Two Working Men in Cork, Ireland (35395471984)

Oisín Kelly (17 May 1915 – 12 October 1981) was an Irish

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Life and career

Oisín Kelly was born as Austin Kelly in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, the son of William Kelly, principal of the James Street National School, and his wife, Elizabeth (née McLean). He studied languages at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. Until he became an artist in residence at the Kilkenny Design Centre in 1966, he worked as a teacher of Art, English, Irish and French from 1943 to 1964 at St Columba's College, Dublin. He initially attended night class at the National College of Art and Design and studied briefly in 1948–1949 under

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

. He originally concentrated on small wood carvings and his early commissions were mostly for Roman Catholic churches. He became well known after he was commissioned to do a sculpture, ''The Children of Lir'' (1964), for

's Garden of Remembrance, opened in 1966 on the 50th anniversary of the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...

. More public commissions followed, including the statue of

James Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...

on Dublin's

O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections ...

. He figures in five lines of

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

's second "Glanmore Sonnet":

"'These things are not secrets but mysteries',/Oisin Kelly told me years ago/In Belfast, hankering after stone/That connived with the chisel, as if the grain/Remembered what the mallet tapped to know."Seamus Heaney. ''Field Work''. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 1979, pg 34.

Works on display

* ''The Children of Lir'' (1964) Garden of Remembrance, Dublin 1 * '' Two Working Men'' (1969) by County Hall, Cork * ''Roger Casement'' (1971) Banna Strand, Co. Kerry * ''Jim Larkin'' (1977) O'Connell Street, Dublin 1 * ''Chariot of Life'' (1982)

Irish Life Centre Talbot Mall (formerly known as Irish Life Mall and later Irish Life Shopping Mall prior to a 2013 rebranding) was a small shopping arcade located between Talbot Street, Northumberland Square, and Abbey Street in Dublin, Ireland. Operating for s ...

, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1

Sources

* Fergus Kelly (2015) ''The Life and Work of Oisín Kelly''. Hacketstown, Co Carlow: Derreen Books. () * Fergus Kelly (2002) ''Kelly, Oisín'', The Encyclopedia of Ireland. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. () * Judith Hill (1998) ''Irish public sculpture''. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Oisin 1915 births 1981 deaths Schoolteachers from Dublin (city) Irish sculptors Artists from Dublin (city) 20th-century sculptors

Life and career

Works on display

See also

Sources

References