Monday, February 4, 2008

Aloysius O'Kelly Artist painter



Respite From the Midday Sun, Brittany




Aloysius O'Kelly (1851-1926)


Born in Dublin, studying in Paris, painting in Brittany and traveling widely, exhibiting regularly in Dublin and London, O'Kelly was virtually forgotten in Ireland until recently, for he emigrated to America. He was born in Dublin in 1851. In about 1875, he went to Paris and became a student of Bonnat and Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. O'Kelly was thus one of the first Irish artists in Brittany, exhibiting Breton scenes in Dublin and in London in the late 1870's, and again in the mid-1880's. O'Kelly's painting varies so much in subject, manner and quality, that it is difficult to establish a chronology or identify him with a particular style. He painted examples of 1880's Realism, and plein-air scenes in the 'square-brush' style, Pre-Raphaelite subjects and light 'impressionistic' harbor scenes. Then he would revert to heavy works with black shadows (à la Verlat), or academic Egyptian subjects with precise draftsmanship à la Gérôme.








Picking Roses in a Breton Garden










Old Lady Crocheting









Fishing Vessels, Concarneau, Brittany









Figures On a Sunlit Street, Cairo









Fete Concarneau










At the Well, Brittany









Corpus Christi Procession, c.1880








Breton Figures In A Street









Awaiting the Return, Concarneau, 1889

Awaiting the Return, Concarneau

O'Kelly painted girls in interiors and sunny harbour scenes. Awaiting the Return, Concarneau, representing two girls on the bridge to the old walled town, shows an embracing of impressionism, in its relaxed brushwork, and bright cheerful colors.









O'Kelly's Girl in a Meadow an outdoor portrait captures the spirit of the period, the 1880's. The attractive girl is viewed in close-up and is well integrated into the landscape of grasses and poppies, as in contemporary plein-air painting, with also a suggestion of idyllic Pre-Raphaelite scenes. O'Kelly uses a deft 'square-brush' technique, and renders the white dress, the flowers and grasses with considerable delicacy. The red hair gives the girl an Irish appearance, but the picture may well have been painted in Brittany. Her eyes are sensitively painted and she has an endearing expression and air of abstraction. Her hands are clasped as if in prayer, and she could be kneeling.









Seaweed Gatherers, Connemara, c. 1884



In the early 1880s,

O'Kelly visited Co. Galway, staying at Salruck near Killary harbor, one of the most remote parts of the west. Seaweed, Gatherers, Connemara is a remarkable piece of contemporary realism applied to the west of Ireland (years before Paul Henry or Jack B. Yeats). O'Kelly observes the traditional headwear of the figures, their homespun clothing and bare feet, and the donkey with its wickerwork creeis, with loving detail. The flat sand on which the figures stand leads towards an enticing blue sea.











Game of Draughts

O'Kelly traveled to Egypt in the mid-1880's, painting in and around Cairo. Scenes of bazaars, mosques, streets and deserts were reflected in his paintings for the next few years. There is assurance in the variety of pose among the figures and the use of recession from modeled and richly highlighted figures in the foreground, to the shadowy, transparent background. Particularly attractive are the colors of the clothes, set off by rich whites, and the delicate patterning of the carpet.

Borstal boy - Gay love




Filmmaker Jim Sheridan diligently championed the determined spirit of tortured protagonists in gutsy pictures such as My Left Foot, The Boxer, and In the Name of the Father. In the uplifting Emerald Isle melodrama Borstal Boy, Jim's brother Peter Sheridan effectively explores the trials and tribulations of a 16-year old boy's exploits behind the unbearable confines of a British World War II borstal, a reformatory centre for boys, based on charismatic Irish writer Brendan Behan's memoir. Provocative and resoundingly crafty, Borstal Boy is a solid and refined piece of film making imbued with passion and attitude

In America

An Chúilfhionn {The Coolin} + Snowy Breasted Pearl





An Chuilfhionn - The Coolin. An Chúilfhionn {The Coolin} The Fair Haired One

An bhfaca tú an chúilfhionn 's í ag siúl ar na bóithre
Maidin gheal drúchta 's gan smúit ar a bróga?
Is iomaí ógánach súilghlass ag tnúth lena pósadh
Ach ní bhfaigheann siad mo rúnsa
.....ar an gcuntas is dóigh leo.



