© The Artist's Estate
 
Edward A. McGuire, Irish, 1932-1986
Title: Portrait of Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), Poet
Date: 1974
Medium: Tempera on panel
Dimensions:
31 x 23 cm
Signed: lower right: E McG 1974
Credit Line: Purchased, 1974
Object Number: NGI.4112
DescriptionBorn in Co. Derry, Seamus Heaney obtained a degree from Queen's University, Belfast. In 1972 he moved south, settling first in Ashford, Co. Wicklow. His first collections Wintering Out and North, were published in 1972 and 1976 respectively. During the next twenty years he held teaching posts in Dublin, Belfast and at Berkeley, California. In 1984 he was elected to the Boylston Chair of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard, and served as Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1989-94. Heaney won many literary awards, including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. Like W.B. Yeats, Heaney encouraged an interest in poetry among the general public. The meticulous execution of this portrait of the young poet, typical of McGuire's work, is an exemplar of technical skill. McGuire was known to arrange his colours with scientific accuracy.
Label TextSeamus Heaney’s poetry, often inspired by his rural upbringing and love of classical literature, came to public attention in the 1960s. For much of his career he divided his professional energies between writing and lecturing, and occupied prestigious posts at several universities. He received many accolades, among them the Nobel Prize for Literature (1995), and was elected a Saoi of Aosdána, of which he was a founding member. He was a director of Field Day Theatre Company, and highly respected worldwide as a writer, teacher, thinker, and advocate for human rights.

This website uses cookies

We use optional cookies to enhance your user experience and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services.

Details

About Cookies

Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient. The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission. This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages. You can at any time change or withdraw your consent from the Cookie Declaration on our website. Learn more about who we are, how you can contact us and how we process personal data in our Privacy Policy. Please state your consent ID and date when you contact us regarding your consent.

Necessary Cookies

Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.

NameProviderPurposeExpiryType
JSESSIONIDeMuseumUser SessionSessionHTTP

Statistics Cookies

Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.

NameProviderPurposeExpiryType
_gaGoogle Tag ManagerRegisters a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.2 yearsJavaScript
_gidGoogle Tag ManagerRegisters a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.1 dayJavaScript