Irish themed covers of Le Petit Journal illustré

Every Monday morning for the last number of years, I have been tweeting (posting) the front page of the weekly French illustrated periodical Le Petit Journal illustré from 100 years ago. Occasionally, events in Ireland made the front page or the back page (they both contained a drawn image of whatever was making the news in France or around the world that week). 

I have listed below some of the covers relating to an Irish story. The first is from September 1920 and deals with the death of the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, in October 1920 after 74 days on hunger strike in Brixton prison. 

The last cover also refers to MacSwiney, in a way, as it shows prisoners in Mountjoy prison in Dublin on hunger strike in the aftermath of the Irish Civil War. The caption reads A l'exemple du Maire de Cork [following the Mayor of Cork's example]. It says that 424 prisoners have been on hunger strike since 14 October 1923. The images come from Gallica - the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

 

Le Martyr Irlandais - Death of Terence MacSwiney. 19 September 1920. Source

Les Évéments d'Irlande - Irish War of Independence. 5 December 1920. Source

 

Le Sous-Marin Fantôme - Irish War of Independence. 3 July 1921. Source

 

Un assassinat politique - Assassination of Henry Wilson. 2 July 1922. Source
 

Les convulsions sanglantes de l'Irlande - Assassination of Michael Collins. 3 September 1922. Source

A l'exemple du Maire de Cork - Hunger strike in Mountjoy prison. 28 October 1923. Source

Estella Solomons - An Irishman's Diary

Estella (Stella) Solomons (1882-1968) was a talented Irish painter who also played her part in the Irish independence struggle. I have just written about her life and painting career in the Irish Times newspaper. Read it here.

Portrait of Estella Solomons (1882-1968). Image source.

Solomons came from a wealthy Dublin Jewish family and was very fortunate in that she did not have to rely on commissions to earn a living. Stella's parents, Maurice and Rosa were prominent philanthropists in the capital, raising funds for all kinds of needy causes, including the construction of the Adelaide Road Synagogue and school, as well as worthy ad hoc causes as they arose. 

Stella's sister, Sophie, was an opera singer. Her older brother, Edwin Maurice (1879-1964), who was a stockbroker was the first member of the Dublin Stock Exchange. Her younger brother, Bethel (1885-1965), was a gynecologist and served as Master of Dublin's Rotunda Maternity Hospital. Bethel also played rugby for Ireland and acted on the stage of the Abbey Theatre. 

I first became interested in Stella Solomons when I saw one of her paintings in the National Gallery in Dublin. It's called 'On Parole' and I added below a photograph that I took of it when it was on display in the National Gallery. It was painted in 1920 during the Irish War of Independence. I was struck by the amazing detail and the tension in the sitter's face. It is not known who he is, but the painting is just one her powerful portraits of those involved in the independence movement and in Irish society in general during the fist half of the 20th century.

'On Parole', 1920 by Estella Solomons. National Gallery of Ireland.

The recent exhibition of her work in the National Gallery (Estella Solomons: Still Moments) that I mention in my article was a wonderful opportunity to see her work gathered in one place. It included paintings held in galleries in Ireland as well as in private hands. Find out more about the exhibition here. 

It seems that the last time that there was such an exhibition was during the 1980s in the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork. Held in 1986, it consisted of oils on board or canvas and the pieces were works that were in her studio when she died in 1968. Therefore, it's thought that they held sentimental value for her and that is why she kept on to them.