Connections~Verbindungen

Connections~Verbindungen: Irish German Perspectives through Etching

By

Gerhardt Gallagher, Gisela Holfter and Mícheál Ó hAodha

Connections~Verbindungen: Irish German Perspectives through Etching, by Gerhardt Gallagher, Gisela Holfter and Mícheál Ó hAodha

This book first published 2011

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2011 by Gerhardt Gallagher, Gisela Holfter and Mícheál Ó hAodha

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-2636-7, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-2636-5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Exhibition: “How the Book was Born” ...... vii Gerhardt Gallagher and Gisela Holfter

Preface...... xiii Some Notes on Gerhardt Gallagher’s Work Mícheál Ó hAodha

Irish-German Art Relations ...... 1 Gisela Holfter

Margarethe and Gerhardt...... 11 A Biographical Note by Gerhardt Gallagher

Verbindungen - Connections ...... 21 Gerhard Gallagher and Gisela Holfter in Conversation

Etchings by Margarethe Gerhardt...... 41

Aquatint Etchings by Gerhardt Gallagher ...... 87

Appendix ...... 131 Gerhardt Gallagher: Exhibition Details

About the Authors ...... 135

THE EXHIBITION : “H OW THE BOOK WAS BORN ”

GERHARDT GALLAGHER AND GISELA HOLFTER

When Gerhardt Gallagher’s mother died in 1995 he inherited a number of etchings and paintings which had been done by his grandmother (Oma) Margarethe Gerhardt. He had always been familiar with some of them and they were part of the family furniture in Waterford where he grew up. He had also hung a few of these same unframed prints in his studio. Naturally, the acquisition of these items piqued Gerhardt’s interest further and led him to seek out and learn as much as he could about Margarethe’s artistic career. This research of his was given a further impetus when, in her later years, his mother compiled a family history. Having collated what he knew about Margarethe and the family’s artistic endeavours, it was when these early prints were being re-framed a few years ago – and on the promptings of his wife Miriam – that Gerhardt realised these prints were deserving of far greater public exposure than they had previously been given. During the process of re-framing itself, a large number of art connoisseurs and customers expressed their admiration and interest in the prints. In fact, a good number of the picture framer’s customers were interested in buying Margarethe’s prints, so taken as they were with them. The idea of mounting an exhibition of Margarethe’s works was born at this point and the impetus for such a celebration of her life and artistic career only grew further when it became clear that the vagaries of life and a confluence of world events at the time when her art was at its most productive had prevented her from having adequate opportunity to exhibit her striking depictions of the North German landscape. That her legacy and work deserved much better than this was acknowledged by many and the question now became – how best to exhibit these paintings and prints, many of which were only now being framed for the first time.

Quite separately from these developments, the late 1990s had seen Gerhardt himself develop a strong interest in etching, the presence of viii The Exhibition: “How the Book was Born”

Margarethe’s works in his studio quite possibly functioning as the initial catalyst and inspiration. Gerhardt mentioned the idea of an exhibition to his brother who also had some of Margarethe’s etchings and the two brothers pooled their resources in order to supplement the prints which were now available for public viewing. At this stage, the idea of combining his grandmother’s etchings with some of his own aquatints also seemed a possibility with much potential. Gerhardt had been working on techniques for the composition and structuring of his own aquatints for a number of years by then and had produced a body of work, a large element of which seemed complimentary if also distinct from that of his grandmother. Whilst differing somewhat in technique each of their respective styles shared some common elements particularly as relating to subject matter, the landscapes and the seascapes, for example; albeit that Gerhardt’s works had a stronger figurative aspect to them. In all, the collection of ‘Oma’s’ works (including an additional etching provided by friend, Pat Grogan) and Gerhardt’s own - amounted to some 40 pieces in total. Having decided on an exhibition the next thing was to find the most appropriate venue. As an Irish/German event, it seemed that the ideal location would be an arts centre which had links with both cultures. The Goethe Institute (where Gerhardt had exhibited previously), the Hunt Museum, and the Centre for Irish-German Studies at the (UL) all initially came to mind. Gerhardt put together a catalogue of images representing both bodies of work and initially approached the Goethe Institute which expressed some interest in the project but indicated that it would have to re-evaluate its own programme to see if the project could be more readily accommodated. Later Gerhardt and Miriam set out for Limerick intending to visit both the Hunt Museum and the Irish- German Centre. As chance would have it their journey first took them past the University of Limerick where Miriam suggested that they call before driving further into the city (Gerhardt had not made any appointment there as this was to be an initial approach). He turned the car into UL enquired how he might make contact and knocked on Gisela Holfter’s door; she was in, kindly listened to his proposal and examined the brochure; to Gerhardt’s great delight the project took off.

