City honours major artistic figures

Two of Dublin's most distinguished artists, Louis le Brocquy and Thomas Kinsella, received the city's highest honour last night when the Freedom of the City was conferred on both. The ceremony took place at Dublin City Hall before a large attendance led by the Lord Mayor, Cllr Vincent Jackson.

In 1969, both artists collaborated on The Táin,Thomas Kinsella's acclaimed translation of the Irish prose epic Táin Bó Cuailgne, for which Louis le Brocquy created a celebrated series of brush drawings.

Dublin city manager John Tierney told the gathering that the honours were being conferred on the two men following a resolution passed unanimously by the city council on February 5th last, in recognition of their "enormous contribution to the city, in art and literature".

The Lord Mayor said the occasion was taking place "to pay homage to the vast contribution made by two of the city's greatest artisans".

He said Thomas Kinsella "could indeed be adorned with the well-deserved title of laureate of Dublin".

Quoting critic Peter Sirr, he referred to Kinsella's "intense and multifaceted relationship with several Dublins: the city of his childhood with its narrow streets and dark yards; and the Georgian city of his young adulthood." He felt Kinsella's portrayal of Dublin "stands proudly" with Joyce's memoirs of his native city.

Presented with an illuminated scroll and a piece of Waterford crystal, Kinsella said that "writing, for most of my life, has been a solitary matter - trying to respond as precisely as I could to mostly very private impulses. But these efforts - also for most of my life - have had a Dublin setting. And it has always seemed important to be just as clear about the setting as about those private matters." He "learned to look at the world through the rich reality of central Dublin".

The honour he received last night he would "take as a sign that maybe my efforts have succeeded: that I wasn't talking only to myself."

The Lord Mayor quoted Louis le Brocquy on the painter " as an archaeologist of the spirit, patiently disturbing the surface of things until he makes a discovery which will enable him to take his search further."

Cllr Jackson continued that this "search for discovery" led to le Brocquy "becoming one of Ireland's most celebrated and respected artists".

On receipt of his illuminated scroll and piece of Waterford crystal, Louis le Brocquy said that when he was young "I used to refer to myself, ironically, as a west Belgian". But, in later years, as he travelled through Europe studying the old masters, he discovered "each had a distinct local origin. I knew myself for the first time as a Dubliner with roots in Ireland."

He paid tribute to his wife Anne Madden and sons Alexis and Pierre, "to Pierre in particular for his devotion to my work this past 15 years. He thanked the city "for the rare honour I have received".

Among the large attendance were members of the city council. Also there were poets Seamus Heaney, Denis O'Driscoll, John F Deane, and John O'Donnell, publisher Peter Fallon, Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains, Garech de Brún, and Gavin Friday.

There too were Joe Mulholland of the McGill summer school, the French ambassador Frédéric Grasset, artists Robert Ballagh and Patrick Scott, novelist Colm Tóibín, Eoin McGonigal, chairman of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Marie Rooney of the Gate Theatre, Gerry Smyth, managing editor at The Irish Times, and Alice Leahy of Trust.