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WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
93
151
Gabriel Hayes (1909-1978)
AN TÓSTAL COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE
bronze
signed lower centre
21 by 21 by 0.5 in. (53.34 by 53.34 by 1.27cm)
Lesser known Irish female artists were celebrated in the publication
Irish Women Artists 1800-2009 Familiar But Unknown (ed. Éimear
O’Connor) in 2010 and among those highlighted was Kildare sculptor
Gabriel Hayes.
Although she exhibited almost annually with the RHA from 1932 to
1947, was the recipient of the coveted Taylor Art Prize (1934), received
numerous public and ecclesiastical commissions and, when Irish
currency went decimal in 1971, designed several of the coins, little
recognition has been awarded her since her death in 1978.
Among her major commissions are the panels for the then Department
of Industry and Commerce, Kildare Street (1941) and the more than life
size 14 Stations of the Cross for Galway Cathedral. In 1977 she won the
gold medal for sculpture at the Oireachtas Exhibition with Gráinne
Mhaol carved from American walnut.
This sizeable bronze is likely to have been a presentation plaque for An
Tóstal (inaugurated in 1953). Irish life is celebrated in this piece around
a central figure holding a torch to symbols of the provinces. It is typical
of her style with its flat stylised rendering of figures and animals. Hayes’
husband was Professor Seán P. Ó Ríordáin who became a household
name in the 1950s for his appearances on the BBC television
programme ‘Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?’
€
3,000-
€
4,000 (£2,220-£2,960 approx.)