Gisela immediately liked the pictures he showed and was very interested in the family connections. In her opinion this was a “living” form of “Irish-German Studies” and a project which ought to have strong support within the Centre for Irish-German Studies. She approached UL photographer Eoin Stephenson and graphic designer Dave Lilburn, the latter an artist in his own right. Both of them found the idea interesting and

Connections~Verbindungen: Irish German Perspectives through Etching ix venues were discussed. In the end they settled on the ground floor of the Glucksman Library as the best location given that this was an area which had been used previously for other exhibitions organised by the Centre for Irish-German Studies; it was a pleasant and comfortable area which had appropriate lighting and was ideal for any wine reception, book launch or exhibition opening. Further meetings of Gisela and Gerhardt sorted out the practicalities such as times, dates, how much of the space needed to be used, how many pictures ought to be exhibited and the organising of introductions with both Eoin and Dave. Gerhardt designed the invitations and the exhibition catalogue while Gisela wrote the introduction and organized the wine reception. When it came closer to the big opening Eoin Stephenson was a great support on how best to hang Gerhardt’s various exhibits while Dave Lilburn opened the exhibition with a particularly insightful introduction. The numerous attendees, who came from all over , were (appropriately!) impressed and complimentary about the entire event. The exhibition also caught the interest of Dr Mícheál Ó hAodha who works in both the UL History department and the library and who thought the entire undertaking very worthy of publication and the production of a co-authored book – thereby ensuring a permanent and ongoing memento of a history as incorporating cultural exchange, creative endeavour and the artistic relationships as fostered between different generations and countries. The final task which remained to be undertaken in this - the pre-publication stage - was the photographing of the various exhibits, a task which Eoin Stephenson undertook using his customary excellence and skill.

The exhibition, “Connections-Verbindungen” took place in October 2008.

x The Exhibition: “How the Book was Born”

Gerhardt with Daughters Mia and Etain

Gisela and Gerhardt with Exhibition Group – from left to right: Mia Gallagher, Phyl Herbert, Gisela Holfter, Ann Gallagher, Gerhardt Gallagher, Mary Sheridan, Martin Sheridan, Etain Gallagher

Connections~Verbindungen: Irish German Perspectives through Etching xi

The Artist and Works

The Gallagher and Grogan Brothers

xii The Exhibition: “How the Book was Born”

Joachim Fischer, David Lilburn and Gerhardt Gallagher

PREFACE

SOME NOTES ON GERHARDT GALLAGHER’S WORK

MÍCHEÁL Ó H AODHA

One day I was helping a student locate a rarely-consulted volume in the library store when I noticed some striking pictures hanging on the walls of the corridor which skirted the graphics room downstairs. It was an extremely warm day – (often a rarity in Ireland!), I remember, and my immediate inclination was to make my way back upstairs to the Information Desk where the high windows were open and the air was cooler. There was something about these paintings and prints which drew me towards them, however, a strange mix of beauty and practicality that caught one’s attention and “drew one in”. They made the natural world beyond the enormous glass windows of the library stand still; they transformed an ordinary hum-drum Irish afternoon within the intensity of the smaller and more beautiful moment. I make no claims for this short essay which is a brief exploration of Gerhardt Gallagher’s artistic work and an attempt to explain the strange magnificence of the moment when I – and the many others who walk those corridors on a daily basis following the dictates of our working day – were able to stop and look and “see” the Irish landscape from a new and fresh perspective. This short piece is also an attempt to describe Gerhardt’s relevance as a painter in the present-day era and within the Irish context. In an era when many artists have retreated into themselves and where large swathes of the public may question the efficacy of art to generate change, philosophic or practical, Gallagher’s work is in my opinion an important element within a new and ever- stylized representational art tradition, one which is always developing. It is my view that Gerhardt Gallagher has drawn from the well of the two traditions which form his specific identity as an artist – Irish and German. This aspect of his work can thus be linked with the newer and “exilic” energies that define modern Ireland’s - (for long a culture and society of emigration) changing cultural landscape. In artistic terms this fresh xiv Preface cultural dynamic is in part a consequence of growing up in that liminal area that is between two European countries and traditions, two cultures and identities. As evidenced in this volume, Gallagher’s style has never remained static. It has constantly evolved and developed in subtlety and texture, moving from the hard-edged figurative and semi-abstract painting of his youth as created in oil and acrylic to the more representational figures as evidenced in landscapes and cities, the watercolours, oils and inks of later years. This move towards a more representational dynamic is no surprise given Gallagher’s artistic know-how and lineage. His work shares many similarities with that of his grandmother (Margarethe Gerhardt), also an extremely talented painter and etcher, and an artist who was clearly as accomplished as Gerhardt is in the observation and depiction of a particular object, figure or scene. Both the representational and figurative traditions have long and rich traditions in both Ireland and Germany. Indeed, for most of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century, the representational style of painting was perceived as the only “real” or legitimate form of painting in Ireland. This was partly a consequence of the poverty of Ireland as a country and the attendant lack of patronage for visual artists trying to eke out a living in here during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in particular. While a relatively large number of Irish artists managed to keep the wolf from the door or (sometimes) carved out successful careers from themselves abroad – a number developed successful careers as portraitists in London during the 1800s and 1900s for example – those who remained in Ireland were dependent upon a very small number of official or religious commissions, occasionally supplemented by private patronage – the latter as devoted primarily to portraiture and depictions of the Irish landscape. An important indicator of how “poor” the scene was in terms of resources and opportunities until recent decades can be gauged, however, by the fact that so few depictions of the enormous tragedy that was the Great Famine were painted by the Irish artists of that era. Representational painting continued as the primary art form of note into the early years of Irish independence when the emergence of the new state was characterised by both a renewal in art forms and art education but also a -centred conservatism and parochialism which viewed the maintenance and revival of an “unbroken” Irish painting style as paramount to the bolstering of Irish identity and the relative “homogeneity” which characterised the emergent nation-state. It was almost inevitable that a history and identity which was unitary or teleological in nature would characterize the early decades and the demands of a postcolonial nation where history itself was both an adaptive mechanism and a form of legitimation. Many of the

