Louis le Brocquy Táin illustrations
Encyclopedia
In 1967 Louis le Brocquy was commissioned by the publisher Liam Miller
to illustrate Thomas Kinsella's
inspired version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge
, the dramatic record of Ireland's proto-historic past. Ailbhe Ní Bhriain remarks: 'The Táin Bó Cuailnge - táin, meaning the gathering of people for a cattle raid - is a prose epic with verse passages and forms the centrepiece of the cycle of Ulster
heroic stories. It tells of the exploits of King Conchobar
and his chief warrior Cúchulainn
("The Hound of Ulster") and of the invasion of Ulster
by Queen Medb
of Connacht
in an attempt to capture the Brown Bull
of Cuailgne. Dating as far back as the twelfth century in manuscript form, this legend has been treated both academically by scholars and linguists and romantically by such Revival writers as Yeats
and Lady Gregory. The Dolmen Edition of the saga was to give, in Kinsella's words, the first "living version of the story", a version true to its blunt and brutal Gaelic
character.' Louis le Brocquy
paints several hundred calligraphic
brush drawings over a period of six months retaining 133 illustrations. The artist will note: 'Any graphic accompaniment to a story which owes its existence to the memory and concern of a people over some twelve hundred years, should decently be as impersonal as possible. The illustrations of early Celtic manuscripts express not personality but temperament. They provide not graphic comment on the text but an extension of it. Their means are not available to us today - either temperamentally or technically - but certain lessons may be learned from them relevant to the present work. In particular they suggest that graphic images, if any, should grow spontaneously and even physically from the matter of the printed text. If these images - these marks in printer's ink - form an extension to Thomas Kinsella
's Táin, they are a humble one. It is as shadows thrown by the text that they derive their substance.'
, Dublin, September 1969. Widely acknowledged as the great Irish Livre d'Artiste of the twentieth century, Seamus Heaney
writes in The Listener: 'The book is illustrated lavishly and magnificently by Louis le Brocquy
: "marks in printer's ink", he calls his contribution, "shadows thrown by the text". Sometimes they are runs, sometimes a rush of brush strokes, sometimes a tall totem in the margin. The remote significance of the story, the bold vigour among the ranks of heroes and the wily, sexual presence of the women are continuously insinuated by the graphic commentary. Altogether the poetry, painting and printing make this an important book, the fulfilment of a publishing dream.' Le Brocquy's illustrations receive critical acclaim for their level of interplay with Kinsella's writing. According to Aidan Dunne
: 'The brush drawings merged seamlessly with the text; stark, fluent images, they expressed with great economy of means an epic breadth, evoking the movement of vast masses of people. Individual participants in the drama were also pulled into close focus. To achieve this, le Brocquy developed his brilliant idiom of calligraphic illustration ... Le Brocquy's achievement lies in having absorbed the general technical possibilities and harnessed them to his own specific ends, and, in the process, having managed to break new ground. The Táin drawings managed a well-nigh perfect marriage of text and image, and their impact was considerable.'
Ailbhe Ní Bhriain further observes: 'The strong linear quality of le Brocquy's illustrations coheres with the upright, unfussy Pilgrim font, which is also suited to the direct tone of Kinsella's translation. The lettering, or initial letter, plays an important function in the livre d'artiste, and it can be seen here as a strong integrating element, as it is applied to the initial word of each tale. The bold font of the lettering echoes the dense black of le Brocquy's images, creating a fine balance between the literary and the visual symbol. These formal elements make it clear that The Tain is a production of carefully choreographed visual information, one comparable with the unity of Verlaine's language, Bonnard's arabesques, and the floral font in Parallèlement ... In his Tain illustrations, the ability of le Brocquy's drawings to emerge and dissolve gives fitting expression to the peculiar marriage of mysticism and raw physicality contained in Kinsella's text. Like gestures of primeval fear, strength, or passion, the "explosive" energy of the brushwork captures the physicalexuberance of the text, as can be seen in the images of "bodily matters" and of violence, as in the several drawings of Cúchulainn's "warp spasm".' The illustrations will establish le Brocquy's reputation as an intrepretive draftsman of considerable originality. Thomas Kinsella
will give this assessment of his collaborator: 'There are certain staying qualities that help an artist to major achievement. The gift of concentration is one (in the sense of economy as well as of intensity), and so is steady energy. le Brocquy
has these qualities to a degree unique among Irish painters or designers since the death of Jack B. Yeats. He also has that individual force, stemming from tireless curiosity, which gives coherence to a career - the kind of force that insists on artistic growth, or change, and ensures that any stimulus, however seemingly random, finds a central response.'
