terça-feira, 17 de dezembro de 2019

The Book of Kells in literature

The Book of Kells in literature

The text of the Book of Kells is a copy of the four gospels in Latin, so not an ‘original’ work of literature. However, the almost magical quality of the manuscript, as a material object, has provided inspiration for numerous writers in prose and poetry. It has been drawn upon in many different ways, forming sometimes the central theme of the work, or alluded to in more subtle ways.
The ‘otherworldliness’ of the manuscript has seen it feature in a number of works of fantasy and science fiction. R.A. McAvoy’s, The Book of Kells (1985) uses the manuscript as the central theme of a fantasy, in which a modern-day couple time-travel back to medieval Ireland to avenge a Viking attack.
Figure 1 and 2 - book covers of R.A. McAvoy's. *The Book Of Kells* (1985) and Guardians of the Galaxy *'The Irish Wolfhound'  Fig 1. R.A. McAvoy’s. The Book Of Kells (1985), Fig 2. Guardians of the Galaxy ‘The Irish Wolfhound’.
In the Marvel Comic’s Guardians of the Galaxy issue ‘The Irish Wolfhound’, the story again involves the manuscript. This time, it has been used by ‘The Calligrapher’ to write the definitive story of the invasion of the Martians that was soon to occur. It then disappears only to be rediscovered centuries later at Newgrange, from where it must be saved by the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Figures 3-4 - book covers of Deborah Lattimore’s, *The sailor who captured the sea: A story of the Book of Kells and Eithne Massey’s book based on the film *The Secret of Kells* (O’Brien Press, 2009)  Fig 3. Deborah Lattimore’s, The Sailor who Captured the Sea: A Story of the Book of Kells (1991), Fig 4. Eithne Massey’s book based on the film The Secret of Kells (O’Brien Press, 2009).
In children’s literature, the story of the making of the book, during turbulent times of Viking attack is the setting for both Deborah Lattimore’s, The Sailor who Captured the Sea: A Story of the Book of Kells (1991) and Eithne Massey’s book based on the film The Secret of Kells (O’Brien Press, 2009).
Figures 5-6 - book covers of Bartholomew Gill's, *Death in Dublin* and Ian Wild’s Short Story, *The Woman who Swallowed the Book of Kells. Fig 5. Bartholomew Gill’s, Death in Dublin. (Avon, 2002), Fig 6. Ian Wild’s Short Story, The Woman who Swallowed the Book of Kells. (Fish Publishing, 2000).
Art theft is a common theme in the genre of thriller writing, and although thankfully it is over 1,000 years since the manuscript suffered this fate, it has happened more recently in fiction. The theft of Ireland’s greatest cultural treasure – and murder of the night watchman in the process – is the central theme of Bartholomew Gill’s Death in Dublin (Avon, 2002). This triggers a series of events that threaten to bring about the entire destruction of contemporary Irish Society. The disappearance of the manuscript is also the theme of Ian Wild’s Short Story, The Woman who swallowed the Book of Kells (Fish Publishing, 2000). In this case, as the title suggests, this is not the work of ruthless criminals, but of a woman with a penchant for (literally) eating biblical texts. The consequences of this particular meal however, precipitate an unexpected series of events when she returns home to her native Cork…

In the comments section below:

  • Have you come across the Book of Kells in any fictional books or magazines you have read?
  • How was the Book presented and what themes did it represent?
  • If you haven’t come across the Book of Kells in this way, how would you present the Book in a work of fiction?

