Sean Keating in Context: Responses to Culture and Politics in Post-Civil War Ireland

by Eimear O'Connor

Irish artist Se�¡n Keating (1889-1977) was a controversial and provocative figure in the quest for national identity in the early years of the twentieth century. He was a member and former President of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Art, and his professional life spanned seventy years during, which time he was renowned at home and abroad for his ability to paint forceful images that were at once emblematic of his own cultural and political nationalism and analogous to that of the nation at large. Keating was a keen cultural commentator with a wry view of contemporary developments, evidenced in his work as an artist. When afforded the opportunity, Keating published and broadcast his challenging thoughts on a series of subjects including bad art criticism, snobbery in art, the consequences of governmental lack of support for the arts, and the negative aspects of consumerism and greed. Although Keating's paintings survive, his stimulating contribution to the discourse on the development of Irish culture through articles and broadcasts has been, to date, forgotten. Se�¡n Keating in Responses to Culture and Politics in Post-Civil War Ireland offers, for the first time, a comprehensive compilation and contextual analysis of Keating's articles and broadcasts between 1924 and 1972. The book examines Keating's thoughts on culture, politics, economics and several other issues in the context of his both his artistic output and the social conditions of the time. In doing so, the narrative serves to better describe the extent of Keating's contribution to Irish art and to public life. Moreover, given the present economic conditions in Ireland and further afield, the content of Keating's articles and broadcasts is prophetical and poignant. Thus the book offers a new perspective on the life and work of Se�¡n Keating which should appeal to students, collectors, art historians and gallery owners alike. REVIEW "Dr. O'Connor's work on Keating is an invaluable series of documents on an artist of importance at a time of shifts in the tectonic plates of art practice in Ireland, the personalities involved and the riveting accounts of the internecine strife in the Irish art world. I commend it to the specialist and non specialist alike". Reviewed by : Ciaran MacGonigal, The Irish Arts Review

206 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2010

About the author

Dr Éimear O’Connor HRHA is an art historian, curator, lecturer, art advisor and archivist. She was born and lives in Dublin, Ireland. O’Connor began her professional career as a visual artist and has exhibited in Ireland, Denmark and North America. She specialised in site-specific work, and has also designed album covers, book covers and stage settings.

She studied art history and history as a mature student in UCD and was awarded a BA (Hons) in 2003, which was followed by a PhD from the School of Art History and Cultural Policy (UCD) in 2008. O’Connor was a post-doctoral scholar with TRIARC-Irish Art Research Centre (TCD) (2008-10) and was then awarded the Clare and Tony White post-doctoral fellowship (2010-11). She is now a Research Associate with TRIARC-Irish Art Research Centre (TCD). For the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork she has curated Seán Keating: Contemporary Contexts (13 July – 27 October, 2012) and for the ESB and the RHA she has curated Seán Keating and the ESB: Enlightenment and Legacy (RHA Gallery 5 September – 21 December).



She has published books and catalogues, and several articles and reviews on Irish art. Her new book, titled Seán Keating: Art, Politics and Building the Nation will be published by Irish Academic Press in 2013.

She writes chapters, articles, reviews and catalogue notes, and she lectures in universities, art institutions, libraries, schools and communal gatherings on Irish, European and North American twentieth-century art.