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 is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

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

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. 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 (1948–1949) at Chelsea Polytechnic in London under

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

. 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 (), 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 aim of establishing an ind ...

. More outdoor/public commissions followed, including the statue of James Larkin on Dublin's

O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, 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 bisected by Henry ...

. and the 1966 carved

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, ''The Last Supper (Leonardo), The Last Supper'' (1495-1498). Mural, tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic ...

on the front of St. Theresa's church in Sion Mills, County Tyrone. He figures in five lines of

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

'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) Ballyheigue village, County Kerry * ''Jim Larkin'' (1977) O'Connell Street, Dublin 1 * ''Chariot of Life'' (1982) Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 169 A bronze monument by sculptor Oisin Kelly depicting Turlough O'Carolan playing his harp was erected on a plinth at the Market Square, Mohill, on 10 August 1986, and was unveiled by Patrick Hillery, President of Ireland.

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) Artists from Dublin (city) 20th-century Irish sculptors Irish male sculptors

Life and career

Works on display

See also

Sources

References