Harry Clarke’s War: Illustrations for Ireland’s Memorial Records, 1914-1918

Description

Ireland’s Memorial Records, 1914-1918 contain the names of 49,435 enlisted men who were killed in the First World War. Commissioned in 1919 by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and published in 100 eight-volume sets, the Records are notable for stunning and elaborate page decorations by celebrated Irish illustrator Harry Clarke.

Drawing from published and unpublished sources, Marguerite Helmers’ ground-breaking study provides a fascinating insight into the work of Harry Clarke as an extraordinary war artist and examines the process that led to the Records being commissioned through to the eventual placement of the Records within the Irish National War Memorial at Islandbridge, Dublin. With Harry Clarke’s illustrations taking center stage in the story, the Records and their genesis are of vital importance to our understanding of how art and commemoration can come together in a powerful visual creation.

Table of Contents

Foreword ~ Nicola Gordon Bowe

Introduction

1. The Irish in Gallipoli
2. Spaces of Memory
3. The Call
4. A Dirge of Victory

Afterword ~ Myles Dungan

About the Author

Marguerite Helmers is Rosebush Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where she teaches courses in rhetoric, visual culture, and British literature. She is the co-author of Defining Visual Rhetorics (2004), several edited works on visual culture and travel writing, and is series editor of the Visual Rhetoric Series at Parlor Press.