Una Watters (4 November 1918 – 20 November 1965) was an Irish artist and librarian. She was the artist behind the Claíomh Solais (Sword of Light) image used to commemorate 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 ...

in 1966.

Life

Una Watters was born Una McDonnell in Dublin on 4 November 1918. She attended the Holy Faith Convent in Glasnevin and then the National College of Art and Design, where she was mentored by artist

Maurice MacGonigal Maurice MacGonigal (22 January 1900 – 31 January 1979) was an Irish landscape and portrait painter and influential teacher. Life Maurice MacGonigal was born in Ranelagh, Dublin on 22 January 1900. His parents were Francis and Caroline M ...

. During this time she also worked as a librarian. She was married to the poet and writer

Eoghan Ó Tuairisc Eoghan Ó Tuairisc (''Eugene Rutherford Watters'') (3 April 1919 – 24 August 1982) was an Irish poet and writer. Life Eugene Rutherford Watters was born at Dunlo Hill, Ballinasloe, County Galway, to Thomas Watters, a soldier, and his wife, Ma ...

on 10 March 1945. Watters exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy between 1956 and 1965, alongside fellow artists William Leech, Louis le Brocquy, Harry Kernoff, Muriel Brandt, and her cousin Sean O’Sullivan. She was a member of the

Society of Dublin Painters The Society of Dublin Painters or Dublin Painters Group was formed in Ireland in 1920 to promote Irish modern art. History The Society of Dublin Painters was founded in 1920 by Paul and Grace Henry, Mary Swanzy, Letitia Marion Hamilton, Jack B. Y ...

. Her work ''Annunciation'' was exhibited at the 1949 Irish Exhibition of Living Art. Her early works focus on religious subjects, with later subjects focusing on the everyday. She painted in the kitchen of the cottage she lived in with her husband at Cappagh Cross, Finglas. She primarily worked in oils, with her later works becoming more abstract showing modernist influences. As well as painting she was a draughtswoman and calligrapher, designing greetings cards and illustrating annuals and journals. In the 1960s she illustrated a series of booklets of religious meditations by her uncle Brian O'Higgins. Watters won an Arts Council Award in 1965 for which she produced her best known work the Claíomh Solais. The image became the emblem of the 50th anniversary commemoration of the

. The image was used on badges, brooches, tie pins as well as being featured on all of the official publications, featured on a first day stamp and stickers to commemorate the events. Watters died before she received the Award, dying suddenly on 20 November 1965. Her husband organised a posthumous exhibition of 37 of her oil paintings. The Hugh Lane Gallery hold her painting ''The People’s Garden'', and the library in which she worked, Phibsboro, still displays her painting ''The Four Masters''. Navan library also holds a painting which she painted of her Uncle, Brian O'Higgins.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watters, Una 1918 births 1965 deaths Artists from Dublin (city) 20th-century Irish painters 20th-century Irish women artists Alumni of the National College of Art and Design Irish women painters