A Modern Eye: Helen Hooker O'Malley's Ireland

American artist, Helen Hooker O’Malley's (1905-1993) most important source of inspiration for over half a century was Ireland. Her decades-long love affair with the landscape, history and people of Ireland was ignited by her tumultuous relationship with revolutionary and author, Ernie O’Malley.

Having met Ernie in the US in 1933, Helen braved family opposition to elope and marry him in London, 1935. The couple established homes in Dublin and Mayo and had three children together. Despite divorcing Ernie in 1952, Helen’s love of Ireland endured undiminished.

The book presents her explorations made during expeditions with Ernie into the Irish landscape, her observations of Irish rural life particularly in County Mayo, and her portraits of artists and friends, and includes a record of her travels in Russia and East Asia.