Commemorating the Irish Diaspora in the USA: The Role of 19th-century Paintings

• Main Author: Amelie Dochy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAES 2019-04-01
• Series: Angles
• Subjects: commemoration; painting; Irishness; private remembrance; national community; stereotypes
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/angles/678

This article explores the ways in which 19th-century paintings collected by Americans of Irish descent complement the official celebrations aimed at commemorating the Irish diaspora in the United States. It shows how these paintings are usually selected by art collectors for their authenticity, a quality often associated with artworks conveying stereotypes about Irishness as well as some nostalgia for the homeland. By exhibiting such images, an individual presents his own vision of the past and this private form of remembrance is likely to participate in the construction of a cultural identity in the collective imagination, especially when the collector lends his paintings to a public gallery. Thus, these pictorial symbols of Irishness may move from the private to the public sphere, so that they can enhance the sense national identity deriving from a commemoration organised by the state.