Career
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Although Irene Broe came from a family of artists, with her brother Desmond Broe and father Leo Broe both artists themselves, Irene's career in art almost never happened as initially she chose to undertake beauty studies instead, however in 1947 she enrolled in the National College of Art, first taking night classes and then enrolling as a full time student. Irene developed more of a modern style of art compared to her father Leo and brother Desmond's traditional approach during their careers. Irene sculpted many portrait heads and a small amount of religious art also.[1] Broe became a member of the first council of the Institute of the Sculptors of Ireland and took part in their annual exhibitions from 1953-1957[2] . From 1953 Broe exhibited more than twenty nine pieces of art at the Royal Hibernian Academy. She eventually moved to London in 1958 and continued to create art over there.[2]
One of Broes best known pieces is her statue of St. Valentine which can be found in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Whitefriar street in Dublin. The statue shows St. Valentine in the “red vestments of a martyr and holding a crocus in his hand” [3]. The shrine and statue is visited by countless people every year who come to admire Broes work. Broe carved another religious piece in 1961, sculpting a statue of St. Clare which can now be found in Merchants Quay in Dublin at the Church of Adam and Eve. The statue was shipped for casting in 1961 and the plaster ended up at The Exhibition of Irish Sacred Art in 1962.[2]
Broe sculpted many heads of people including her family members including Leo Broe, Desmond Broe and her son Shane Broe but also some sculptures of political figures and other notable people. Some of the portraits that Broe sculpted include Roger Casement, W. B. Yeats, Donagh O’Malley, Brendan Behan and Samuel Beckett.(Byrne et al., 2015). These portraits were made from bronze and have become some of her most famous works. In 2013 the Bronze bust of the former Minister for Education in Ireland, Donagh O’Malley sold at an auction for 1,036 US dollars[4](Irene Broe | Biography, n.d.). Eight bronze castings have been made of the piece of art. The sculpture was made shortly before he passed away in 1968, eight bronze castings were made and some can be found within colleges in Ireland such as Trinity College Dublin, the University of Limerick and The National College of Ireland[2]. In 1959 Irene Broe moved with her husband to Malaysia and lived there for seven years continuing her career. Broe was “actively involved in the art scene in Malaysia” [1], she took part in exhibitions in Malaysia and received many commissions. Broe was asked to sculpt a bust of Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, commissioned by the National Union of Plantation Workers. This piece was present in the Malaysian Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair can now be found in the house of parliament in Kuala Lumpur[2]. Also in 1964 Broe undertook a project to complete a portrait of Ralph Deraniyagala who was the speaker of the house of representatives in Sri Lanka[2]. After returning to Ireland in 1966 Broe continued her work completeing a portrait of author Patricia Lynch which appeared in the 1971 Dun Laoghaire Arts Week exhibition, Broe also completed a bust of Arland Ussher in 1980 and a bronze version of this can be found in Trinity College Dublin.[2]Throughout her long career Broe completed over ninety pieces of artwork.
- ^ a b Art and Architecture of Ireland Volume III: Sculpture 1600-2000. Royal Irish Academy. May 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g Snoddy, Theodore (2002). Dictionary of Irish artists : 20th century. Merlin, Dublin,.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "ST. Valentine- The Irish Connection". ringsfromireland.com.
- ^ "Mutual Art". Mutualart.com.