Edward Delaney
Born in Claremorris, Co. Mayo, Edward Delaney studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and in Munich, Bonn and Rome.
Delaney is one of the most celebrated Irish sculptures of the second half of the twentieth century. Trained in Germany in the 1950s Delaney's brand of European modernism was without context in 1960s Dublin. Imbued with that aesthetic tradition and the experience of living and studying in post war Germany Delaney's work seized on vital and fundamental imagery. Working in bronze in the lost wax method Delaney's figures attempt a seamless union of form, material and content.
Delaney is best known today for the two major monuments in Dublin, which were commissioned by the Irish Government, these are a memorial statue and fountain to Thomas Davis in College Green, Dublin, and a statue of Wolfe Tone at St. Stephen's Green, Dublin. Other commissions include the "Fountain Tree" at Smurfit Headquarters, Dublin, and more recently major works for the ESB offices in Galway and for the New Bridge, also in Galway, which was commissioned by the Department of the Environment.
What all Edward Delaney's work shares is robustness, in an Irish Times review of his 2004 retrospective Aidan Dunne described his bronzes as robust, but having an awkwardness, a tenderness about them.
He has received many awards and scholarships, including a West German fellowship for sculpture (1956-7); Bavarian State Foreign Students Sculpture Prize (1958); Italian Government Scholarship for sculpture (1959-60); and Arts Council of Ireland Sculpture prizes (1962 and 1964).
Delaney is one of the most celebrated Irish sculptures of the second half of the twentieth century. Trained in Germany in the 1950s Delaney's brand of European modernism was without context in 1960s Dublin. Imbued with that aesthetic tradition and the experience of living and studying in post war Germany Delaney's work seized on vital and fundamental imagery. Working in bronze in the lost wax method Delaney's figures attempt a seamless union of form, material and content.
Delaney is best known today for the two major monuments in Dublin, which were commissioned by the Irish Government, these are a memorial statue and fountain to Thomas Davis in College Green, Dublin, and a statue of Wolfe Tone at St. Stephen's Green, Dublin. Other commissions include the "Fountain Tree" at Smurfit Headquarters, Dublin, and more recently major works for the ESB offices in Galway and for the New Bridge, also in Galway, which was commissioned by the Department of the Environment.
What all Edward Delaney's work shares is robustness, in an Irish Times review of his 2004 retrospective Aidan Dunne described his bronzes as robust, but having an awkwardness, a tenderness about them.
He has received many awards and scholarships, including a West German fellowship for sculpture (1956-7); Bavarian State Foreign Students Sculpture Prize (1958); Italian Government Scholarship for sculpture (1959-60); and Arts Council of Ireland Sculpture prizes (1962 and 1964).