photopol: Helen Hooker O'Malley

Tuesday, July 02, 2019

GAME OF SETS

Click on any image for a larger version

This is the third prong of the Helen Hooker O'Malley triad on show in Dublin at the moment. I have already posted on the launch of the NLI & GOP elements both of which relate to her photography. This is something completely different.

Helen founded the Players Theatre in 1945, in collaboration with Liam Redmond and Gerard Healy. She had trained as a graphic designer and became the stage and costume designer for Players hence the sets maquettes, ten of which have been donated to the Dublin City Archive by her son Cormac.

Looking at the photo of the stage set above you could imagine it was a full size set. But the maquettes are tiny and the details in them are amazing.

Anne Marie Kelly

First the formalities of the launch of this exhibition on 26 June 2019 at the Dublin City Libraries and Archive in Pearse Street.

Anne Marie is responsible for development and marketing on the library development team.

The exhibition had been mounted in close collaboration with Liz D'Arcy, who did an unbelievable job on reconstructing and conserving these little masterpieces, and Cormac O'Malley who donated them.

Mary Clarke

Mary, as City Archivist, was the recipient of the donation and she was right pleased.

Liz D'Arcy

Liz has the magic touch, though it sounds far too simple when you put it like that.

She gave us some idea of the painstaking process of sorting all the bits and pieces in the pile into their separate sets, then restoring them individually and reconstructing the set. The level of detail here, and in such tiny sizes, was amazing, right down to the individual twigs in the fireplace and the underlying ash. We're talking 3D here and not just a paint job, though that too.

Liz explained the intensive ongoing contact between herself and Cormac in the USA via emails, photos etc. as all the elements (including the tiniest) of the sets were identified, restored, and put in place. At the end they discovered that the leftover pieces actually made up another set.

You might take a moment to check out Liz's video from her Facebook page.

Cormac Hooker O'Malley

Cormac was so engaged and passionate about the project that he called for a pause while he explained further minute details in the set.

I really felt thrilled to be present at this unveiling of a piece of history.

Lord Mayor Paul McAuliffe

The formal launch of the exhibition fell to the newly elected Lord Mayor of Dublin. Paul has many local connections, and he departed from his script, I should really say abandoned it, to identify with at least one of the locations represented by a maquette.

Cormac then spoke about his mother and the later fate of the maquettes which, of necessity, were just crudely folded up and packed into a suitcase as he travelled the world. Needless to say, under these conditions, they just fell more and more apart.

But that is not the whole story. He commented that the mould which Liz had to get off them had been picked up from various locations and a forensic study of this in itself would tell an interesting story.

I think Cormac is filling the Lord Mayor in on some further details.

So we get to the point where the Lord Mayor feels confident enough to tell us what it's all about.

This is a photo that Cormac wanted taken to pay tribute to his and Liz's intensive trans-Atlantic cooperation on the restoration and reconstruction. Congratulations to you both.

Cormac, Anne Marie & Mairead Owens

Mairead is the recently appointed Dublin City Librarian. She has had an impressively varied career and came from her most recent post as librarian at the Lexicon in Dún Laoghaire.

Liz, Gavin D'Arcy, Raymond Refaussé

Gavin is Liz's other half and Raymond is recently retired Librarian & Archivist at the Church of Ireland Representative Church Body Library.

Étáin Hooker O'Mallley

Étáin is Cormac's sister.

Diarmuid Peavoy

Diarmuid is a former classmate of mine.

Tanya Kiang

Tanya is the Director of the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar which is hosting another leg of the triad.

I'm looking at a few more maquettes below, but first a recap on a "before and after" from Liz's Facebook page to remind you of the miracle.

An unexpected bonus, two of Helen's sketches for further sets found among the material.

I'm sorry to have to write this part of the post and I hope it doesn't deter anyone from coming to visit these miniature masterpieces with their more than colourful history.

When I arrived first, I thought I'd come on the wrong day as the Dublin Camera Club exhibition was still up and running.

I eventually realised that the maquettes were in the glass cases around the wall.

I had been expecting them centre stage, so to speak. I do realise that their small size would make it difficult for them to command immediate attention without the addition of a lot of back up material such as timelines, posters of the restoration process and perhaps the odd photo of a set on stage during a run in the Players' Theatre if such exists.

