Coles Lane, Dublin

Artist Fergus O'Ryan (1911 - 1989)

Datelate 1930s, early 1940s

MediumOil on panel

Dimensions44.4 x 53.3 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by the Thomas Haverty Trust, 1945. © The Estate of Fergus O'Ryan.

Object number985

DescriptionAt the 1949 Royal Hibernian Academy exhibited O’Ryan showed The Moore Market, Dublin. Coles Lane, off Moore Street, in Dublin was part of a collection of streets and lanes where the Ilac Centre is today. O’Ryan depicts the crowded market stalls using thick paint applied with a palette knife. While praised as an artist who was
‘extraordinarily fluent’ and possessing ‘lyrical charm’, he was criticised for being at times ‘sentimentally garrulous.’ The photographs of ‘Darkest Dublin’ taken in 1913 as part of the Local Government Board of Inquiry into the city’s housing conditions highlighted the grim living conditions in areas such as Coles Lane. (JO'D)

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