Twelve Irish Artists: A School of Irish Painting?

The introduction to Twelve Irish Artists, written by Thomas Bodkin, centers almost exclusively on an issue much debated from the nineteenth century onward; the creation of a distinctive Irish school of art. ¹ Indeed, Bodkin is quick to stress that the particular value of this publication lies in its usefulness in judging the artistic merits of the modern school of Irish painting through the choice of reproductions. ² In his short essay, he defines the different types of artistic "schools" taking a special interest in artists with a persistent national tradition of culture. For him, the purpose of art is "the transmission of the artist's emotion" and what, he asks rhetorically, can be purer than an artist whose work is permeated with a love of one's native country? Bodkin strongly argues for state as well as private patronage and that fine art has an important role to play in the spiritual cultivation of a nation. Much of what he writes is expressed with all the certainty expected of a scholarly professor of art history, and a former director of the National Gallery of Ireland, including his belief in the existence of a distinct school of Irish painting—a view not shared by everyone. However, even Bodkin is prepared to admit that artistic distinctiveness is an "indefinable thing" and that it is "not always a simple matter to determine precisely the nationality of a modern picture."

When viewed in the context of the national debate on the issue by artists, critics, and others, Bodkin's views indicate the controversy and confusion surrounding the topic at the time. ³ For instance, in 1937, following a visit to the Dublin Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, W. B. Yeats expressed delight in poetic form. ⁴ For him, what hung on the walls was the "real" Ireland, a tangible expression of Ireland's cultural identity. The art critic Edward McGuire, however, did not believe that a native school existed as yet, while Eithne Byrne, a leading light in the Academy of Christian Art, was clear that a distinct Irish art existed, but in weakened form. ⁵ The problem for all centered on content and form. Was a national art based on representing distinctive Irish subject matter? Yeats believed that it was. Did it require a characteristic style—in the case of Ireland, one grounded in the art of the Celtic past? Both McGuire and Byrne believed so, although McGuire cautioned against turning one's back on the great traditions of other European art. Could a national school consist only of artists actively committed to producing such an art? Bodkin obviously did not believe that this was essential, as only four artists in Twelve Irish Artists fervently believed that painting had a politico-cultural impact; Seán Keating, and to a lesser extent Charles Lamb, Maurice MacGonigal, and Seán O'Sullivan. Both Keating and MacGonigal deliberately title their paintings in Gaelic with the English translation in brackets.

An important issue underlying any debate about a national art is the degree to which the state consciously uses art as an ideological tool. Bodkin's introduction was written in 1940. By then, the Free State had been established for almost two decades and, after centuries of colonization, Ireland was in the process of establishing its own national identity—political, social, and cultural. Ireland was officially promoted as a rural idyll, inhabited by a deeply religious population, who spoke Gaelic as their first language. Anthony D. Smith perceptively points out that an awareness of identity, however, is not enough. It must have representation because it is this that enables it to be realized in concrete material form. ⁶ The most obvious manifestations of visual identity in any country are its national emblems, instantly recognizable to all—in the case of Ireland, the harp, shamrock, or round tower. But how to facture fine art paintings immediately identifiable...