Sculpture in Ireland has allowed for vast experimentation across art practices, influencing other mediums from architecture to performance art. Major developments in modernism were slow to manifest in Irish sculpture, with the avant-garde coming to fruition in the latter half of the twentieth century.
Irish sculptors in the nineteenth century rarely worked in bronze as they were without a local casting expert. It was not until the 1890s that examples of bronze works began to appear, particularly in the works of Oliver Sheppard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, a reduction of décor and simplification of form hinted towards the abstract concerns of the following generation of artists. The work of Séamus Murphy, Gabriel Hayes and Laurence Campbell indicated a new linear quality and flatness of form, tackling both aesthetic and spiritual concerns in their representations.
The 1970s found a new interest in sculpture purely for form, transforming its traditional function of representation for philosophical and conceptual purposes. This development mirrored the widespread Irish art movement towards the avant-garde and abstraction which had evolved from the formation of the IELA in the 1940s.
Political sculptures regarding The Troubles in Northern Ireland were created by artists such as, F.E. McWilliam and Philip Napier. McWilliam’s series, Women of Belfast, used female subjects as innocent bystanders to explore themes of violence and victimhood under the conflict.
Eilís O’Connell, along with Kathy Prendergast and Aileen MacKeogh were part of a shift during the 1980s as Irish women artists pushed boundaries by expanding their choice of medium, and thus the possibilities of sculpture. Development of sculpture led by women marked a parallel to the 1920s of Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone’s return from Paris in their development of Irish Modernism. A new group of women artists rejecting sculpture as an architectural and permanent work, by expanding the medium to include textiles and found objects, along with exhibiting in new spaces beyond typical galleries.
Irish sculptors in the nineteenth century rarely worked in bronze as they were without a local casting expert. It was not until the 1890s that examples of bronze works began to appear, particularly in the works of Oliver Sheppard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, a reduction of décor and simplification of form hinted towards the abstract concerns of the following generation of artists. The work of Séamus Murphy, Gabriel Hayes and Laurence Campbell indicated a new linear quality and flatness of form, tackling both aesthetic and spiritual concerns in their representations.
The 1970s found a new interest in sculpture purely for form, transforming its traditional function of representation for philosophical and conceptual purposes. This development mirrored the widespread Irish art movement towards the avant-garde and abstraction which had evolved from the formation of the IELA in the 1940s.
Political sculptures regarding The Troubles in Northern Ireland were created by artists such as, F.E. McWilliam and Philip Napier. McWilliam’s series, Women of Belfast, used female subjects as innocent bystanders to explore themes of violence and victimhood under the conflict.
Eilís O’Connell, along with Kathy Prendergast and Aileen MacKeogh were part of a shift during the 1980s as Irish women artists pushed boundaries by expanding their choice of medium, and thus the possibilities of sculpture. Development of sculpture led by women marked a parallel to the 1920s of Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone’s return from Paris in their development of Irish Modernism. A new group of women artists rejecting sculpture as an architectural and permanent work, by expanding the medium to include textiles and found objects, along with exhibiting in new spaces beyond typical galleries.
