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Pictured above is perhaps the most famous Irish designer of the twentieth century, Sybil Connolly. Famous for dressing Princess Grace of Monaco and Jackie Kennedy amongst a plethora of famous clients. Connolly made her mark in the 1950s and 1960s with her dresses made out linen, tweed, and wool and highly influenced by imagery of traditional Ireland of cottages, shawlie women, the rugged west of Ireland, and other associated images.
As you may have guessed I love museums, art galleries, country houses etc. A lot. Like a whole heap of a lot. I make my living working in museums and heritage and as an historian of Irish dress. Naturally, I like to visit museums both at home and abroad both to fuel my love of museums as well as provide interesting reading matter for those interested in my blog.
As mentioned in my previous blog post I visited ‘The Art of Wallpaper – Morris & Co’ exhibition at the Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh in May of this year. To say that this was one of my favourite exhibitions I have seen recently is an understatement – I came away wanting to decorate my future house with everything and anything William Morris designed and made!
In May of this year on my holiday in Edinburgh I visited the exhibition, ‘The Art of Wallpaper – Morris & Co’ at Dovecot Studios. I had wanted to visit Dovecot Studios for quite sometime which meant that I was doubly excited that their latest exhibition’s theme was William Morris and his contribution to both interior design and art history.
In April of this year I had the great good fortune to visit the ‘Mainie Jellett (1897-1944): Translation and Rotation’ (October 2021-May 2022) exhibition at the Ulster Museum, Belfast. This exhibition focused on the work of Mainie Jellett, an Irish artist, who is credited with introducing Modernism to Ireland after looking to European art movements for her artistic inspiration.