An bhfaca tú an speirbhean si na sui ris an taobh
Fáinní óir ar a méara sí ag réiteach a cinn?
'Sé dúirt an Phaorach a bhí ina mhaor ar an loing
Go mb'fhearr leis aige féin í ná Éire gan roinn





Snowy Breasted Pearl. John McCormack

Oh she is not like the rose that proud in beauty glows
And boasteth that she's so wondrous fair
But she's like the violet blue, ever modest, ever true
From her leafy bower perfuming the still night air
Oh, she's gentle, loving, mild, she's artless as a child
Her clustering tresses softly flowing down
I'll love thee ever more, sweet colleen Oge as-thore
My true love, My Snowy Breasted Pearl.

If I sigh, a sudden fear comes o'er her and a tear
Stands quivering within her downcast eye
When I smile those orbs of azure gleam forth with love and pleasure
Like sudden glory bursting through a clouded sky
If I claim her for my bride she trembles at my side
And gently lifts her eyes with looks so tender
I love the, only thee, my colleen Oge Machree
My true love, my snowy breasted pearl.

Such was she, but oh! A change, how mournful and how strange
On my loved one, my own beloved one came
Paler still her cheer grew and her eyes azure hue
Seemed lighted with a flame, a fatal, wasting flame
Oh! We laid her in the grave, where the willows sadly wave
And the hollow winds are sighing a plaintive wail
I'm alone, alone, alone; so wearily I moan
For my lost love, my snowy breasted pearl


This was the song that began McCormack`s career, he won the Tenor section in the Dublin Feis in 1903.
This can rank along with the best of John McCormack`s great repertoire of songs.
Like many Irish songs it has much imagery.

Evelyn





The Times
November 19, 2007
Richard Ford

"The Bill proposes to remove the need for IVF providers to take into account the child's need for a father when considering an IVF application, and to confer legal parenthood on people who have no biological relationship to a child born as a result of IVF. This radically undermines the place of the father in a child's life, and makes the natural rights of the child subordinate to the desires of the couple. It is profoundly wrong."

The Well Below The Valley




The song is called The Well Below the Valley. Apparently it's an old Irish itinerant song. The first version I heard of it was by Christy Moore on his Live at the Point album (fuller version than this one), and there are versions of the song by him on youtube.



So disturbing. They violate their own fucking dogma. If you confess sins to God via confession than you are forgiven. They denied that for these women. It's as if they were condemmed to death for fuckin nothin


Its easy to blame the Catholic Church and the Irish State for everything that happened in the Magdalene Laundries but the families who sent their girls there are as much to blame and they should be ashamed of themselves turning their backs. Maybe the world was a different place back then but thats still no excuse.

In The Name Of The Father




You're right, it still happens. Thousands of Irish men and women were imprisoned without charge or trial during the Troubles by the British. Today, the same is happening to Muslims in the name of the so-called 'war on terror', in prisons in Britain, Guantanamo Bay, and around the world. All to further the aims of US foreign policy or the great oil grab.

The Playboy Of The Western World





This exciting production is innovative and unique drawing on the counterpoints of an Irish story and contemporary urban Chinese culture. The well known anti-hero Christy Mahon morphs into a fast-taking Chinese who hangs out in a foot massage parlour. Rather than a village in darkest rural Ireland , this Asian version is transposed to a modern setting of an a 'Whore-dressers' on the outskirts of Beijing in 2006

Circle of Friends PodcastIreland

Waking Ned Devine