The Routledge Companion to Irish Art

This companion contains new and innovative writing on Irish art and its history, from c. 1800 to the present day.

This book critically engages with Irish art in a period linked to key events in Irish history, beginning with the Acts of Union between Britain and Ireland (1800–01)) and the significant social and cultural changes that resulted. The book also provides a precedent for a focus on the significance of art in relation to other subsequent key historical events such as the early twentieth-century struggles for independence or the role of political conflict in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s onwards and its aftermath. Key themes covered include tradition and innovation; upheavals of history; place, location, and artistic formations; Irish art and the wider world; and embodiment and identity. The book expands the critical discourse around Irish art over this period, both within Ireland and beyond, and encourages the potential for future scholarship in fields and periods not covered.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students working in art history, Irish studies, and colonial studies.