Connections~Verbindungen: Irish German Perspectives through Etching xv artists whose work defined the early decades of the twentieth century were under heavy pressure to conform to this dominant or traditionalist ethos vis-à-vis painting style and subject matter, particularly given the fact that a good many of them were reliant on work as art teachers within the newly- emergent state’s educational system. The few major exhibitions which had a national remit, the annual Exhibition of the (RHA), for example, adhered strongly to this traditionalist ethos and many painters and sculptors were also heavily-dependant on such exhibitions to garner public attention and eke out a living as artists. 1

While Irish art, representational art, in particular, may have had a certain staid and conservative aspect during the first few decades of Irish independence, Gerhardt Gallagher began his career as a painter when this environment was seeing some signs of change. That the Irish art scene was “overly-conservative” may be a slight exaggeration of its true complexity also. Of course, it is important to note highly-respected Irish art critic Brian Fallon’s highlighting of the fact that artists as “early” as Jack B. Yeats had already initiated the move from a predominantly Anglo-Irish or Franco-Anglo-Irish (Jellet and Hone to name but two artists from this particular tradition) to an art which had a more indigenous-Irish or “national” quality and identity. In terms of influences and styles, however, these artists were always firmly situated within European tradition and as an artist, Gerhardt Gallagher was fortunate to swim in both streams – Irish and German - from a very early stage. He had an early exposure to the Dutch masters, courtesy of his father and always had a particular admiration for the prints of Albert Dürer. As he developed, Gerhardt’s fascination with Irish artists whose nature-based work exuded a particular intensity and clarity grew – the works of Richard Kingston and the cityscapes of Jonathan Wade, for example. The paintings Gerhardt has produced in recent decades demonstrate a range of eclectic influences and reflect the esteem in which he holds artists as gifted and diverse as Orpen, O’Connor, the German Romantics and the Americans – including Wyeth and Hopper. Indeed, it the case that the work of both Gerhardt Gallagher and his grandmother Margarethe Gerhardt are relatively little-known in Ireland as of yet. This should not be the case, however. Their artistic vision is something that is unique and extremely beautiful. Gerhardt’s work and his artistic sensibility are new and exciting; he is carving out a fresh aesthetic field of vision; his is an innovative artistic terrain.

1 See the website http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/irish-art.htm for a brief overview of Irish art history.

xvi Preface

Gallagher’s work reminds us that the human being is both flesh and spirit and that the crisis of post-modernity cannot be reduced solely to either the social or the political. It is a question which also has a huge philosophic or spiritual aspect. Art such as Gallagher’s calls us back to the “real” meaning of life and the fact that the human journey is far more profound than the simple accumulation of wealth. Dostoevsky, the acclaimed Russian writer once wrote that: “Beauty will save the world” and it is in this realisation that the key to understanding Gallagher’s art lies. What sets his work apart is the fact that his vision is one which responds to our innate need for beauty, for love – that without which we might lose the will to live.

Observing Gallagher’s paintings one is struck by another very salient point – this is his fascination with the question of time in a world where everyone thinks they will live forever. His etchings and smaller works are particularly acute explorations of the relationship between time and art; it is they which hold the key to understanding his paintings, in my view. In many ways, his paintings are almost like film stills, short visual vignettes where he attempts to “stop” time and record its passing through its visible signs, its outward or spiritual manifestations. His artistic vision is one which bears many similarities with the traditions of Germany, the Balkans and those countries which lie further east. This is a sensibility which views time as an entity which is no longer solely linear in nature; it is time “always becoming” - or as fully realized in past, present and future. It is his ability to “capture” this movement of time over a particular landscape –a lone figure standing in a seascape, an isolated person standing in a field - which render his paintings simultaneously disturbing and beautiful. In these paintings the philosophic dimensions of time lie in the image and beyond it; they are images which manifest “time beyond time” and it is the feelings which Gallagher’s paintings generate “beyond the canvas” which make them haunting and unique. They awake emotions in the reader which are not always possible (or necessary) to explain, emotions which generate thought. They have a particular and beautiful power.

IRISH -GERMAN ART CONNECTIONS

GISELA HOLFTER

“I suppose artists are, by their very nature, a little bit above things like nationality.” 1

Art and music have a long history of the international; they transcend borders, languages, generations, cultures and nationalities and they need no translation to generate an empathetic reception. They are not bound to particular languages and cross all kinds of cultural and aesthetic boundaries easily. Artists (and musicians) themselves tend to be internationally minded – far more than do most other professions.

Artistic connections and influences between two countries exist on many levels. Specific countries can provide inspiration – whether through their historical and cultural developments, artistic movements or scenery and natural environment – they can become popular as travel destinations or coveted places for further study. Personal contacts with another country and culture tend to be the most enduring, however, and are of course crucial to the story of both Gerhardt Gallagher and Margarethe Gerhardt.

