Why has a beautiful artwork from one of Ireland's foremost artists of the early 20th century found a permanent home in a Miami museum?
In commemorating its decade of centenaries, Ireland has been reflecting on its turbulent birth and tentative steps into world affairs on a journey to becoming a respected and influential member of the global community. In September 1923, not long after coming into existence, the Irish Free State joined the League of Nations and Harry Clarke's "Geneva Window" was commissioned as a gift for the International Labor Organization, an agency of the League of Nations.
A forthcoming documentary will explore why the artwork was never installed at its intended home. "The Geneva Window – Through A Glass Darkly" is produced by Strike Films, directed by Gerry Hoban, and is co-funded by Oireachtas TV and Comisiúin Na Meán under the Sound and Vision Fund.
The artist Harry Clarke
Harry Clarke grew up in his family’s Dublin church-decorating firm where he trained in stained glass from a young age. Clarke's stained glass "Geneva Window" celebrates Ireland's new-found independence through contemporary literature and is a masterpiece of 20th-century decorative arts
W.B. Yeats won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the same year as Ireland joining the League of Nations and was a leading figure of the Celtic Revival, which strived for a modern Irish identity with a focus on its rich history and native language. The movement was influential on Clarke and Yeats himself guided the artist in his selection of writers included in the window's panels.
For each of the 15 authors selected for inclusion in the window's individual acid-etched stained glass panels, Clarke created a vignette illustrating a single work. Some aspects would stir controversy, however, such as the abundant nudity of the characters, implications of sexual encounters and the drinking of alcohol.
Detail of Harry Clarke's Geneva Window
The window was ultimately rejected by the Irish Government because it was felt it did not align with the image that the new Irish Free State wanted to project to the world. The forthcoming Oireachtas TV documentary will consider how the artwork came about, the controversial aspects that led to the Irish Government demurring in accepting the commission for its intended purpose and the story of the window in the years after Clarke's premature death.
The Harry Clarke documentary, presented by Ardal O'Hanlon with Dr. Róisín Kennedy, will air in early 2024.