postado por professorpier @ dezembro 17, 2019   0 Comentários

Mags Harnett - Scribe2Scribe pangur ban

Mags Harnett - Scribe2Scribe

Another example of using the Book in modern times can be seen in Dublin-based artist Mags Harnett’s work. In the past, the motivation of artists copying the artwork of the Book of Kells lay in creating accurate copies of the artwork that spoke of Irishness or were seen as appropriate to religious contexts.
The text of the Book of Kells is written in Latin, and as we have seen, some of its symbolism assumes an understanding of quite complex theological ideas. In spite of this, the artwork of the manuscript remains accessible and familiar, even if it is now interpreted in very different ways.
For her exhibition, Scribe2Scribe held at Trinity College in 2014, Dublin-based artist Mags Harnett copied the style of the Book of Kells, imitating the calligraphy and decoration of certain pages, but changed the language in the most radical way she could think of; into text messaging language.
Figure 1 - Mags Harnett working from the facsimile copy of the Book of Kells. Fig 1. Mags Harnett working from the facsimile copy of the Book of Kells. Photo: Library of Trinity College Dublin.
Sending a text message is immediate, there is no decoration. The sender does not possess any craftsmanship. She wanted to merge this modern immediacy with the ancient craft of the scribes to produce work focusing on the visual aspect of the Manuscript.
Through her use of humour she imagines its authors as real people and also provokes the viewer to think about the changes which have occurred in the communication of the written word over the past twelve centuries.
Figs 2 to 6. Examples of Mags Harnetts' work. Image of the Virgin and Child with 'No Word from Himself' at the bottom of the page, Parchment with 'Story bro, not gud man. Vikings comm off 2 Kells. OMG R U Taking Book. 2 Right I am'. Parchment with 'LoL' illustrated onto it. Parchment with OMG illustrated Figs 2 to 6 Examples of Mags Harnetts' work. Figs 2 to 6. Examples of Mags Harnetts’ work. © Mags Harnett
More recently her work has also engaged with Twitter
Fig 7 - Fig 8, more examples of Mags Harnetts' work. An image of a blue bird with the latin word for 'to twitter' and a Twitter discussion, both recreated in the insular style of the Book of Kells. Figs 7 and 8. Mags Harnett - Titiatio (latin word meaning ‘to twitter’). © Mags Harnett

In the comments section below:

  • What aspect(s) of the Book of Kells resonate most with you?
  • How would you translate these into contemporary text or illustration ?

postado por professorpier @ dezembro 17, 2019   0 Comentários

segunda-feira, 16 de dezembro de 2019

Curate the Book of Kells!

Banners from the Book of Kells exhibition in Trinity College Dublin

Curate the Book of Kells!

Thinking about what you have learned across the four weeks of this course, we would like you to imagine that you are the curator or keeper of the Book of Kells at Trinity College.
  • What would you include in an exhibition of the Book of Kells?
  • What week do you think is the most important for visitors to understand the Book? (i.e. History, Making, Meaning or Modern).
  • What week do you think is the most interesting for visitors to understand the Book? (i.e. History, Making, Meaning or Modern).
  • How would you make it interesting to visitors in modern times?
  • Is there anything missing…?