With regard to art links between Ireland and Germany one can, as so often in the context of Irish-German relations, start with John Hennig who refers in his article ‘Notes on Early Representations of Irishmen in German Books’ to Albrecht Dürer and states that among the earliest representation in German art of Irish people (following numerous depictions of Irish in the Middle Ages) are Dürer’s two sketches Also gand dy krigsman in Irlandia hindr Engeland, and Also gand dy pawren in Irlandyen .2 Dürer made these sketches in Antwerp while touring the

1 Quote from Imogen Stuart, see Hermann Rasche, “You feel yourself to be Irish, then?” Imogen Stuart (*1927), Sculptor, in: J. Fischer, G. Holfter, Creative Influences – Selected Irish-German Biographies , Trier: WVT 2009, pp. 140-148, 147. 2 John Hennig, Notes on Early Representations of Irishmen in German Books, in: Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 80, II, 1950, pp. 158-163, 2 Gerhardt Gallagher, Gisela Holfter and Mícheál Ó hAodha

Netherlands in 1521 and it is likely that Irish mercenary soldiers and their families arriving in Dutch ports attracted his attention. It seems very fitting that this personal encounter took place outside Ireland and Germany, reinforcing once again the general lack of direct contact that characterized Irish-German relations between the late-fifteenth century and the nineteenth century. 3 More often than not the way Ireland was seen was determined by its relationship with England. Only in the first half of the 19 th century did Ireland attract sustained attention, specifically in the period from 1830-1850, and not least due to the towering figure of Daniel O’Connell and a growing fascination with Irish fairy tales. This interest barely translated into the artistic realm, however. Germany had not been of particular relevance to Irish artists for a long time previous to this. S.B. Kennedy points out the fact that, with very few exceptions, Irish artists working at the beginning of the 20 th century turned to France for their inspiration:

In the first half of the 20 th century the course of Irish painting was determined by the gradual ascendancy of Continental-inspired Modernism. Yet those who looked to the Continent looked almost solely to France – even Hugh Lane confined his interests to French painting – so that and its offshoots were the influences that took root in Ireland. Only Mary Swanzy had a brief dalliance with Futurism and in the 1920s Harry Kernoff had a similar encounter with German . Cecil Salkeld, however, deliberately sought inspiration in 1920s German art and, besides Stella Steyn, who studied at the Bauhaus, he was the only Irish artist of his generation to do so. 4

While it can be argued that some artists with links to Germany have been forgotten - (for example, Jane Morgan (1832-1899), who studied at the School of Art and lived in Munich fifteen years; incidentally,

159. In this context it seems also appropriate to mention that Ernie O’Malley, one of the main advocates and collectors of Irish art and s a well-known “military icon of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War”, “carried copies of Dürer’s etchings and woodcuts along with his notes on warfare tactics and training” (Mary Cosgrave, Ernie O’Malley: Art and Modernism in Ireland, in: Éire-Ireland 40, no 3 & 4 (Fall/Winter 2005), pp. 85-103, specifically 85 & 88). 3 See John Hennig, Studien zur Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Irlandkunde bis zum Ende des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts, in: Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte 35, (1961). 4 S. B. Kennedy, An Incisive Aesthetic, in: Irish Arts Review , vol 21, no 2 (Summer 2004), pp. 90-95, 95. Similarly Brian Fallon maintains that it became “almost de rigueur for Irish artists to study in France”, in Irish Art 1830-1990 , : Appletree Press 1994, p. 17.

Connections-Verbindungen: Irish-German Perspectives through Etching 3 virtually nothing is known about this period in Morgan’s life as Eileen Black has pointed out) 5 – these few artists who went to study or work in Germany contrast sharply with that long who went to France; among them were Nathaniel Hone the Younger (1831-1917) who lived for seventeen years in France, (1848-1943), Frank O’Meara (1853-1888), John Lavery (1856-1941), William Gerard Barry (1864-1941), Paul Henry (1876-1958), Mary Swanzy (1882-1978), (1897-1944), Hilda Roberts (1901-1982) and the artist (1894-1955). That is not to say, of course, that there was no interest in German art and culture on the part of the Irish; a good many Irish artists looked to German culture for inspiration and stimulation during the 1920s in particular. The work of stained glass artist (1889-1931) bears many similarities to that of Gustav Klimt, for example, and according to Clarke’s biographer Nicola Gordon Bowe, some of these same influences can be evidenced in works as diverse as those of Albrecht Dürer, Otto Dix, Paul Klee, Franz Marc and other German artists. 6 Clarke was inspired by Celtic hagiography and literature in addition to Heinrich Heine’s poetry and Goethe’s Faust . Seán Keating (1889-1977), on the other hand, sometimes found inspiration not so much in art and literature but in the spheres of engineering and technology. For this he did not have to go to Germany; instead, Germany came to him in the form of the ‘Shannon scheme’, the huge undertaking of Siemens- Schuckert to build a hydro-electric scheme in Ardnacrusha near Keating’s home town of Limerick. Between the years 1925-1929 Limerick witnessed the influx of hundreds of German engineers and skilled workers who were there to work on this enormous scheme. In his allegorical Night’s Candles are Burnt Out the domineering figure of an engineer, arguably a German, symbolizes future progress 7

5 See Eileen Black: Jane Morgan, a Forgotten Irish Artist, in: Irish Arts Review , vol 3, no 4 (Winter 1986), pp. 21-23, 21. 6 Nicola Gordon Bowe, The Life and Work of Harry Clarke , Dublin, Irish Academic Press 1989, pp. 3 & 5. Clarke was also known as an avid reader of German art periodicals such as Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration and Innen- Dekoration , see Bowe, p. 35. 7 Another of the numerous paintings by Keating in this context is titled Der Ubermann (sic) possibly an attempt to find the German word for ‘foreman’ – showing a man with his back to the woman who has brought his food, a man who is concentrated solely on what he is eating. For more information on this see Andy Bielenberg, Seán Keating, the Shannon Scheme and the Art of State-Building, in A. Bielenberg (ed), The Shannon Scheme , Dublin: Lilliput 2002, pp. 114-137.

