The title of the documentary film that I saw this morning was: "Séamus Murphy: A Quiet Revolution". It told the story of Cork born sculptor and stone carver Séamus Murphy RHA (1907-1975). The Irish writer and academic, Daniel Corkery was one of Murphy's teachers in school and it was Corkery who gave Murphy his first drawing lessons.
Murphy studied modeling at the Crawford Municipal School Art in Cork on Corkery's advice. He later attended night classes there and won a Gibson Bequest scholarship in 1931. With this scholarship, Murphy went to Paris in 1932-33, but doesn't seem to have enjoyed his time there. According to the documentary, Murphy found that his fellow artists in Paris were more interested in discussing art rather than actually making it.
Crawford Municipal School of Art, Cork (now Crawford Art Gallery), where Séamus Murphy learnt his trade.
Séamus Murphy's work can be seen all over Cork and throughout Ireland. He exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939 and was elected as a member of the RHA in 1954. He was commissioned to do sculptures in churches and he also created busts of politicians. However, he also had to do 'ordinary' work to earn a living. He created headstones for graves and this work can be seen in graveyards all over Cork. A list of his major works can be viewed here and a biography can be viewed here.
Bust of Michael Collins by Séamus Murphy in Fitzgerald's Park, Cork.
Watching the documentary, I was reminded of the brilliant RTÉ television series 'Hands', which looked at different traditional Irish crafts. I just want to say well done to the filmmaker for creating such an interesting film about a person I had not heard of before and well done to the Cork Film Festival for showing it.
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