Lines of Vision: Irish Writers on Art

(Hardback)

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'The paintings were windows through which I could see snippets of other people's past lives, and in doing so recognize something of my own.' So muses Christine Dwyer Hickey in her response to The Goose Girl by Stanley Royle in a collection of new writing that brings together two celebrated traditions: art and literature. More than fifty acclaimed Irish novelists, playwrights and poets have selected pictures from the National Gallery of Ireland as setting-off points to explore ideas and tell stories about art, love, loss, family, dreams, memory, places and privacy. The artworks and the literary responses to them are wonderfully vibrant in their diversity. 'The paintings were windows through which I could see snippets of other people's past lives, and in doing so recognize something of my own.' So muses Christine Dwyer Hickey in her response to The Goose Girl by Stanley Royle. Seamus Heaney finds quiet beauty in a canal path by Gustave Caillebotte; Roddy Doyle gives voice to a man in a crowd painted by Jack B. Yeats; Colm Tibn considers a portrait redolent with possibilities by John Butler Yeats; John Banville sheds light on Caravaggio's darkness; Jennifer Johnston recollects colourful mealtimes by way of Bonnard; Kevin Barry tells the tale of a bittersweet fairground encounter, stirred by Ernest Procter's The Devil's Disc; Colum McCann visualizes women workers in wartime factories via Mary Swanzy's abstract Propellers; Paula Meehan poignantly presents the postwar world inhabited by Irish artist Gerard Dillon. Each of the writers in Lines of Vision creates and connects vividly with other worlds - observed, remembered and imagined. Perceptive and, at times, deeply personal, their creative responses to pictures invite us to look at art in new lights and from different angles.

Reviews

'Beautifully produced a perceptive, original and enjoyable anthology' - Irish Arts Review
'A winner. It's a treat in pictures and words' - Independent.ie
'Scintillating a delightful concept, a gift if ever there was one an entertaining, often charming, and in every way compelling composite' - Cassone
'A varied, vivid anthology Some writers offer personal anecdotes and memories about visits to the gallery. Some are inspired directly by the subject matter of a painting, and some use it as a jumping-off point to create a piece that is separate but related in some way' - Irish Times
'As much a tribute to the depth and range of contemporary Irish writing as it is a wordy love song to the artworks that illustrate its thick and creamy pages' - Sunday Times
'An impressive roster of writers what comes through most strongly is the sense of intimacy between writers and paintings' - Daily Telegraph
'Concise essays with sumptuous prints of the paintings Seamus Heaneys last poem is a highlight' - Sunday Telegraph

Author Bio

Janet McLean is Curator of European Art, 1850-1950, at the National Gallery of Ireland. She grew up in Co. Down and was educated at Trinity College Dublin and the Courtauld Institute of Art. She has previously been a curator at the Watts Gallery, Compton, the Palace of Westminster and the Royal Academy of Arts, London.