postado por professorpier @ dezembro 16, 2019   0 Comentários

James Joyce and the Book of Kells

James Joyce and the Book of Kells

The most celebrated writer to have derived inspiration from the Book of Kells is James Joyce. Joyce owned a copy of Edward Sullivan’s 1914 text on the manuscript which contained a number of colour reproductions accompanied by a commentary.
Figures 1 and 2. James Joyce and the cover of Edward Sullivan's book on the Book of Kells Fig 1. James Joyce CC-PD Fig 2. Edward Sullivan’s influential book, published in 1914 CC-PD
Writing to his friend Arthur Power he noted
‘In all the places I have been to, Rome, Zurich, Trieste, I have taken it about with me, and have pored over its workmanship for hours. It is the most purely Irish thing we have, and some of the big initial letters which swing right across the page have the essential quality of a chapter of Ulysses. Indeed, you can compare much of my work to the intricate illuminations.’
The hours spent by Joyce looking at Sullivan’s book reveal themselves throughout the pages of Joyce’s most perplexing work, Finnegans Wake. The most obvious references are contained within the ‘Mamafesta’ chapter, which, over four pages (119–123) describes a letter written by Anna Liva Plurabel memorialising her late husband. The letter is exhumed from a local rubbish heap by a neighbour’s hen, alluding to the recovery of the Book of Kells from under a sod after its theft in 1007. Throughout Joyce’s description of the letter he constantly draws on O’Sullivan’s description of the Book of Kells:
‘the sudden spluttered petulance of some capitalized mIddle; a word as cunningly hidden in its maze of confused drapery as a field mouse in a nest of coloured ribbons’ (120.5–6)
parodies Sullivan’s description of Kells
‘[…] the creeping undulations of serpentine forms, that writhe in artistic profusion throughout the mazes of its decoration’ (p.1)
’[…] all those red raddled obeli cayennepeppercast over the text, calling unnecessary attention to errors, omissions, repetitions and misalignments… (120.14–16)
This is a reference to the red crosses on fol. 218v of Kells, indicating that the text of the previous page has been erroneously repeated, as described by Sullivan: ‘Attention is drawn to the error by four obeli in red, running down the middle of the page between the lines, and others round the margins’.
Figure 3, from the Book of Kells, a page of text framed by red crosses Fig 3. Fol. 218v of the Book of Kells. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
‘The curious warning sign before our protoparent’s ipsissima verba (a very pure nondescript, by the way, sometimes a palmtailed otter, more often the arbutus fruitflowerleaf of the cainapple) which paleographers call a leak in the thatch or the aranman ingperwhis through the hole of his hat, indicating that the words which follow may be taken in any order desired’ (121.08–13)
Here Joyce is parodying Sullivan’s description of the symbol C found on fol. 19v ‘known in Irish MSS. as “head under the wing” or “turn under the path” …indicates that the words immediately following it are to be read after the end of the next full line’ (p. 10).
Figure 4, from the Book of Kells, a C shape next to a lion Fig 4. Fol. 19v of the Book of Kells. The C shape referred to in the text is immediately to the right of the lion. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Folio 124r, which contains the phrase TUNC CRUCIFIXERANT XPI CUM EO DUOS LATRONES, ‘then there were crucified with him two thieves’ (Matthew 27:38) is the ‘cruciform postscript’, or kisses on the letter.
’[…] then (coming over to the left aisle corner down) the cruciform postscript from which three basia or shorter and smaller oscula have been over carefully scraped away, plainly inspiring the tenebrous Tunc page of the Book of Kells (and then it need not be lost sight of that there are exactly three squads of candidates for the crucian rose awaiting their turn in the marginal panels of Columkiller, chugged in their three ballot boxes, then set apart for such hanging committees […]’
Originally there were four kisses (‘with four crosskisses for holy paul holey corner holipoliwhollyisland’ (111.17), but three of them have been scraped away, leaving just one. Joyce compares the three panels of men ‘sitting in their ballot boxes to the missing kisses (oscula and basia – Latin for kisses). ‘Columkiller’, is of course a play on the name of St Colum Cille.
Figure 5. Folio 124r from the Book of Kells, Fig 5. Fol. 124r from the Book of Kells. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Joyce records that the letter
‘showed no signs of punctuation of any sort’ (123.33), but if you hold it up to the light, you can see it’s been ‘pierced by numerous stabs and gashes made by a pronged instrument.’ (124.01–3)
Sullivan highlights in the Book of Kells ‘the many consecutive lines, embracing two or three fully completed sentences, where there is no trace of punctuation at all.’ (p.35).
The Wake letter is undated
‘the studious omission of year number and era name from the date, the one and only time when our copyist seems at least to have grasped the beauty of restraint’. (121.28)
On the date of the Book of Kells, Sullivan says ‘Indications to suggest its time of birth have been sought in all possible directions. Historical evidence is of little assistance. The Manuscript itself fails us where, conceivably, it might have helped us most, for the page that should have told its story is unfortunately no longer there’. (p. 26).
© Trinity College Dublin

