Old photographs are irresistible. The collection of Tomás Ó Muircheartaigh who travelled and photographed the west of Ireland during the 1930s, 40s and 50s is an invaluable documentary of the times in which he lived. Ó Muircheartaigh’s pictures record rural life and – most impressively – the people who lived it. This is a post, mainly of portraits, taken from a book of his work published posthumously in 1970, and now hard to find.
Tomás was President of Conradh na Gaelige (The Gaelic League) between 1955 and 1959, and his photographs appeared on the cover of many editions of the League’s monthly magazine.
The portraits, sadly, do not record the names of the subjects nor – often – their localities. We only know, on the whole, that his travels were centred on west Kerry and the Blasket Islands. The images, however, are powerfully evocative and time and place are, perhaps, irrelevant.
Tomás Ó Muircheartaigh 1907 – 1967, sketched by Sean O’Sullivan:
Roaringwater Journal 
Hello, has anyone ever come across a portrait of Tomas done by Una Watters? It was featured in a 1965 exhibition and not seen since https://unawattersartist.com/__trashed/
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Hello – that’s really interesting. I have not come across it. Now I know it exists I will makes some enquiries. Many thanks! Robert
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Beautiful images.
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Superb photographs Robert. They say so much of their subject, their time and place, as well as exemplify the power of the monochrome image
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This is just a small selection. I’ll put up more in due course – the photographs deserve a wider audience…
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Great stuff would love a copy of that book !
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I bought a copy of the book when it was published in 1970. I feel so fortunate to have it!
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