4 Gerhardt Gallagher, Gisela Holfter and Mícheál Ó hAodha

Irish art doyen Ernie O’Malley turned to Estella Solomons in his search for periodicals and well-illustrated books on Dürer and modern art in 1923. 8 Estella Solomons (1882-1969), an artist who studied in , should also be remembered for having organised an art exhibition on behalf of German refugee artists in Dublin in February 1939. She gathered together all of the main artists of the day for this enterprise including: George Atkinson, Lady Glenavy, Paul Henry, Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett, Seán Keating, Harry Kernoff, John Lavery, Dermod O’Brien, Seán O’Sullivan, Oliver Sheppard and Jack B. Yeats 9. This exhibition raised the impressive sum of £350 10 which was transferred to Stephen Bone, the secretary of the Artists Refugee Committee.

Of the artists mentioned by Kennedy in the above quote, Harry Kernoff (1900-1974) was notable as the designer for the Dublin Drama League’s production of Ernst Toller’s play Hoppla, We’re Alive! in 1929. 11 Kennedy arguesthat the most important Irish artist influenced by what he encountered in Germany at this juncture was Cecil Ffrench Salkeld, born in 1904 in Assam.12 He studied alongside James Sleator and Seán Keating in Dublin at the Metropolitan School of Art 1919-1921 and then moved to Germany where he continued his studies at the Kunstakademie in Kassel with Ewald Dülberg. In 1922 he exhibited at the ‘1. Internationale Kunstausstellung Düsseldorf’ (1. International Art Exhibition Dusseldorf) where he also simultaneously organised ‘1. Kongress der Union fortschrittlicher internationaler Künstler’ (1. Congress of the Union of Progressive International Artists). Salkeld divided his time between Germany and Ireland until late 1925, when he settled in Dublin and returned to the Metropolitan School, winning the Taylor Art Scholarship in 1926. It is very likely that during his stay in Kassel he spent a lot of

8 Cf. Ernie O'Malley to Estella F. Solomons, 27 Nov. 1923, TCD MS 4632/581a as quoted in Cosgrave, Ernie O’Malley, p. 89. 9 Manuscripts, TCD MS 4649a/4565. 10 TCD MS 4630-49/1688. 11 Cf. Theo Snoddy, Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20 th Century , 2 nd edition, Dublin: Merlin 2002, p. 311. See also S.B. Kennedy, Irish Art and Modernism 1880-1950 , Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies 1991, pp. 45 & 350, where he refers to the relevant Kernoff papers in the National Library of Ireland, MS 20,918 (i). He also speculates that Kernoff may have been influenced by German architect Bruno Taut (ibid, p. 46). 12 See fn 4. In 1943 Salkeld also wrote a play, A Gay Good-night , set in 1929 Berlin, described by Frank O’Connor as a “little masterpiece” and which was produced in Dublin. Cf. Frank O’Connor, My Father’s Son , London: Pan Books 1971, p. 185.

Connections-Verbindungen: Irish-German Perspectives through Etching 5 time in the company of William and Cissie Sinclair. Cissie, who had also studied at the Metropolitan School of Art, and her husband, William (Boss), were friends of Estella Solomons. Their home in Kassel became a favourite haunt and artistic inspiration for Samuel Beckett, Cissie’s nephew, who had fallen in love with their daughter, his cousin Peggy Sinclair. In his novel Dream of Fair to Middling Women Beckett even describes a painting by Ewald Dülberg that was hanging in the Kassel apartment owned by his aunt and uncle. 13 Boss Sinclair came from a Jewish family, one which had witnessed anti-Semitic behaviour and attitudes and this, when taken with Peggy’s death in 1933 and changing financial circumstances, 14 meant that the Sinclair family later returned to Ireland.

Similarly, Stella Steyn, (also originally a student at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and the only Irish Bauhaus student based in Dessau between 1931 and 1932) had also been influenced by a trip to Berlin in the early Twenties where she went to study art – but she too was appalled by the new political situation. Her mother Berta Jaffe was a Berliner who had met her Russian husband William Steyn in Limerick, Ireland, where they got married, afterwards moving to Dublin. 15 It is pointless to speculate on

