Watch & Listen

Aoibhie McCarthy talks about 'Samoan Scene' by Mary Swanzy

Michael Waldron talks about 'Time Flies' by William Gerard Barry

Irish Sign Language Resource

Beatrice E. Gubbins (1878-1944) was a painter who worked predominantly in watercolour and travelled widely in Europe.

Born in County Limerick to Frances Gertude Russell and distiller Thomas Wise Gubbins, she was raised – and lived most of her life – at Dunkettle House in Cork. After her father’s death in 1904, she completed much of the interior decoration of this large home overlooking Lough Mahon. She and her four sisters were congenitally deaf but, in 1912-13, Beatrice underwent treatment in London which improved her hearing ability. Her two brothers appear not to have been affected.

Although records from the time are incomplete, Beatrice may have attended what was then known as the Crawford Municipal School of Art. At the outbreak of the First World War, however, she trained to be a nurse and tended the war wounded at Tivoli hospital in Cork. In December 1916, she transferred to the No.1 Hospital, Exeter and remained there until January 1919.

A few months before her service came to an end, she wrote in her diary: ‘Armistice signed by Germany. Such joy & decorations in Exeter. One can hardly believe this awful war is at an end’ (11 November 1918). Back in Cork, she nursed her mother until her death in 1927.

Many of Beatrice’s paintings reflect her homeplace and numerous travels, with subjects ranging from landscape scenes near Dunkettle to views captured in England, France (including Barbizon), Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and the West Indies. This painting – Continental Street Scene (1907) – derives from her European travels, most likely her visit to Spain in 1906. She also kept journals of her travels.

Beatrice exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy, Belfast Art Society, Watercolour Society of Ireland, and was honorary secretary of Queenstown Sketching Club. In 1986, a retrospective of her work was held at Crawford Art Gallery and, in 1998, at Lismore Art Centre.

Video © Amanda Coogan, 2023.

Associated event: ODE TO JOY: Amanda Coogan, Dublin Theatre of the Deaf and Cork Deaf Community Choir. Click here to view.

Ireland Portrayed

In this four-part RTÉ lyric fm radio series, art critic Cristín Leach explores how ideas of Ireland and Irish identity have been visually represented over three hundred year.

Ireland Portrayed features interviews with Mary McCarthy, Director, and Dr Michael Waldron, Assistant Curator of Collections. The series includes several artworks from the collection and here is a helpful visual guide to them to aid your listening. The full series is available here.

Episode 1 – a nation’s story in art

**John Butts, View of Cork from Audley Place, c.1750**

John Butts, View of Cork from Audley Place, c.1750, oil on canvas, 72.5 x 120 cm. Presented, 2005.

**Jonathan Fisher, Map of the Lakes of Killarney, 1789**

Jonathan Fisher, Map of the Lakes of Killarney, 1789, aquatint on paper, 26 x 36 cm.

**Jonathan Fisher, I (1st) view of Killarney. The lower lake, from the River Flesk, 1789**

Jonathan Fisher, I (1st) view of Killarney. The lower lake, from the River Flesk, 1789, aquatint on paper, 26 x 36 cm.

**Jonathan Fisher, XII (12th) view of Killarney. upper Lake, 1789**

Jonathan Fisher, XII (12th) view of Killarney. upper Lake, 1789, aquatint on paper, 26 x 36 cm.

**Nathaniel Grogan, Whipping the Herring out of Town - A Scene of Cork, c.1800**

Nathaniel Grogan, Whipping the Herring out of Town - A Scene of Cork, c.1800, oil on panel, 25.5 x 29 cm. Purchased, 1992.

Episode 2 – Politics & Poverty

Daniel Macdonald, The Village Funeral

Daniel Macdonald, The Village Funeral - An Irish Family by a Graveside during the Great Famine*, n.d., oil on canvas, 47.5 x 56 cm. Purchased, 2018.

New research by art historian Niamh O’Sullivan has resulted in the re-attribution of this painting to Macdonald’s contemporary, John Joseph Tracey (1813-1873), under the correct title, The Irish Peasant’s Grave (1843).

Episode 3 – Nation States

**Muriel Brandt, The Breadline, 1916, c.1950**

Episode 4 – Conflicted States

**Rita Duffy, Segregation, 1989**

**F.E. McWilliam, Woman in a Bomb Blast, 1974**

Ireland Portrayed is an IWR Media production for RTÉ lyric fm. It originally aired 12 January – 2 February 2020 as The Lyric Feature.

Presented by Cristín Leach
Written and Produced by Mary Brophy
Edited by Neal Boyle

Producer for RTÉ Lyric fm Eoin O'Kelly
This series is funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television Licence fee.

Other Resources

Irish Database of Moving Image Works
https://www.mexindex.ie

National Irish Visual Arts Library
http://www.nival.ie

The Watercolour World: Database of Pre-1900 Documentary Watercolours
https://www.watercolourworld.org