Exhibited for the first time at the Dawson Gallery, Dublin in October 1969, Brian Fallon writes in The Irish Times
: 'The Kinsella-Le Brocquy Tåin was a stunner in terms of book production, a triumph for Liam Miller and the Dolmen, and a high-water mark in Irish publishing ... The result is very impressive, I should say one of the very best things Le Brocquy has done. It will be impossible from now on to think of the Irish Iliad in terms of the pseudo-medieval clutter of the old-style illustrations - helmeted warriors laden with "props" and looking rather like understudies for a Wagner opera. Le Brocquy's conception is epic, stark and primitive, at times even sinister (as in the superb "Morrigan"). In an idiom that can take in its stride hints from oriental art, cave painting, Picasso and other sources he has created powerfully and economically an entire mythico-legendary world.'
The Táin, Deluxe Edition, Dolmen Edition IX (Dublin: The Dolmen Press, 1969). Limited to 50 numbered copies, signed by author, artist and designer on colophon. 133 black and white lithographic brush drawings on paper specially made by Swiftbrook Paper Mills, Co. Dublin, reproduced by line block, The National Engraving Company. Printed by Liam Browne, Dolmen Press, Dublin. Extra suite of ‘Warp Spasm’ lithographic brush drawings on three consecutive opening pages. Bound by Desmond Smith, Irish University Press Bindery to a design by Liam Miller. Vermilion oasis niger goatskin, boards stamped in gold on front and back in a design by the artist. Housed in publisher’s black cloth boxed-case.
The Táin, Hardback trade edition (Oxford/New York: O.U.P., in association with the Dolmen Press Limited, Dublin, 1970). 33 illustrations photographically reduced from the original edition. Black cloth boards, stamped in white in a design by the artist with illustrated dust-jacket.
The Táin, Paperback edition (O.U.P., Oxford/New York, 1972–2007). 30 illustrations retained. Library Edition (Mountrath, Portlaoise: The Dolmen Press, in association with the University Press of Pennsylvania, 1985). 108 illustrations photographically reduced by 11% from the original limited edition. Printed and bound by Leinster Leader Ltd. Black cloth over boards, stamped in white in a design by the artist with illustrated dust-jacket.
La Razzia, Jean-Philippe Imbert, trans. (Tours: Alfil Editions, 1996). 30 illustrations retained, paperback.
El Táin, Pura López Colomé, trans. (Mexico: Smurfit Group, 2001). Fully illustrated hardback and paperback editions.
夺牛记 (The Táin), 托马斯·金塞拉 (Thomas Kinsella),曹波 (Cao Bo) trans. (Beijing: Hunan Education Press & Yingpan Brother Publishing Co., Ltd, 2008). Paperback edition, 30 illustrations retained.
Dolmen Press
The Dolmen Press was founded by Liam and Josephine Miller in 1951. The Press operated in Dublin from 1951 until Liam Miller's death in 1987. A printing division was opened in the late 1950s as an additional revenue source, and was eventually shut down in 1979...
to illustrate Thomas Kinsella's
Thomas Kinsella
Thomas Kinsella is an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher.-Early life and work:Kinsella was born in Lucan, County Dublin. He spent much of his childhood with relatives in rural Ireland. He was educated in the Irish language at the Model School, Inchicore and the O'Connell Christian...
inspired version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge
Táin Bó Cúailnge
is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse. It tells of a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, opposed only by the teenage...
, the dramatic record of Ireland's proto-historic past. Ailbhe Ní Bhriain remarks: 'The Táin Bó Cuailnge - táin, meaning the gathering of people for a cattle raid - is a prose epic with verse passages and forms the centrepiece of the cycle of Ulster
Ulster Cycle
The Ulster Cycle , formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties Armagh, Down and...
heroic stories. It tells of the exploits of King Conchobar
Conchobar mac Nessa
Conchobar mac Nessa was the king of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He ruled from Emain Macha .-Birth:...
and his chief warrior Cúchulainn
Cúchulainn
Cú Chulainn or Cúchulainn , and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin , is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore...