13 Cf. James Knowlson, John Haynes, Images of Beckett , Cambridge: CUP 2003, p. 59. For Beckett’s letters to Dülberg see The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Volume I: 1929–1940 , edited by Martha Dow Fehsenfeld, Lois More Overbeck, Cambridge: CUP 2009. The painting by Dülberg, Abendmahl , made such an impression on Beckett that he inquired after its new location when he met Dülberg’s son Peter in Hamburg in 1936 (see Carola Veit, Becketts Hamburger Künstlergespräche, in Michaela Giesing, Gaby Hartel and Carola Veit (eds.) Das Raubauge in der Stadt – Beckett liest Hamburg , Göttingen: Wallstein 2007, pp. 102-117, 102f.). 14 Interview with the late Deirdre Hamilton, neé Sinclair (Peggy’s younger sister), Dublin 27.1.2008. 15 S.B. Kennedy, Introduction, in: Stella Steyn (1907-1987) A retrospective view with an autobiographical memoir , ed. by S.B. Kennedy, Dublin: Brunswick Press 1995, pp. 6-11, 6. In Steyn’s memoir the stay in Germany is covered in just one paragraph and she recalls her time in Berlin as not particularly important for the development of her artistic career. If her stay in Berlin taught her anything, it helped her find out where she didn’t want to focus on career-wise: “In the summer of 1931 I went to Germany to work for a year in the Bauhaus in Dessau […] This stay at the Bauhaus was, for me, a false move, apart from the interest in the political scene in Germany and the Bauhaus played in it. It had, however, the effect of turning me permanently to the painting which had its roots in tradition – which included Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, but did not include the

6 Gerhardt Gallagher, Gisela Holfter and Mícheál Ó hAodha what might have happened if National Socialism hadn’t emerged as such as powerful force but clearly there was at least some degree of cultural cross-fertilization and interchange between Irish and German artists prior to then.

While artistic links between Ireland and Germany have arguably been quite limited for a good number of years, they have certainly been on the increase in the last few decades. While it is impossible to provide an exhaustive survey of all these links and developments here, the following overview should provide some insight into the many links and connections that have defined this relationship in modern times.

Probably best known on the German side is Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) who in 1999 was honoured with the exhibition ‘Joseph Beuys Multiples’ at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. Beuys seems to have had a special affinity with Ireland, which he called “The Brain of Europe” 16 , with James Joyce, in particular, proving an ongoing inspiration to him. 17 Beuys travelled to Ireland several times during the course of his career, lecturing both in the Irish Republic and in , albeit that he did not always find the audience or appreciation he had initially expected. At a lecture in Limerick, in 1974, his audience consisted of just two nuns and a passer-by, causing Beuys to ask his friend Caroline Tisdall “why have you dragged me off to the ends of the earth? Fame in the art world only extends so far!” 18 That same year his Secret Block for a Secret Person in Ireland was exhibited in the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin, and later at the in Belfast. Brian Kennedy, the former Head of Fine and Applied Art of the Ulster Museum, still recalls speaking with Beuys and the fact that most of the discussions in relation to the Secret Block show were stage-managed, with people ‘planted’ in the audience to ask certain questions (for which they were paid!), therby contribution made by the Bauhaus or the École de Paris in their later stages.” Stella Steyn: An autobiographical memoir, in Stella Steyn , pp. 12-19, 16. 16 See Mia Hayes, Joseph Beuys in Ireland: An Interest in the Periphery, the Nomadic – and Joyce, in: Gisela Holfter, Joachim Lerchenmueller (eds), Yearbook of the Centre for Irish-German Studies 1998-1999 , Trier: WVT 1999, pp. 77-81, 79. 17 For more information see Sabine Fabo, Joyce und Beuys: Ein intermedialer Dialog , Heidelberg: C. Winter 1997 and Christa-Maria Lerm-Hayes, James Joyce als Inspirationsquelle für Joseph Beuys , Hildesheim, Zurich, N.Y.: Olms 2001. 18 Cf. Sean Rainbird, Joseph Beuys and the Celtic World , London: Tate 2005, p. 27, quoting Caroline Tisdall, Joseph Beuys: We Go This Way , London: Violette Editions 1998, p. 88.

Connections-Verbindungen: Irish-German Perspectives through Etching 7 ensuring how the discussion developed. 19 During his time in Ireland that year Beuys constructed a piece called Irish Energies, consisting of peat briquettes and butter. Its ongoing resonance in Ireland was proven in 2007 when Irish artist Seán Lynch reconstructed this “obviously fleeting” piece of work a full three decades later; a reconstruction was subsequently chosen by the online journal Postcolonial Text as a title picture for their special Irish issue since it “speaks across an art-historical temporal continuum, in addition to drawing on the critical heritage of Walter Benjamin which nourished much of the early output in Irish postcolonial studies”. 20 One of Beuys’s more popular projects, 7000 Oaks , which was initiated with the planting of oak trees for the Documenta 7 in Kassel (1982) also inspired a similar undertaking in Ireland in 2000 when seven thousand native Irish oaks were planted on the Hill of Uisneach, ancient seat to the Kings of Meath.

Rather than “obviously fleeting” as the case might have been with Beuys’ Irish Energies , the influence of Berlin-born sculptor Imogen Stuart is still a permanent presences in many Irish public spaces, church and secular buildings alike. Having lived in Ireland now for the majority of her life she feels more like an Irish-German ‘mixture’. 21 Rudolf Hetzel, who is also a Berliner by birth, but who is now often considered an Irish artist, originally came to Ireland in 1966 at the behest of Córas Tráchtála, the Irish Export Board. Their intention was to help stimulate the design processes within Irish industry, using the newly-founded Kilkenny Design Workshops as a vehicle for their endeavours. Hetzel played a pivotal role in the development of the metal and silverwork department there and later established his own studio in Kilkenny where he continues to craft distinctive contemporary jewellery in gold, platinum and silver. 22

19 Information from Brian Kennedy, 30 March 2010. I want to thank Dr Kennedy for kindly reading a draft of this paper and also adding information on further exhibitions in Belfast by German artists such as Cologne-based artist Franziskus Wendels (b. 1960) who was artist-in-residence for three months at the Ulster Museum in the autumn of 1992, where he also had a large exhibition, The Eye of the Seaman - An Expedition in Pictures , of the work of Friedemann Hahn (b. 1949) in 1996. 20 Postcolonial Text http://postcolonial.org/index.php/pct/issue/view/18. 21 Cf. Rasche, You feel yourself to be Irish then?, p. 147. 22 In December 2009 the Hunt Museum in Limerick (named after the art collectors John and German-born Gertrud Hunt who donated their art collection to the Irish State) set up an exhibition to honour Hetzel’s contribution: ‘The Devil is in the Detail, Celebrating the Jewellery of Rudolf Hetzel’.