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postado por professorpier @ dezembro 16, 2019   0 Comentários

domingo, 15 de dezembro de 2019

A shrine of ‘Celtic’ art

A shrine of ‘Celtic’ art

Hidden away off a residential street in the Dublin suburb of Dún Laoghaire is a masterpiece of painted decoration inspired by the Book of Kells.
Figures 1 and 2. The high altar in the oratory and an artist's impression of its original exterior Fig 1. The high altar in the oratory. Photo: Rachel Moss. Fig 2. Artist’s impression of the original exterior of the oratory (a modern building has now been constructed around it). © Irish Dominican Sisters.
The Oratory of the Sacred Heart was built in the grounds of the Dominican convent at Dún Laoghaire in 1919, in memory of the Irishmen killed during World War 1. Modest both in scale and architectural adornment, the decoration of its interior was undertaken by one of the community’s nuns, Sr Mary Concepta Lynch, between 1920 and her death in 1936. Born Lily Lynch, Sr Mary Concepta was the daughter of an illustrator, Thomas Joseph Lynch, and had been trained by him in the art of ‘Celtic’ design.
Figures 3-5. Detail from the opening of the Gospel of Mark in the Book of Kells, Sister Mary Concept’s copy of the detail from folio 130r., and detail of the south wall of the oratory, respectively Fig 3. Detail from the opening of the Gospel of Mark in the Book of Kells fol. 130r. Photo: Rachel Moss. Fig 4. Sr Mary Concept’s copy of the detail from fol. 130r. Photo: Rachel Moss. Fig 5. Detail of the south wall of the oratory. Photo: Rachel Moss.
Sr Mary Concepta used old window blinds from the convent to first draw out her designs and then create stencils, allowing her to ‘map’ her designs on the walls and ceiling of the little chapel. Some elements were inspired directly by the Book of Kells, such as the figure being bitten by a lion, found at the opening of St Mark’s Gospel fol. 130r, decorative borders with lions’ heads and intertwined birds and circles filled with Celtic spirals.
Figures 6-8. Detail of the oratory decoration, imagery of a lion's head and a circle filled with spirals in the top right corner, and further design close to the oratory ceiling, respectively. Fig 6. Detail of the oratory decoration showing a complex interlace design only loosely based on the Book of Kells. Photo: Rachel Moss. Fig 7. Details such as the circle filled with spirals and biting lion’s head in the top right corner take more direct inspiration from the Book of Kells. Photo: Rachel Moss. Fig 8. This design is located close to the ceiling of the oratory. It is less densely coloured and may be unfinished. Photo: Rachel Moss.
But Sr Mary Concepta was not a mere copyist, and many of her designs are original, taking their lead from the Book of Kells in terms of the density, complexity and colour of the ornament, but drawing inspiration too from the sinuous curves of the Art Nouveau style, then at the height of its popularity.
Together with her work on the oratory, Sr Mary Concepta taught art at the Dominican convent and a number of her other designs and teaching aids survive. One, painted on linen, is a prayer to St Colum Cille, requesting assistance for contemporary artists working in the ‘Celtic’ manner.
Figure 9, a painted linen banner Fig 9. A painted linen banner decorated by Sr Mary Concepta. © Irish Dominican Sisters.
Text of the prayer: Saint Columcille
A prince was he St Columcille
A poet too with words at will
A genius born, an artist rare
All work he did with wonderous care
He taught his monks the Celtic art
Dots curves and lines, each took a part
And so to us and to the nation
Came down from them illumination
O may the spirit of this saint
Watch o’er us, guide us, as we paint
New lines, new tints, tho’ we be late
The Book of Kells we’ll imitate
Creation of the monks of old
In green and scarlet, red and gold
The tracery so firm, so fine
Seemed wrought indeed by hands divine
© Trinity College Dublin

