Celebrating the Irish `invasion' of Brittany

Irish painters of the last century who worked in the Fontainbleu region, and especially in the village of Grez-surLoing, have been receiving so much attention recently that it is easy to overlook another part of France where they also congregated in large numbers.

Brittany has always had its associations with Ireland, thanks in part to a common Celtic heritage but it also has the advantage of being relatively easy to reach by boat from here. As a result, many Irish artists over the past two centuries have travelled there to work, and the results of their time in Brittany are now being celebrated in an exhibition at Pont-Aven, called Peintres irlandais en Bretagne. The show has been curated by art historian Julian Campbell, who for many years has been researching Irish painters working in France. His accompanying catalogue examines the Hiberno-Breton cultural connection, tracing its origins back to artists Francis Danby and Louisa Costello, who visited Dinan in the 1830s. The town's inherently picturesque qualities made it a natural attraction for many members of the romantic movement, who also appreciated the regional costumes of the local population; Louisa Costello remarked that these clothes made their wearers look "like living representatives of the Roman de la Rose".

Of course, Irish travellers had spent time in Brittany before that date but it was only during the post Franco-Prussian war of 1870 that painters, not just from Ireland but indeed from elsewhere in France too, descended on the region in large numbers. Among the most famous of these, at least posthumously, was Gauguin, who settled in Pont-Aven in 1886 and became a friend of Roderic O'Conor. The latter spent 12 years in Brittany, from 1892 onwards, but by then many other Irish artists had spent time working there. In addition to O'Conor, the best-known of these included Aloysius O'Kelly, Walter Osborne and Joseph Kavanagh.

The relatively cheap cost of living was one obvious reason for Brittany's allure; Julian Campbell notes that in October 1877, O'Kelly wrote to his brother, James, from Pont-Aven saying he would spend the winter in the town because it was so inexpensive.

Dinan, Pont-Aven and Quimperle were superseded in the late 19th/early 20th century by Concarneau as a favourite source of inspiration for Irish artists. John Lavery, William Leech and May Guinness were just some of the painters who produced views of the port and harbour of Concarneau; this must be one of the most reproduced prospects in the history of Irish art.

Indeed, a certain repetition of images was noted as early as 1884 by the Freeman's Journal, which commented with some acerbicity that "Continental streets have been done to death by Irish artists, who forget that at our very doors are to be found subjects equally picturesque and far more interesting". Nonetheless, there are, as Julian Campbell points out, a number of reasons why Brittany proved to be such a popular and consistently fertile source of inspiration Irish artists. Obviously the light in this region of France was advantageous, as was the presence of water, with all the challenges in reproducing these elements.

In addition to cheap living, there was an abundance of unusual spectacles to capture; for much of the 19th century, Brittany was a backward area in which old customs and traditions had survived. So very often Irish artists would portray the old religious services and processions in which costumes unchanged for centuries would be worn.

The harsh life of sailors and peasants and their families also offered abundant opportunities for artists, as did the many beggars who gathered on the local streets seeking money. Campbell notes that the intention behind these pictures was rarely a desire to prick the viewer's social conscience. More often, it was simply that the people shown were simply the most immediate and effective subjects. The exhibition in Pont-Aven features work by all the most important artists working in Brittany in the 19th and present century, running from early visitors such as Nathaniel Hone and Augustus Burke through to May Guinness and William Scott. In between these comes examples of work by Leech, Lavery, Osborne, O'Conor and Kavanagh among others.

Irish visitors to Brittany this summer are well advised to call into the Pont-Aven's museum to see what earlier generations of artists have made of the region.

Peintres irlandais en Bretagne continues at the Musee de Pont-Aven until September 27th; the exhibition is due to be shown at Cork's Crawford Municipal Art Gallery in the second half of next year. The accompanying French/ English catalogue by Julian Campbell is now available from the Musee de Pont-Aven, Place de l`Hotel de Ville, 29930 Pont-Aven, France, price: 160 French francs.