8 Gerhardt Gallagher, Gisela Holfter and Mícheál Ó hAodha

Among those artists who do not permanently live in Ireland but spend considerable amounts of time there nonetheless is Gertrude Degenhardt. Her pictures, clearly express the influences of the Irish landscape around her and have been published to great acclaim in book form in Germany. 23 René Böll is another such artist. He spent many summers in Achill as a child, and Ireland, particularly Achill Island, is still a sort of second home to him. Apart from his international exhibitions in countries as far-flung as China, for example, his work has been exhibited in Westport, County Mayo and in Limerick - and, of course, on Achill Island. The legacy of his father, German Nobel Laureate Heinrich Böll, lives on through the work of the Achill Böll Association and the Böll cottage in Dugort where many writers and artists from Ireland, Germany and around the world have been writers or artists-in-residence over the years. Thanks to the Böll family, Bernhard Müller-Feyen (1931-2004) 24 also visited Achill in the 1960s and painted landscapes there. René Böll also brought Chinese artist Gu Gan to Achill in 1993 and was instrumental in bringing a number of Achill Island- based Irish artists to Germany where they held a very successful joint art exhibition in Cologne in 2009, called ‘Aquila’. Another example of ongoing international artistic co-operation is the annual EV+A exhibition in Limerick, which frequently includes German artists or has German curators in its ranks. In 2009 Angelika Nollert, Director of the Museum for Art and Design in Nuremberg, and Yilmaz Dziewior, Professor for Art Theory at the Art Academy in Hamburg were chosen as curators for this highly-regarded art exhibition.

As regards Irish artists in Germany, the early years fof the 21 st century has seen Berlin, in particular, become a magnet for many Irish artists. One of them is Enda O’Donoghue, originally from Limerick and who works and exhibits in a wide variety of media, ranging from paintings created from digital photographs through to video and sound installations. Declan Clarke also spent some time in Berlin and had a solo exhibition at the Goethe-Institut Dublin in 2009 entitled Loneliness in West Germany . The 1990s saw Jürgen Schneider organise numerous exhibitions for Irish artists in Berlin, Rita Duffy, Victor Sloan and Irish photographer Derek Speirs amongst them. 25 In Bremen, Monica Schefold, John Hennig’s daughter,

23 Gertrude Degenhardt, Farewell to Connaught. 65 Kaltnadel-Radierungen von der irischen Westküste . Frankfurt a.M: Büchergilde Gutenberg 1989. 24 Thanks to René Böll for this information. 25 See his documentation, Jürgen Schneider, Irische Künstlerinnen und Künstler in Berlin: galerie + edition caoc, 1991-1999. In: Gisela Holfter, Marieke Krajenbrink

Connections-Verbindungen: Irish-German Perspectives through Etching 9 who grew up in Dublin and studied art and graphics in both Dublin and Basle, has been successful with a number of exhibitions and, more recently, with a book of collages. 26 Closely linked with Munich is Seán Scully who is Professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München where he created his Munich Mirrors series. 27

Clearly, artistic endeavours and exchanges are blossoming in all areas of the arts, ranging from academic projects to inspirational solo exhibitions and (group) exchange visits. This list of ongoing collaborations and endeavours could be extended a great deal and yet it would still only record a minimal number of the artistic synergies currently taking place. Institutions such as the Goethe-Institut in Dublin, and, to a lesser degree, the Centre for Irish-German Studies at the University of Limerick also try to foster all links to the best of their abilities, ably supported by the embassies in the two countries, the various cultural organisations and the city and county art officers. Institutional support only goes so far, however. In the end, it is the individual encounter that is paramount – in the case of Gerhardt Gallagher and Margarethe Gerhardt is a prime example of this in that the contact did not first arise from visits, travels or living in the other country - albeit that these emerged to some extent from the familial relationship between them – in their case it was the generational link, provided through Gerhardt Gallagher’s mother Lisa, Margarethe Gerhardt’s daughter, who came to Ireland for the first time in 1932. It is this generational link that reminds us of the multifaceted ways in which both countries continue to work and influence one another on the cultural level.

and Edward Moxon-Browne (eds): Yearbook of the Centre for Irish-German Studies 1999/2000 , WVT: Trier 2000, pp. 78-92. 26 Märzlicht , Gedichte Inge Buck, Collagen Monica Schefold, Bremen: Sujet 2010. 27 In this context of academic influence Austro-German sculptor Friedrich Herkner (1902-86) can be named as well. He was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the National College of Art, Dublin, in 1938. In 1939 his sculpture Mother Eire , commissioned by the Irish Government, represented Ireland at the World’s Fair in New York (see Irish Press , 14.3.1939 for a short article and picture). It seems he joined the Nazi party on September 1, 1939 (see David O’Donoghue, Hitler’s Irish Voices , Dublin: Beyond the Pale 1998, p. 219) and he left Ireland ten days later and joined the German army. He returned to Ireland (and to his position at the College of Art) after the war.