("The Hound of Ulster") and of the invasion of Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
by Queen Medb
Medb
Medb – Middle Irish: Meḋḃ, Meaḋḃ; early modern Irish: Meadhbh ; reformed modern Irish Méabh, Medbh; sometimes Anglicised Maeve, Maev or Maive – is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology...
of Connacht
Connacht
Connacht , formerly anglicised as Connaught, is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the west of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for...
in an attempt to capture the Brown Bull
Donn Cuailnge
In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology Donn Cúailnge, the Brown Bull of Cooley, was an extremely fertile stud bull over whom the Táin Bó Cúailnge was fought....
of Cuailgne. Dating as far back as the twelfth century in manuscript form, this legend has been treated both academically by scholars and linguists and romantically by such Revival writers as Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
and Lady Gregory. The Dolmen Edition of the saga was to give, in Kinsella's words, the first "living version of the story", a version true to its blunt and brutal Gaelic
Gaels
The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....
character.' Louis le Brocquy
Louis le Brocquy
Louis le Brocquy is an Irish painter born in Dublin. His work has received many accolades in a career that spans seventy years of creative practice...
paints several hundred calligraphic
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
brush drawings over a period of six months retaining 133 illustrations. The artist will note: 'Any graphic accompaniment to a story which owes its existence to the memory and concern of a people over some twelve hundred years, should decently be as impersonal as possible. The illustrations of early Celtic manuscripts express not personality but temperament. They provide not graphic comment on the text but an extension of it. Their means are not available to us today - either temperamentally or technically - but certain lessons may be learned from them relevant to the present work. In particular they suggest that graphic images, if any, should grow spontaneously and even physically from the matter of the printed text. If these images - these marks in printer's ink - form an extension to Thomas Kinsella
Thomas Kinsella
Thomas Kinsella is an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher.-Early life and work:Kinsella was born in Lucan, County Dublin. He spent much of his childhood with relatives in rural Ireland. He was educated in the Irish language at the Model School, Inchicore and the O'Connell Christian...
's Táin, they are a humble one. It is as shadows thrown by the text that they derive their substance.'
The Táin, 1969
Publication of The Táin, The Dolmen PressDolmen Press
The Dolmen Press was founded by Liam and Josephine Miller in 1951. The Press operated in Dublin from 1951 until Liam Miller's death in 1987. A printing division was opened in the late 1950s as an additional revenue source, and was eventually shut down in 1979...
, Dublin, September 1969. Widely acknowledged as the great Irish Livre d'Artiste of the twentieth century, Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
writes in The Listener: 'The book is illustrated lavishly and magnificently by Louis le Brocquy
Louis le Brocquy
Louis le Brocquy is an Irish painter born in Dublin. His work has received many accolades in a career that spans seventy years of creative practice...
: "marks in printer's ink", he calls his contribution, "shadows thrown by the text". Sometimes they are runs, sometimes a rush of brush strokes, sometimes a tall totem in the margin. The remote significance of the story, the bold vigour among the ranks of heroes and the wily, sexual presence of the women are continuously insinuated by the graphic commentary. Altogether the poetry, painting and printing make this an important book, the fulfilment of a publishing dream.' Le Brocquy's illustrations receive critical acclaim for their level of interplay with Kinsella's writing. According to Aidan Dunne
Aidan Dunne
A graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Aidan Dunne was art critic of In Dublin magazine, Sunday Press and the Sunday Tribune. Currently visual arts critic of The Irish Times, Dunne has written extensively on Irish art, with essays on Michael Mulcahy, Patrick Scott, Hughie O'Donoghue,...
: 'The brush drawings merged seamlessly with the text; stark, fluent images, they expressed with great economy of means an epic breadth, evoking the movement of vast masses of people. Individual participants in the drama were also pulled into close focus. To achieve this, le Brocquy developed his brilliant idiom of calligraphic illustration ... Le Brocquy's achievement lies in having absorbed the general technical possibilities and harnessed them to his own specific ends, and, in the process, having managed to break new ground. The Táin drawings managed a well-nigh perfect marriage of text and image, and their impact was considerable.'
Thomas Kinsella
Thomas Kinsella is an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher.-Early life and work:Kinsella was born in Lucan, County Dublin. He spent much of his childhood with relatives in rural Ireland. He was educated in the Irish language at the Model School, Inchicore and the O'Connell Christian...
will give this assessment of his collaborator: 'There are certain staying qualities that help an artist to major achievement. The gift of concentration is one (in the sense of economy as well as of intensity), and so is steady energy. le Brocquy
Louis
-Surname:* Arthur Louis , British musician whose surname is pronounced 'Lewis'* Thomas Louis , British naval officer* Pierre Louÿs , French writer* Spyridon Louis , Greek runner...
has these qualities to a degree unique among Irish painters or designers since the death of Jack B. Yeats. He also has that individual force, stemming from tireless curiosity, which gives coherence to a career - the kind of force that insists on artistic growth, or change, and ensures that any stimulus, however seemingly random, finds a central response.'