postado por professorpier @ dezembro 15, 2019   0 Comentários

The Book of Kells as Irish icon

The Book of Kells as Irish icon

As we have seen, throughout the nineteenth century, the numbers of visitors coming to see the Book of Kells were relatively modest, and publications of its artwork relatively few. So how did its fame spread so widely in the final decades of the nineteenth century? The answer lies in mass consumption, from the middle of the nineteenth century, for jewellery and other luxury goods to be produced in a revivalist or historical style.
From at least as early as the 1840s a number of Dublin jewellery firms, including George Waterhouse and Co. and West and Sons, had begun to make copies of ancient brooches. The period coincided with the rise of the middle classes, and the beginnings of overseas tourism to Ireland, creating a new market with a particular interest in designs based on specifically Irish antiquities. The range of designs soon expanded and before too long letters from the Book of Kells (most likely based on the designs of Helen d’Olier) were appearing on bracelets and brooches created by the Irish jeweller Joseph Johnson.
Figure 1, advertisement for Celtic-style jewellery Fig 1. An advertisement for some of the Celtic revival wares made by the jewellers Hopkins and Hopkins, including Book of Kells-inspired bangles. CC-PD.
The success of the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 – a large public international exhibition aimed at showcasing ‘works of industry of all nations’ – preceded a series of World’s Fairs and exhibitions of culture and industry across Europe and the US. This provided the perfect forum for jewellers and other Irish craftspeople to show, and sell, their distinctively Irish art to a broader audience.
Among these were a number of groups who, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement’s backlash against mass–production, had been formed to promote the use of native materials, such as wool, linen and lace, made by local artisans. For example, the Donegal Industrial fund, established in 1883 by Mrs Ernst Harte, taught local Donegal women how to spin and dye local woollen yarns and weave it into a style called ‘Kells embroidery’. Harte had visited the Book of Kells and turning its pages had
‘revealed to [her] a mine and storehouse of design. In a few square inches of these wondrous pages there was more design than in sheaves of original drawings turned out from South Kensington [art school]’. A decade after its foundation, these wares were on sale at a major stand in the Chicago World’s Fair.
Fig 2, Kells embroidery designs Fig 2. Kells embroidery designs. In fact, inspiration for some of these designs comes from other early Irish works, including the Book of Durrow. CC-PD.
Another collective, established in the early twentieth century by Evelyn Gleeson and Elizabeth and Lily Yeats – sisters of the poet W.B. Yeats – continued the tradition of creating quality hand crafted products drawing on ‘Celtic’ art, including the book of Kells, for inspiration. Among their masterworks are the embroidered textiles created for the Honan Chapel in Cork, all of which draw inspiration from images derived from the Book of Kells (most likely through the medium of Edward Sullivan’s book on the manuscript.
Fig 3, a cushion with a design based on St John from the Book of Kells Fig 3. A cushion made by the Dun Eimear guild for the Honan chapel, Cork, based on the symbol of St John from fol. 27v. Honan chapel collection, University College Cork.
In more recent years the role of imagery from the Book of Kells as Irish national symbols has been consolidated by its use on the 2p coin, on part of the £5 note and a special issue 20 euro coin in 2012, as well as on national postage stamps. Its distinctive artwork continues to appear in great variety on a wide range of souvenirs – not all always adhering to the same Irish-made fine quality promoted in the early years of their production.
Figs 4-7, an Irish 2 pence coin, a special issue €20 coin, an Irish £5 note, Irish postage stamps, respectively. Each have designed influenced by the Book of Kells Fig 4. An Irish 2 pence coin. © Central Bank of Ireland. Fig 5. A special issue €20 coin. © Central Bank of Ireland. Fig 6. An Irish £5 note. © Central Bank of Ireland. Fig 7. Irish postage stamps. © An Post.