However that wasn't the problem. It was one of timing. The space is usually booked about 18 months in advance. I'm well aware of this as it came up when I was discussing the possibility of a photo exhibition of my own with Máire Kennedy way back. There used to be times when the space was empty for weeks but no more it seems.

Then, Liz only got the first set (Black Stranger) in December and the following nine sets in February. She began returning them, on a phased basis from the end of May. So there was huge time pressure and she put in a lot of additional hours at weekends and evenings.

In the normal course of events we'd be talking about an exhibition in early 2021. However the opportunity was seized to exhibit the sets at the same time as the Temple Bar exhibition and, fortunately, the Dublin Camera Club were not using the display cases. Had things turned out otherwise we might not have seen them at all at this stage. So full marks to Mary Clarke for not allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the excellent on this occasion and to Liz for rising to the occasion.

I asked Liz and she confirmed that this was one of the jobs of which she is most proud.

I do hope there will be another exhibition of the sets in the future along the lines I was expecting above. They are really fabulous and deserve to be appreciated against their full background. There is fabulous article by Aura McMenamin in the Dublin Inquirer setting out the background to the Players Theatre and the restoration and a promise of more to come.

And one final subversive remark - I think it's time Admiral Nelson called it a day. I know his head is upstairs but the Pillar does limit flexibility when planning exhibitions in this space. [Update 17/9/2019: Oops! I now realise that the (underlying) pillar is structural and its removal would bring the house down, and not in the theatrical sense of the phrase. Ah well, we have to work with what we've got.]

Do come in to see these maquettes. It is an opportunity not to be missed. The exhibition continues up to the end of July and I gather there will be a video in place shortly illustrating the restoration process (ie Liz at work). The Dublin Camera Club exhibition is due to be replaced by one on Tony Gregory.

The other two elements of the Hooker triad, in Meeting House Square in Temple Bar, are also well worth a visit. The Gallery of Photography leg continues till 1st September and the NLI Photo Archive leg until 1st November.

Photo courtesy of Diarmuid Peavoy

Sunday, June 23, 2019

A MODERN EYE

Click on any image for a larger version

This exhibition represents a unique partnership between two nationally significant and progressive bodies. The National Library of Ireland (NLI), which is an autonomous cultural institution under the National Cultural Institutions Act, 1997, and the Gallery of Photography, which is a not-for-profit organisation, supported by the Arts Council and Dublin City Council.

The exhibition itself is located across these two organisations and it will run in the NLI’s National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar until 2nd November 2019; and in the Gallery of Photography, across the Square, until 1st September 2019.

In fact there is a third prong to Helen Hooker O'Malley's current exposure in the city of Dublin. An exhibition of her maquettes for scenery in the Players Theatre opens on 26 June 2019 in the city archive in Pearse Street and runs to the end of July. I attended the launch and the miniature sets are unbelievable and beautifully restored.

Hooker O’Malley photographed her life in Ireland from 1935 onwards.

The Gallery of Photography presents this early work – explorations made during expeditions with her husband into the Irish landscape, observations of Irish rural life particularly in County Mayo, and portraits of artists and friends – in addition to a fascinating record of her travels in Russia and East Asia.

The National Library’s collection of Hooker O’Malley’s photographs primarily encompasses work produced by the artist during an intensely creative period in the 1970s. These photographs centre on the textures and details of landscapes and heritage sites; Dublin’s bustling urban life; and intimate portraits of close friends and strangers.

Source

Paul Shovlin

Paul is Chairman of the Board of the National Library and he opened the night's event, presumably because it was hosted in the Library's Photo Archive. This would be followed later by a formal book signing session across the way in the Gallery.

Sandra Collins

Sandra is the Director of the National Library and she further outlined what was involved in this dual exhibition:

"Helen Hooker O’Malley’s fascination with Irish life shines out in these photographs. A notable and intriguing figure, she ought to be recognised as a strong and fiercely independent woman, one who travelled the world before settling in Ireland, and a talented artist working across a range of creative mediums.

