EAMONN O' DOHERTY
born, Derry, Ireland

Eamonn O' Doherty is best known for his public sculptures, more than thirty of which stand in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Europe and the U.S.A. Among these are landmark works such as the James Connolly Memorial at Liberty Hall and the "Tree of Gold" at the Central Bank in Dublin, the "Hooker Sails" in Eyre Square, Galway and the Great Hunger Memorial in Weschester, New York, the latter described by the New York Times reviewer as "this great work". His populist but controversial "Anna livia" fountain in Dublin's O' Connell Street was removed by the City Council in 2002 ostensibly to facilitate the erection of the Dublin Spire, but there are plans to reinstate the figure near Heuston Station.

In 2006 O' Doherty was successful in the international Selvaag/Peer Gynt competition and the resultant four metre high bronze was installed in Oslo in 2008.
He has recently completed sculptures for Clane, Co. Kildare (2007), Innishturk Island, Co. Mayo (2007), and Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone (2008), and is currently working on a seven metre high bronze for St James' Hospital, Dublin.

O' Doherty is also a painter, printmaker and photographer and has won awards for painting at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art (twice), the Claremorris Open, and the Arnott's National Portrait Competition. He won the Connor/Moran award for sculpture at the R.H.A exhibition in 2006 and the James Adam award at the same venue in 2008. A collection of his photographs from the Irish Traditional Music Archive has been exhibited in the U.S.A. at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, U.C.L.A., Gluckman House at New York University, the University of Virginia and other venues.

In a prallel academic career, O' Doherty took a degree in Architecture at University College, Dublin and was Visiting Scholar at the Graduate School of Design in Havard University. He taught at the University of Jordan, was exchange professor at the University of Nebraska and the Ecole Speciale d'Architecture in Paris and external examiner at the Ecole Superieure d'Arts Graphiques, Paris and the Dun Laoghaire School of Art. He is the co-author of books on the diverse subjects of environmental planning and traditonal Irish music. He was for many years a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture at the Dublin Institute of Technology, but relinquished teaching for good in 2002 to concentrate on artwork.

Eamonn O'Doherty passed away on the 4th of August 2011. Irish Art was privileged to have known and to have worked with such an important artist and mourns his passing. Eamonn was a larger than life character who contributed immensely, and on so many levels, to Ireland's rich arts scene. Irish Art is proud to continue promoting his legacy.

You can read a tribute to Eamonn here >>