HELEN HOOKER O'MALLEY

Cormac O'Malley
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Once more into the breach.

Cormac O'Malley has been promoting both his father's (Ernie O'Malley) and his mother's (Helen Hooker) interests for years now. He has continued his mission after their deaths and, over the years, this has included presenting their papers and works to various archives, promoting exhibitions and giving talks. This is an absolutely huge legacy, all the more important as both his parents have had a huge influence in the shaping of today's Ireland.

Ernie is remembered by my generation for his military actions during the War of Independence and the Civil War and his memoirs thereon. I had never heard of Helen until earlier this year when the National Library and the Gallery of Photography mounted exhibitions of her photography. I've learned since that the photography was only one, albeit an important, aspect of her artistic output.

In this talk on his mother, Cormac took us through the full range of her artistic career, spiced with some insights into her personal life.

The event took place at the National Library of Ireland in Kildare Street, with the Director, Dr Sandra Collins, warmly welcoming Cormac. The Library is one of the institutions in Ireland benefiting from the use and/or deposit of Cormac's parents' archives. Others are, UCD Archives, Dublin City Archive, the Gallery of Photography in Dublin and the University of Limerick.

Sandra always manages to be of good cheer on these occasions. And why not.

Cormac started off by filling us in on Helen's early background. A significant fact that you don't see reported was that she had a stutter. Cormac is convinced that this led to her avoiding activities where she would need to speak, hence her pursuit of athletics and art. She was a very fine athlete, and, as Cormac pointed out, her athletic training served her well in her artistic pursuits, particularly in sculpting where she would be standing for long hours.

After her marriage to Ernie and when they came to live in Ireland, she fitted perfectly into the artistic milieu, so much so that she came to be taken for an Irish artist.

She sculpted heads of numerous Irish people and Cormac showed us a few, including Sam Beckett (above), Mary Lavin, Denis Johnston, and from memory of a brief encounter - Eamon DeValera. Her early style in sculpting heads tended to be smooth, but in later life she adopted a more rugged style. She ran these in parallel, sometimes drawing on one, and sometimes on the other.

Both the range and volume of her artistic output was prodigious. As well as the sculpting, she took loads of photographs, usually adding an artistic touch to archeological sites. Her photographs also illustrated popular culture, mainly in rural areas.

She was also involved in theatre, being a founder member of the Players' Theatre in Dublin, where she designed the sets and costumes. The players also performed in London. Her designs were not limited to the theatre, however. She designed avant garde clothes, I won't say for the everyday public, and also undertook some interior designing.

Something which clearly struck Cormac, and resonated with me, was her use of the crios outside of its normal rural function of avoiding a Jimín Máire Thadhg incident. She incorporated it as an additional ornamental feature into her interior designs.

Photo: Layafette, 22 Westmoreland St. 1963

One of the reasons the unconventional use of the crios resonates with me is the above clip from my 1963 Coláiste Mhuire class graduation photo. In those days, collar and tie was the norm. I was not the only pupil to turn up on the day of the photo without a tie. I was, however, the only one among them with any recourse.

I had been to the Gaeltacht with the Christian Brothers (Ógra Éireann: Never mind the all male céilithe. That's an entirely other story.) But I had bought a very nice crios there and on the day of the photo I had it around my waist. It was promptly pressed into service as you will see from the photo. So Helen and I have one small thing in common.

I still have the crios and thought you might like to see a glimpse in full colour as the class photo was in black and white. Beats Channel 4 Jon Snow's ties any day of the week. Very fond of it I am.

Chris Kepple

I should not forget the documentary. After all, my face may figure, how ever briefly, on public networks across the States in the near future. Cormac and Chris are making a documentary about Helen. The working title is Helen Hooker O’Malley: American Artist in Ireland, 1935-1985 and I understand it's coming along nicely.

One of the things I like about attending events around the town is the informality. People will chat to you and share stories and jokes. And the contributors are always ready to engage with individuals in the audience either during or after presentations. I guess, on the evidence above, this also applies to the hosts.

Diarmuid Peavoy & Jerry O’Callaghan

Two RTÉ broadcasters: Diarmuid was in class with me in Coláiste Mhuire, is a friend of the O'Malley family and had met Helen; Jerry made a documentary on Ernie O'Malley in 2008 which was broadcast on TG4 under the title "On Another Man's Wound: Scéal Ernie O'Malley".

Mary O'Sullivan

Cormac has known Mary since 1969. For many years she worked for the Irish Tourist Board and during that period was also the books editor for Ireland of the Welcomes.

Luke Gibbons, Trish Lambe, Tanya Kyang, Cormac & Diarmuid

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Related blog posts:

A MODERN EYE
Two exhibitions in the National Library Photo Archive and the Gallery of Photography.

https://photopol.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-modern-eye.html

GAME OF SETS

A preliminary exhibition of Helen's sets maquettes for the Players' Theatre. Hopefully these will again figure in a more extensive exhibition of Helen's theatre work in Dublin City Libraries and Archive in the near future.

https://photopol.blogspot.com/2019/07/game-of-sets.html


ERNIE O'MALLEY & FRANCES-MARY BLAKE

Cormac recently launched the papers of Frances-Mary Blake, who was Ernie's biographer & more, in UCD Archives. Included in the launch were supplementary papers of Ernie's.

https://photopol.blogspot.com/2019/09/ernie-omalley.html