Adam's Important Irish Art 5th December 2018

100 93 OISÍN KELLY RHA (1915-1981) Children of Lir Bronze, 72cm (28.3”) high, raised on a circular timber base 46cm (18”) diameter Edition 1/2 This bronze by Oisín Kelly was cast at the Dublin Art Foundry as one of an issue of two in 1983. It was cast directly from the original plaster maquette under the supervision of his son Fergus. The only other copy is currently on display outside the Taoiseach’s Office in Government Build- ings, Dublin. The maquette was the model for the large-scale bronze of the ‘ Children of Lir’ , which is the centrepiece of the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, a space which was designed by the Dublin City Architect, Daithí Hanly. This was the first of Oisín’s major public commissions, and one for which he devoted a great deal of thought and preparation. In a memo to the office of Public Works, dated 12 May 1959, he suggested that ‘the swan is the generally accepted image of resurgence, triumph and perfection, with undertones of regal sadness and isolation’. He therefore proposed the theme of the changing of the Children of Lir into swans as a representa- tion of the dramatic and painful birth of the Irish State after the 1916 Easter Rising. This theme derives from an early Irish tale which recounts the fate which befell the daughter and three sons of the legendary King Lir. Through the jealous spells of their stepmother they were magically changed into swans: the piece depicts the children in the process of transformation. When Oisín had completed the large-scale plaster model of the group, it was cut into sections and sent to the Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry in Florence. There it was expertly cast in bronze under the sculptor’s guidance - Oisín paid four visits to the foundry - and finally trans- ported back to Ireland. It was dedicated by An Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, on 6 August 1971. Fergus S. Kelly, son of Oisín Kelly, and author of The Life and Work of Oisín Kelly, with photography by Hugh McElveen (Derreen Books, 2015) € 30,000 - 50,000