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.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cormican, A. (2017). William Orpen (1878–1931): A Voice for Pluralism in the Long Nineteenth Century. In: Corporaal, M., Morin, C. (eds) Traveling Irishness in the Long Nineteenth Century. New Directions in Irish and Irish American Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52527-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52527-3_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-52526-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52527-3
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)