Casting a cold eye over cultural matters
The latest Irish Arts Review, Volume 15, has recently been published and is now widely available at bookshops throughout the Republic. In addition to a number of features examining little-known aspects of Irish culture - Brendan Rooney writing on the early 19th-century, Cork-born artist Henry Jones Thaddeus, whose career was based in Italy, Frederick O'Dwyer on architect Daniel Robertson on neo-Tudor houses - there appears to be a generally more trenchant tone than was previously seen.
Colm Toibin, for example, was commissioned to look at recent examples of Irish architecture and while generally positive about what he has seen, he is still able to pass the occasional critical remark when it is needed. And elsewhere, S.B. Kennedy persuasively argues that the largely mythical and "cosy image of a rural, pastoral world, with men and women at ease with themselves and their surroundings", became what "successive Irish governments sought to impress upon many aspects of national life".
It is a pity that the adjudicators of a replacement for Nelson's Pillar on O'Connell Street in Dublin did not read the editor's remarks on this subject at the start of the review, in which it is proposed that the Parnell monument at the top of the street be moved down to its centre. And there are a number of frankly expressed opinions among the book reviews, such as that written by Jeremy Williams on Irish Georgian (specifically its rather anodyne text).
Other works subjected to serious scrutiny include Brian McAvera's Dreams from a Lion's Head: The Work of Eamon Colman (reviewed by John McBratney), Dorothy Walker's Modern Art in Ireland (by Ted Hickey) and Bruce Arnold's Jack Yeats (by William M Murphy). Entertaining as well as informative, the Irish Arts Review is priced at £35 (hardback) and £22.50 (softback).
