Description
A celebration of the art and career of Walter Osborne (1859–1903), one of Ireland’s leading landscape and portrait painters.
In conjunction with the first monographic exhibition of this Irish artist in forty years—and the first ever in the United States—this catalogue charts Walter Osborne’s career from his student days in Dublin to his mature works made following his return to his native city in 1892. Through his depictions of Dublin’s streets, parks, public spaces, domestic interiors and gardens, countryside, and most importantly its people, a vision of a vibrant—if divided—Ireland emerges.
Osborne’s experiences abroad during his formative years, his professional and social networks, and his commercial acumen help establish Dublin’s unique brand of Modern painting rife with the possibility of change. Osborne’s notable painting, At the Breakfast Table (1894), with its focus on family and home, launches an exploration of the other iconic works produced at the height of his career, including St. Patrick’s Close, St. Stephen’s Green, and his portraits of famous personalities and children.
This publication accompanies an exhibition at Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, opening in August 2025.
Author biographies
Cheryl K. Snay PhD, is curator of European and American Art before 1900, Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame.
Kathryn Milligan is assistant librarian, Edward Murphy Library, Dublin. Brendan Rooney is head curator at the National Gallery of Ireland.
Logan Sisley is acting head of collections at the Hugh Lane, Dublin.
Judith Stapleton is a Keough-Naughton Institute National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow.
Aoife-Marie Buckley is the Donald and Marilyn Keough Curatorial Fellow, Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame.
Table of Contents
- Director’s Foreword by Joseph Antenucci Becherer
- Acknowledgements by Cheryl K. Snay
- Notes
- A Home for Irish Art at the University of Notre Dame by Cheryl K. Snay
- Walter Osborne: Painter of Dublin by Judith Stapleton
- From “Speaking Likeness” to “Coltish Clumsiness”: Osborne’s Depiction of Children by Brendan Rooney
- At the Breakfast Table: Osborne, Family Life, and the Interior Scene by Kathryn Milligan
- Walter Osborne, Sarah Purser, and Hugh Lane: Logan Sisley
- Catalogue by Cheryl K. Snay, Judith Stapleton, and Aoife-Marie Buckley
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
- Photo Credits
- About the Authors