1916 Portraits and Lives exhibition at Pearse Museum

OPW is to exhibit '1916 Portraits and Lives: An Exhibition by David Rooney' at Pearse Museum.

1916 Portraits and Lives is an exhibition of portraits by David Rooney of 42 people whose lives were in one way or another deeply involved in the Easter Rising. The portraits were commissioned to illustrate a book of the same name published by the Royal Irish Academy and the Office of Public Works to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising last year. Some of the portraits were reproduced and featured in a memorable poster campaigns in 2016 which were displayed in bus and railway stations throughout the country. All 42 original illustrations which were commissioned by the Office of Public Works and now form part of the State Art Collection.
The exhibition looks a variety of people - men and women, British and Irish, belligerents and pacifists - who were involved in the events of Easter Week 1916. As the former home of Patrick and William Pearse, the Pearse Museum provides a particularly resonant location for the display of these works. The Pearse Museum was also where the Pearse family ran their experimental Irish-speaking school, Scoil Éanna, and among the figures depicted in the exhibition are two former teachers from the school, Thomas MacDonagh and Con Colbert. Another portrait depicts Desmond Ryan, a one-time pupil of Patrick Pearse who later became his secretary and biographer.
To mark the opening of the 1916 Portraits and Lives exhibition, the Pearse Museum will host a conversation between David Rooney and James Quinn, one of the editors of 1916 Portraits and Lives publication, on Thursday, 16 February at 7.30pm. This is a free event but booking is advised on 01 4934208.
The Exhibition runs until 31 May, 2017 and admission is free.