Robert Manning lives in Vermont. His many trips to Ireland resulted in an exhibit of his paintings: “Stone Walls of Ireland“, which ran at the Arts Work Gallery in Hartford, Connecticut.
Proleek Dolmen
“This spectacular dolmen just out of Dundalk sits in a potato field behind a hotel now and it looks like some giant mushroom. The stones on top are there because of a local custom – you take a small stone from the field and throw it up and if it stays you get your wish. The cap stone weighs 40 tons.”
Wall of Aran (1984)
“As an art student, I saw Man of Aran, Flaherty’s classic film. I said I’ve got to go to this place and one day I did. I knew that first afternoon driving up from Shannon when I stopped and made a drawing that it was going to be an important phase in my life. I was so turned on by the stones I saw: the Dolmens, the stone circles and the most incredible walls.”
The Agony of Ireland
“The last time I went up North in 1987 I went to Derry and Belfast. I was appalled by the barricades and the barbed wire and I wanted to make a statement. But I still wanted to paint the walls so that the painting is divided in two parts bolted together. the orange strip and a green strip coming together represent the North and the red line at the bottom – running across them – is a common bloodline.”
Earth Jewels of Ireland (1989)
“I started playing with the idea of painting stones below the grass line which were more charged with color than the bluish-grey stones that appear above the grass. It opened up a whole new approach.”
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the March / April 1994 issue of Irish America. ♦
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