irish Life, 17 January 1919. Image courtesy of the NLI.

←xi | xii→

Figure 33. Anon., Hanging Paintings at IELA, 1943, with Fr Jack Hanlon, Louis le Brocquy, Norah McGuinness, Margaret Clarke and Elizabeth Curran. Collection of NIVAL, NCAD, IE/NIVAL IELA/0357.

Figure 34. Anon., IELA 1945, with left to right, Louis le Brocquy, Evie Hone, Thomas Derrig, Minister for Education, Melanie Le Brocquy and Norah McGuinness. Collection of NIVAL, NCAD, IE/NIVAL IELA/0359.

Figure 35. Georges Rouault, Christ and the Soldier, 1930, gouache, crayon and ink on board, 63.5 x 48. 2 cm. Collection and image © Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin. © Estate of Georges Rouault, ADAGP Paris/IVARO Dublin, 2022.

←xii | xiii→

Preface

This book of essays is a study of the visualisation of Irish participation in the British empire. The focus of most of the essays is on the pre-Independence period while the eight contributions range over a wide variety of visual cultural spaces and have been written by academics from both Ireland and Britain.

One hundred years since Independence, in terms of the academic discipline of visual studies, Ireland is still dependent on Britain for a range of support. Many Irish-orientated scholars receive financial aid from British-based institutions to pursue their work, contribute to publications, get involved in exhibitions and attend conferences. Irish artists and curators enjoy success in such high-end British visual art phenomena as the Turner Prize and other awards. Tate Britain collects Northern Irish contemporary art, and the ever-expanding British Art Network (BAN) has a vibrant subsection, the Northern Irish Art Network. Hammad Nasar, a leading figure in BAN, has commented that there are ‘empire-shaped holes’ in the discourse of British art.¹ The same could be said of Irish art historiography. It comes as no surprise that one of the few exhibitions to investigate some of the themes of this book was hosted by London’s National Portrait Gallery, an imperial institution founded at the very height of colonial expansion.² This book of essays is a contribution towards explaining some of those issues and more.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hung over this project for well over two years. Initiated in early 2019, delays soon set in, three of the original contributors fell by the wayside and deadlines were repeatedly extended ←xiii | xiv→due to illness, lack of access to archives and funding problems. I wish to wholeheartedly acknowledge the authors of the essays that follow for their perseverance and dedication to finishing this collection. I must also thank Tony Mason of Peter Lang Publishing and Eamon Maher, editor of the Reimagining Ireland series, for their faith in seeing this publication to completion. Thanks also to Christine Casey, Ruairí Ó Cuív and Jacquie Moore for help with images. I first started talking about the ideas for this book as far back as 2016 at a meeting in Dublin with Peter Lang’s former commissioning editor Christabel Scaife, who is now with Liverpool University Press. My thanks to her for her encouragement.

Details

Pages: XVI, 248
Year: 2023
ISBN (PDF): 9781788743006
ISBN (ePUB): 9781788743013
ISBN (MOBI): 9781788743020
ISBN (Softcover): 9781788742993
DOI: 10.3726/b13303
Language: English
Publication date: 2023 (May)
Keywords: Art empire history Ireland and the British empire essays in visual culture Fintan Cullen Reimagining Ireland Eamon Maher
Published: Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Wien, 2023. XVI, 248 pp., 10 colour ill, 25 b/w ill.

Biographical notes

Fintan Cullen (Volume editor)

Fintan Cullen is Professor Emeritus in the History of Art at the University of Nottingham. An art historian who specializes in the art and politics of Ireland’s relationship with Britain, his books include Visual Politics. The Representation of Ireland 1750-1930 (1997), The Irish Face. Redefining the Irish Portrait (2004), «Conquering England» Ireland in Victorian London (2005, with R. F. Foster), A Shared Legacy. Essays on Irish and Scottish Art and Visual Culture (2005, with John Morrison), Ireland on Show. Art, Union, and Nationhood (2012), and most recently an essay on «John Lavery and national pictures» for the exhibition catalogue, Studio and State. The Laverys and the Anglo-Irish Treaty (2021), and Sources in Irish Art 2. A Reader (2021, with Róisín Kennedy).

Ireland and the British Empire

Summary

Excerpt

Table Of Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Details

Biographical notes

Key Subject Areas