Pearse Museum at St Enda's Park

Early June seems a long time ago now, especially as the promise of summer then has been superseded by the chilly, rainy days of July. When I visited The Pearse Museum and St Enda's Park in early June the timing was perfect. The day was glorious!

After walking around the park and spending some time in the musem, I walked over to the central fountain again to view the encircling walkway. This path, conceived by sculptor, Stephen Burke, consist of the words to  Patrick Pearse’s poem,  The Wayfarer, carved into stones surrounding the fountain.

From an upstairs window of the museum I had viewed this sculpture and wanted to take a closer look while I was in the park. I was amazed to find the two pieces that I had thought were ceramic, were in fact entirely carved from wood!

 Two Brothers  ia a sculpture by Liam O’Neill and is a wonderful reflection of Patrick Pearse and his brother William, who founded the Gaelic League school at St Enda's in the early twentieth century.

 

Double Estate at the Pearse Museum, Dublin

On a cold but dry Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, I made my way to Rathfarnham for the specific purpose of seeing a couple of exhibitions at two OPW museums that are near to each other. I previously blogged about the Mary Ruth Walsh exhibition at Rathfarnham Castle here, but on the way to the castle, I first visited the Pearse Museum. Please note that due to covid protocols one must phone first and specify the time of a visit. I had seen pictures of the exhibition in a recent issue of VAN, the Visual Artists Ireland newsletter, and was intrigued enough that I wanted to see the work IRL (in real life).

Though it is impossible not to be overwhelmed by Janet Mullarney's sculptural work hanging in the middle of the first room, the set-up also forced me to carefully wend my way around the perimeter of the room to look at works individually (taking care not to step backwards!).

From across the room I recognised a colourful carborundum print by Michael Cullen (lower right). Once I discovered what the title of the piece was, the image took form in my own memory - Caravaggio's Taking of Christ can be seen in the National Gallery.

The work in Double Estate is put together by curator Davey Moor from the OPW (Office of Public Works) art collection. A poem by Emily Dickenson inspires the show and the reasoning behind the amalgamation of these disparate works. Dickenson refers to the body and the soul in her poem, and Moor latches on to these concepts as his curatorial premise. Moor's essay, along with an essay by Brian Crowley (collections curator) are printed within Oonagh Young's beautifully designed full colour exhibition catalogue.

It was good to see the Pearse brothers represented in a contemporary exhibition at this location. William Pearse, Patrick's artist brother is represented by two pieces of sculpture (not in any of these photos, but in the catalogue) and Patrick himself appears in a 1944 lithographic portrait by Sean O'Sullivan.

The second room of the exhibition contained larger wall works and several sculptures but again was dominated by a mixed media floor piece.

I particularly liked this large drawing/painting/sculpture, Boy, by David Quinn.

The exhibition has been on show in the Pearse Museum for awhile now, but it finishes at the end of the year so there are only a few weeks left to have a look!