Táin Portfolios, 1969
Consisting of three different sets of twelve black and white lithographic brush drawings selected from the Táin illustrations - five ‘Individual Subjects’ and four chromo-lithographic ‘Epic Shields’ separate. Limited edition of 70 proofs (one Artist’s Proof), each sheet individually signed, dated and numbered by the artist – including portfolio numbers (I, II, & III). Printed by Frank O’Reilly, Dublin, on Swiftbrook paper, each sheet 54 x 38 cm. Large folio, unbound, with title pages and black interleaves. Boxed by Museum Bookbinders, Dublin. Clamshell, black boards stamped in white in a design by the artist.Exhibited for the first time at the Dawson Gallery, Dublin in October 1969, Brian Fallon writes in The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
: 'The Kinsella-Le Brocquy Tåin was a stunner in terms of book production, a triumph for Liam Miller and the Dolmen, and a high-water mark in Irish publishing ... The result is very impressive, I should say one of the very best things Le Brocquy has done. It will be impossible from now on to think of the Irish Iliad in terms of the pseudo-medieval clutter of the old-style illustrations - helmeted warriors laden with "props" and looking rather like understudies for a Wagner opera. Le Brocquy's conception is epic, stark and primitive, at times even sinister (as in the superb "Morrigan"). In an idiom that can take in its stride hints from oriental art, cave painting, Picasso and other sources he has created powerfully and economically an entire mythico-legendary world.'
Kinsella-le Brocquy Táin editions
The Táin, Dolmen Edition IX (Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1969). Limited edition of 1,750 copies (incl. 50 Deluxe copies). 133 black and white lithographic brush drawings on paper specially made by Swiftbrook Paper Mills, Co. Dublin, reproduced by line block, The National Engraving Company. Printed by Liam Browne, Dolmen Press, Dublin, bound by Hely Thom, Dublin. Designed by Liam Miller, text composed in fourteen point Pilgrim and ten point Pilgrim with Perpetua and Felix titlings. Tall octavo, black cloth boards, stamped in white in a design by the artist, illustrated dust-jacket. Housed in publisher’s slipcase with papered boards illustrated in a design by the artist.The Táin, Deluxe Edition, Dolmen Edition IX (Dublin: The Dolmen Press, 1969). Limited to 50 numbered copies, signed by author, artist and designer on colophon. 133 black and white lithographic brush drawings on paper specially made by Swiftbrook Paper Mills, Co. Dublin, reproduced by line block, The National Engraving Company. Printed by Liam Browne, Dolmen Press, Dublin. Extra suite of ‘Warp Spasm’ lithographic brush drawings on three consecutive opening pages. Bound by Desmond Smith, Irish University Press Bindery to a design by Liam Miller. Vermilion oasis niger goatskin, boards stamped in gold on front and back in a design by the artist. Housed in publisher’s black cloth boxed-case.
The Táin, Hardback trade edition (Oxford/New York: O.U.P., in association with the Dolmen Press Limited, Dublin, 1970). 33 illustrations photographically reduced from the original edition. Black cloth boards, stamped in white in a design by the artist with illustrated dust-jacket.
The Táin, Paperback edition (O.U.P., Oxford/New York, 1972–2007). 30 illustrations retained. Library Edition (Mountrath, Portlaoise: The Dolmen Press, in association with the University Press of Pennsylvania, 1985). 108 illustrations photographically reduced by 11% from the original limited edition. Printed and bound by Leinster Leader Ltd. Black cloth over boards, stamped in white in a design by the artist with illustrated dust-jacket.
Translations
Rinderraub, Susanne Schaup, trans. (Heimeran Verlag, Munich/Rütten & Loening, Berlin in association with the Dolmen Press, 1976). One hundred and fourteen full-scale illustrations. Tall octavo, white cloth over boards, stamped in black in a design by the artist with illustrated dust-jacket.La Razzia, Jean-Philippe Imbert, trans. (Tours: Alfil Editions, 1996). 30 illustrations retained, paperback.
El Táin, Pura López Colomé, trans. (Mexico: Smurfit Group, 2001). Fully illustrated hardback and paperback editions.
夺牛记 (The Táin), 托马斯·金塞拉 (Thomas Kinsella),曹波 (Cao Bo) trans. (Beijing: Hunan Education Press & Yingpan Brother Publishing Co., Ltd, 2008). Paperback edition, 30 illustrations retained.