Irish Art

From the study of Irish literature grew a passion for twentieth-century Irish art. A literary scholar and poet, Thomas Dillon Redshaw first visited Ireland as a graduate student in 1966, rousing a lifetime of appreciation for the Emerald Isle. Over the course of nearly sixty years, he has thoughtfully assembled a collection of works that highlight the progress of Irish art during a time when a young nation sought to simultaneously establish its identity internally and on the world stage.   

The Thomas Dillon Redshaw Irish Art Collection features paintings, prints, and drawings that reference several key themes such as religious faith, reverence for the land and sea, and the rebirth of a Gaelic Ireland after 800 years of British rule. Trained throughout Ireland, England, and Europe, the artists present a stylistic narrative that embraced the development of modernism during an era of intense cultural conservatism. A deeper subtext lies in the connections drawn between these individuals that reveal how the intimate Irish arts community elevated shared ideals. Further advancing a change towards modernism, the artistic and literary worlds united as writers, poets, and publishers collaborated with artists to bolster the impact of progress. At the heart of this evolution are the artists featured in Redshaw’s collection, each integral to defining a modernist style of art for Ireland.

Image: Anne Yeats, Bird Escaping, c. 1970s