Aloysius O'Kelly (1853-1936) Expectation, West of Ireland Oil on canvas, 74.5 x 62.5cm (29.5 x 24.4'') Signed Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy 1881, Cat. No. 323 ''Aloysius O'Kelly...

Aloysius O'Kelly (1853-1936) Expectation, West of Ireland Oil on canvas, 74.5 x 62.5cm (29.5 x 24.4'') Signed Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy 1881, Cat. No. 323 ''Aloysius O'Kelly Retrospective Exhibition'' The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin Nov 1999 - Jan 2000, Cat. No. 5 Literature: ''Aloysius O'Kelly - Re-orientations'' by Niamh O'Sullivan (1999) full page illustration p.19 ''Irish Rural Interiors in Art'' by Claudia Kinmonth (2006) p.85, full page illustration p.86 This painting provides an indirect commentary on many aspects of life in the west of Ireland in the late nineteenth century. O'Kelly's scenes of domestic contentment promoted a new image of the peasantry that countermanded the prevailing stereotypes of the Irish. The thatched cottage stood for simplicity and community solidarity - for traditional values and national virtues embodying the concept of the state-in-waiting. Making the homes of Ireland Irish was considered analogous to the creation of the nation. O'Kelly's mother and child, set in a prosperous traditional Irish cottage, is thus politically redemptive. The geraniums are in full bloom, the turf glows in the fire, and the over-flowing bowl of potatoes contrasts with more traditional images of want. In contrast to the landless labourers who lived in small one-roomed cabins (sharing the warmth with their few animals), this is an image of plenty, and full of promise. Even the title - Expectation, West of Ireland - is auspicious. The allegorization of Ireland as woman is historically embedded in Irish literature, but it also occurs in visual representation; here her role is clear. The toddler-boy is dressed in a transitional garment, as his beautiful mother nurtures him towards manhood and, by implication, independence. (Up to the age of puberty, boys were dressed like girls, in a dress or frock with a red or white flannel skirt, sewn at the waist to a cotton or linen bodice which came to the calf, the bodice of which was buttoned up the back, and the skirt pleated horizontally to allow for growth. The practice of dressing boys as girls was intended to deflect the fairies from taking a boy child and leaving a changeling in his place.) The little boy must have re-awakened memories for the painter of his dead nephew and godchild, Jamie, the offspring of a bigamous marriage between his brother, James and a young American girl. Little Jamie died in 1879, at about the same age as this little boy. O'Kelly played an unusually intimate and protective role in this boy's brief life. It would seem therefore that this is also a personal image of loss. Professor Niamh O'Sullivan, June 2009

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