In the comments section below:

• Why do you think the artwork of the Book of Kells became such a popular theme in consumer goods?
• Do you think its popularity will continue this way in the future?
© Trinity College Dublin

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postado por professorpier @ dezembro 15, 2019   0 Comentários

The Book of Kells in popular culture

Skip to 0 minutes and 10 secondsIn all the places I've been to-- Rome, Zurich, Trieste-- I have brought it about with me and I have pored over its workmanship for hours. It is the most purely Irish thing we have. So wrote James Joyce about his copy of the Book of Kells. The transformation of the Book of Kells from being just a medieval Bible to being artist muse and national symbol goes back to the mid-19th century. This was the period of the Industrial Revolution-- a time of great change, where people sought security by looking back to their past. It was also a time of the flourishing of national histories.
Skip to 0 minutes and 54 secondsIn Ireland, historians looked back to the period prior to the 12th century-- the time of colonisation of Ireland by the Anglo Normans. They sought out evidence of its sport, its literature, its language, and its art. Up until the mid-19th century, the Book of Kells remained relatively inaccessible. Stored in the vaults of the library at Trinity College, it was available for study for Fellows of the college, their acquaintances, and students. This was the period before photography. So the only way of making its artwork more accessible was through laborious copying with pen and watercolour. With the introduction of new print technologies in the mid-19th century, some of these earlier copies were published. One such example is the work of Joseph Westwood.
Skip to 1 minute and 54 secondsWe know that he had direct access to the manuscript, because he signed his initials on the last folio. The difficulties in replicating the intricacy of the pages of the Book of Kells are evident in these early copies. Although the accuracy of early reproductions of art from the Book of Kells left something to be desired, it soon caught the public imagination. And different letters and motifs from the book were soon to be found-- not only in books dealing with the history of Irish art-- but also in manuals for designers. By the 1880s, it was possible to buy a range of products decorated with Book of Kells motifs.
Skip to 2 minutes and 38 secondsWhether broches or bracelets formed from letters from the Book of Kells, pottery, furniture, or indeed embroidery on aristocratic ladies dresses-- Book of Kells motifs became the height of fashion, and were seen as an appropriate way to express not only one's knowledge of Irish history, but also one's Irishness. This role as an expression of Irish national identity continued into the 20th century and the foundation of the Irish state. The motifs from the Book of Kells were merged with the more fashionable Art Nouveau style to create whole new artworks, reflective of our nationality. One example of this are the war memorial books commissioned from the artist Harry Clark to commemorate the Irish war dead from World War I.
Skip to 3 minutes and 30 secondsThe borders of these books are decorated with sinuous interlace designs that reflect at the same time the art of the Book of Kells, but also the more fashionable Art Nouveau style. Moving into modern times-- just as a visitor returning from Paris might have bought a key ring with the Eiffel Tower on it, so to tourists returning home from Ireland can avail of a range of souvenirs decorated with Book of Kells imagery. Somebody may purchase a tie decorated with a Book of Kells animal-- perhaps simply to reflect that they have ticked the Book of Kells off their bucket list-- or it may simply be because they appreciate the design.
Skip to 4 minutes and 16 secondsBut it may also continue to be an expression of their affiliation with Ireland.


The Book of Kells in popular culture

For almost two hundred years now, the Book of Kells, ‘the most Irish thing we have’, has provided inspiration to all manner of artists.
The transformation of the Book of Kells, from ‘just’ an ancient illustrated bible to both muse and national icon goes back to the mid nineteenth century. As this was the period that preceded photography, the only means of making its now famous art more widely available was through manual copying, usually with pen and watercolour.
However, with the public exhibition of the manuscript and the introduction of photography, the artwork gradually became more famous and was reproduced in all manner of contexts. As an expression of what was seen as pure ‘Celtic’ art it also took on the role of national symbol, and was used as a means of expressing ‘Irishness’.
© Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin

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postado por professorpier @ dezembro 15, 2019   0 Comentários