MARGARETHE AND GERHARDT

A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE BY GERHARDT GALLAGHER

MARGARETHE GERHARDT (nee HOFFMANN) Painter and Etcher of the North German Landscape

Margarethe Gerhardt

12 Gerhardt Gallagher, Gisela Holfter and Mícheál Ó hAodha

Margarethe Gerhardt (née Hoffmann) was born in 1878, one of three children to Pastor Rudolf Hoffmann and Ludowika (nee Knoll), in Wittmannsdorf (Spreewald) near Posen (now Poznan in Poland), where her father was vicar and tutor to an adjoining estate. Ludowika was born to German parents in Russia but returned to Posen as a child. There were also more distant Hungarian and Spanish family connections. The Hoffmanns moved to Cusow in the Mark Brandenburg where Rudolf died at a young age. The family then moved to Halle where Ludowika died some ten years later after which Margarethe and her sister Else returned to live with an aunt in Posen.

Margarethe trained as a teacher at Königliche Luisenschule, a progressive school affiliated to a teachers training college that had an excellent reputation for teaching art, music and physical education. While staying with her godmother in Rudolstadt, she was befriended by a lady-in-waiting at the Ducal court there who arranged for her to receive individual lessons in drawing and painting. She led an active and interesting social life there.

Her uncle opposed her continuance in art education and, unable to acquire further training as an art teacher, she became a governess at Rawitsch in the house of the local prison director where she was treated as one of the family. She went back to Posen where courtesy of a mutual and deep- seated interest in music, she became a close friend of Grete and Alfred Gerhardt. In 1898 she became engaged to Alfred Gerhardt and in 1900 they were married. Alfred who was an electrical engineer by profession was working with Siemens in Posen and the couple moved to a flat in Charlottenburg/Berlin. Alfred eventually became chief engineer in the firm AEG. The Gerhardts were a business family descended from the famous Lutheran hymn composer, Pastor Paul Gerhardt, and there was a tradition then that any eldest son of the Gerhardt’s named Paul who could prove direct lineage to the composer could obtain a free scholarship to a theological faculty – although there is actually no record that this privilege was ever availed of! Alfred invented indirect theatre lighting, which was installed in the Schumann theatre in Berlin, and a type of tram, amongst other things. He had an interest in the arts, music and literature and he encouraged his wife’s painting.

During early years of her marriage, Margarethe, with the strong support of Alfred, took lessons with the painter Wilhelm Feldmann and later, in 1904, on her teacher’s advice, she went to Art College, after the birth of her first child, Eva. She took master classes in etching under the well-known

Connections-Verbindungen: Irish-German Perspectives through Etching 13 graphic artist, Hermann Struck, whose students also included Marc Chagall and Max Lieberman. After this she painted independently and was printed by the firm of Grauert and Zinck. In 1910 Alfred built a summer residence in Warnemünde on the Baltic, where they frequently went to stay. Margarethe and Alfred led an active social life with friends in the arts and sciences, attending both theatre and opera regularly and going to the great Balls, which were a feature of pre First World War Berlin. Margarethe had two daughters Eva and Lisa. Lisa was born in 1914 with a ten-year age gap between the sisters. A big party for Lisa’s christening was the last one they held, as war broke out that August.

Margarethe and Alfred

Due to Alfred’s poor health he did not serve in the forces during the war but he was involved in the electrical installations for converted merchant ships. The war and post war years brought illness and severe food shortages. Margarethe who was a good cook was resourceful in devising family meals supplemented by food baskets from Alfred’s cousins who had an estate. On one occasion she recalled that on a food search to the Market Halls she came across what she thought were hare carcasses for sale, only to be shrieked at by the market women ‘hares she says - roof hares she means!’ She fled from the feline delicacies as quickly as possible!

14 Gerhardt Gallagher, Gisela Holfter and Mícheál Ó hAodha

The family went to live in Warnemünde in 1921, as Alfred was too ill to continue working except in a consultative role. Although he survived the flu pandemic his health deteriorated and he died from tuberculosis in 1923. For a while Margarethe taught art in the girls’ school there to supplement her modest pension and to help support her family. She also managed to sell some of her etchings in Czechoslovakia and the US. Through her work and by letting rooms in the house over summer she established quite a comfortable life for Lisa and herself. Eva had been independent since the early Twenties but returned to Warnemünde for good in 1936 where she worked as a physiotherapist in the hospital at Rostock in addition to having her own private practice. It was during this period and in the years prior to the Second World War that Margarethe found inspiration for most of her work including her paintings and etchings of the north German land and seascapes. Traditional farms and farmhouses feature in many of her works.

Lisa and Roland

Lisa came to Ireland in 1932 and married Roland Gallagher in Monkstown, Co. Cork in 1935. Eva came on a visit in 1937 and it is likely that Margarethe came with her for a least part of that visit. Lisa returned to Warnemünde on holidays on two occasions after that - with her eldest son Gerhardt in 1936 and then with both boys in 1939, leaving just before war broke out.