Seán Keating
Seán Keating ( Irish Seán Céitinn ; born September 28, 1889 as John Keating in Limerick , † December 21, 1977 in Dublin ) was an Irish painter who became known for his realistic-romantic depictions of the Irish struggle for freedom and the industrialization of Ireland.
Life and artistic work
Seán Keating learned the basics of drawing at Limerick Technical School. From 1909 he studied painting at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. In the following years he repeatedly visited the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland to study painting. In 1914 he won the Taylor Art Award of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) with the painting The Reconciliation .
Between 1915 and 1916 he documented the Irish struggle for freedom and the subsequent civil war in Ireland in many paintings . In 1923, Keating was elected a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. Between 1926 and 1927 he documented the construction of the Shannon hydropower station near Ardnacrusha near Limerick in 26 large-format works on behalf of the Irish Electricity Works (ESB) . Keating also painted on a similar major project that began in 1940 on the River Liffey .
From 1937 to 1954 Seán Keating was Professor of Painting at the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin and from 1949 to 1962 President of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA). In 1939 he was commissioned to paint a mural on the Irish Pavilion at the World's Fair in New York. His portrait of the physicist and Nobel Prize winner Erwin Schrödinger (1956) became famous . Keating died on December 21, 1977 in Adelaide Hospital, Dublin.
Keating's oeuvre includes around 300 larger works. Most of Keating's work is in museums. Much of the scenic documentation on the Shannon Project is owned by the Irish Electric Utilities.
Seán Keating exerted a strong influence on Irish art during his lifetime. Although he was open to modern developments, he represented a realistic-romantic view of painting. He saw a decline in artistic values in modern abstract painting styles.
Exhibitions (selection)
- Memorial exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin 1978
- The Grafton Gallery, Dublin 1986
- Irish Electricity Supply Board, 1987
- Seán Keating in Focus. The Hunt Museum, Limerick
- Seán Keating: Contemporary contexts. The Crawford Gallery of Art, 2012
- Sean Keating and the ESB. The RHA Gallery, 2012
- Justin Keating: Sean Keating - the Pilgrim Soul. 1996
Sources and Links
- Biographical information and his works
- Seán Keating's exhibition in Cork , 2012
- Exhibition by ESB, 2012
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keating, Seán |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Céitinn, Seán; Keating, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Irish painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 28, 1889 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | limerick |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 21, 1977 |
| Place of death | Dublin |