Feb 252014
Like any old European town, Dublin is littered with statues to the famous, and often, the long forgotten. I am only going to focus on the pieces that captured me in an other than, historic fashion.
The first is truly a cliche, and the fact that I caught her alone and not covered with tourists is amazing, Molly Malone.
This sculpture is by Jeanne Rynhart and sits on Grafton Street and was unveiled in 1988 during the Dublin Millennium. The Ballad of Molly Malone (or Cockles and Mussels) is a popular Irish tune and is associated strongly with Dublin. However, little is actually known of the songs origins or the truth of the story. The song goes, she was pretty, sold seafood from a wheelbarrow and died of fever, so now her ghost haunts the streets of Dublin.
Cliche, and exactly the kind of thing you would expect from a Millennium Celebration. Truthfully, I would expect a lot more, but that type of celebration always seems to bring out the pedestrian in the public perception of art.
In complete contrast is the Spire.
The monument was commissioned as part of a street layout redesign in 1999. O’Connell Street had declined for a number of reasons such as the proliferation of fast food restaurants and the opening of bargain shops using cheap plastic shop fronts which were unattractive and obtrusive as well as the existence of a number of derelict sites. The spire replaces Nelson’s Pillar which was destroyed in a bombing in 1966 (the 50th Anniversary of the Easter Rising) by former IRA members. Nelson’s Pillar was seen as an embarrassment that such an open symbol of British Imperial history dominated the main thoroughfare of Ireland’s Capital city.
The original was a 121-foot high column to England’s greatest Naval Hero, Admiral Lord Nelson. It was erected in 1808 to commemorate his victories at sea and his death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
At the Garden of Remembrance, this “Children of Lir” by Oisin Kelly was added in 1971. The statue represents rebirth and resurrection and is perfectly appropriate for its location and absolutely exquisite in its execution.
There are four of these bollards, they surround this tiny little plaque in the sidewalk.
Ironically, this little plaque is just the marker for the huge Parnell Monument that sits in the intersection. This small plaque tells you that the sculptor of the Parnell Monument is August Saint-Gaudens. Born in Dublin 1848 and Died Cornish New Hampshire, USA 1907.
How appropriate to celebrate the artist as well as the subject. The history of this plaque says so much about the back and forth of the Irish and American tradition.
This plaque to Saint-Gaudens was dedicated in 2007. Saint-Gaudens had worked very hard to complete the Parnell Monument, despite suffering from cancer, and it was his last public monument that he saw through to the end. The Saint-Gaudens plaque was made by a student of his, Lawrence J. Nowlan.
Standing on a small traffic island I looked down and spotted these. The piece is titled People’s Island (1988) and it is by Rachel Joynt. It just wowed me, and it took me more than a couple of hours to find out anything about it. Typical of fabulous public art, most people don’t even know it exists, especially when it is in the pavement they walk across every day.
Just a smattering of street lamps around town.
Dublin has a very active public art program, with some glorious art along the canals, that we have simply run out of time to explore. Like so many cities with good public art programs it is everywhere and often missed.
But alas, if you know me, it wasn’t missed by me. – Here is one that I spotted and liked, just haven’t found anything out about it.
