A new blog reflecting on objects in the Inspiring Ireland 1916 digital exhibitions has been launched.
The Milesians Page from Leabhar na hAiséirighe. Reproduction rights owned by the National Museum of Ireland.
A new blog reflecting on objects in the Inspiring Ireland 1916 digital exhibitions has been launched. The first entry in the blog considers Art O'Murnaghan's illuminated manuscript Leabhar na hAiséirighe, which was commissioned by the Irish Republican Memorial Committee (IRMC) and completed in three stages between 1924 and 1951.
Art O'Murnaghan was an English-born painter, actor, writer and teacher, who moved to Dublin and embraced his Irish roots, joining the Gaelic League and developing and interest in Irish calligraphy, illumination, history, and mythology. With Leabhar na hAiséirighe, he wished to combine ancient Irish manuscript illumination traditions and modern Art Deco styles, and the thirty-year project became a labour of love. A page from the first phase of the book, known as the Milesians Page, features in Inspiring Ireland 1916. (The entire book can be seen as part of the National Musuem of Ireland's 'Proclaiming a Republic' exhibition).
Dr Kayla Rose, a historian of Irish and British art and material culture, uses Leabhar na hAiséirighe as a starting point to examine the importance of Gaelic Revival art in the official and unofficial remembrances of the Easter Rising in the early years of the Irish state. Currently employed as Research Fellow in Design History at Bath Spa University in Bath, England, Dr Rose received her PhD from the University of Ulster, Belfast in 2014 and her MPhil in Irish Art History from Trinity College, Dublin in 2011.
To read the post, visit the DRI Blog page.
