When Time Began to Rant and Rage: Figurative Painting from Twentieth-Century Ireland

by Walker Art Gallery

Places figurative Irish art within the context of the international emergence of modern art.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[Domhnall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a catalogue for a display of 75 figurative paintings produced by Irish artists throughout the 20th Century. Each painting is presented in full colour on its own page, with the facing page providing commentary on the artist and the work. The commentary can be tiresome in places but it is nevertheless indispensable and it is mostly helpful, The result is to give an impression of the place of painting in Irish art and cultural life over the period, from the Edwardian era when Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom, through the process of independence and nation building, to the times of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the brief explosion of the Celtic-Tiger, glass-bottomed economy at the end of the century.

Also included in this volume are ten significant essays by diverse writers, each exploring an aspect of the history of Irish art in this period. For the most part, these are well written, punchy and challenging. They draw out some of the arguments and debates that the pictures represent, both within the art world and in the social and political spheres. For at least some of the paintings, I have no doubt that the essays will question and change the initial impressions of the viewer regarding the paintings, warming to some, cooling towards others. Unavoidably, it will also draw readers into a sharp discussion of Irish political and cultural history, often confronting difficult realities while also participating in the production and reproduction of what passes for reality, not least the invention and manipulation of the notions of being Irish, or being an Irish painter, or producing work that is “Irish.”

The essays make frequent reference to the colour plates. I found it helpful to have deferred reading the essays until after exploring and forming my impressions and reactions to the colour plates. The text refers to other work, and includes a lot of thumbnail sized, black and white impressions for work under discussion. Google repaid in some little way its fraudulent use of the Irish state to evade corporate taxation in better organised countries by making many of the works quite easily available on the net, and I found myself reading with my tablet computer in hand, often quite distracted for long periods by the images I found.

This has been one of my favourite books of the year and I want a certificate to say that I have read and engaged with it from start to finish. There should be one on the final page, with space to insert name and date and it should have considerable status in the world of letters and the arts.

[robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

not enough art and what art there is is way too small. Emphasis is on the art criticism by the fine and dandy, as with alot art books, sadly.