We are delighted to work with our neighbours at the Gallery of Photography Ireland to present this joint exhibition about Hooker O’Malley, and to shed light on a complex woman and a dedicated artist. I would encourage people to visit both elements of this joint exhibition, and to see Ireland, its history, landscape, culture and people anew, from Hooker O’Malley’s unique perspective."

Luke Gibbons

Luke gave insightful commentary on Hooker O'Malley's work, as befits a Professor of Irish Literary and Cultural Studies at the School of English, Drama and Media Studies, National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

He emphasised that she was primarily a sculptor but that her exhibitions usually also showed a selection of her photographs. He mentioned a few that were included in this exhibition and commented on elements such as composition, detail and lighting. I think he saw all these as strictly premeditated, though I know from my own experience that it is important for a photographer to recognise a stroke of luck when they trip over it.

I was glad he mentioned Father Browne, another photographer who documented aspects of Irish life in the twentieth century. Father Browne's great stroke of luck was missing out on a shot of the iceberg as the Titanic approached it, or vice versa.

Tanya Kiang

Tanya is curator of the Gallery of Photography exhibition together with Trish Lambe

"Gallery of Photography Ireland together with the National Library of Ireland recognise the importance of retrieving and preserving the work of female artists. ‘A Modern Eye’ reveals for the first time the photographs of Helen Hooker O’Malley. The exhibition gives a unique insight into this modern woman’s creative vision of 20th century Ireland."

Cormac O'Malley

Cormac is Helen Hooker O’Malley’s son. He is the repository of her extensive archive, except for that part of it which Helen donated to the National Library in 1992. He has curated exhibitions of his mother's work over the years, and has, incidentally, written extensively about his father, Ernie O'Malley. Yes, that Ernie O'Malley.

"I am delighted to see two important cultural institutions come together to showcase my mother’s life and career. This exhibition captures the cultural state of Ireland from 1935 to 1975, including its heritage and the commonplace aspects of real people – but through the eye of a modernist female lens where mood, structure and form all play an intricate role.”

He looked really proud to launch this exhibition which showed his mother in such a great light and the organisation of which he had been intimately involved in. He certainly looked a happy man to me.

Kathryn McSharry with those you already know

Nikki Ralston

Nikki curated the NLI part of the exhibition with the help of a dedicated team. She clearly looks happy on the day.

Nikki is no stranger to me, her having curated many excellent exhibitions at this venue with the same dedicated and enthusiastic team. I actually figured in one of them myself.

And before I leave this section, can I recommend that if you do visit the exhibition and admire Helen's photos, do read the captions. They are very well written and most illuminating.

Cormac with his sister Étáin

I was tickled when Cormac told Seán Rocks on RTÉ Radio 1's Arena programme that there were lots of unprinted negatives in his mother's collection. This rings true. I have hundreds of never printed negatives. What is the point if you can read the negatives and have no immediate call for prints? Negatives can be quickly printed if required. And remember, these were not commercial assignments. Helen was, by and large, taking the photos for herself.

She did display photos with her sculpture exhibitions and these clearly would have been printed. But these would likely have been an insignificant proportion of the total.

The photos taken here are virtually all of ordinary scenes, except that their taking was sometimes extraordinary because few people, if any, were doing it on a large scale. You also need to remember that what is ordinary today may be extraordinary tomorrow, such is the pace of "progress".

I remember when I was researching Killiney Bay in the 1970s, and drawing on old material like the Lawrence photographs, I thought I should take some contemporary shots to illustrate my points. These photos have in their turn become historical at this stage.

Paddy Moloney & Mick O'Connor

Diarmuid Peavoy

Orla Sweeny & Bríd O'Sullivan

Natalie Harrower

So let's have a look at just a few of Helen's photos to give you a very summary view of what's involved.

Ernie O'Malley

Liam O'Flaherty

Boat Race

Bringing in the Potatoes

Seanachaí

The Mother in-law Marion Malley

I have to add here that Helen and Marion were great friends and remained so throughout.

Clearly, Helen, like myself surrendered along the way to colour. Or should I say "embraced" it? You be the judge.

Helen Hooker c.1930
Source

We'll say goodbye to Helen Hooker with this shot of how she looked around the time she chased Ernie O'Malley to the Chicago World Fair and subsequently married him in London to the disapproval of her family.