Vera Klute
, German, b.1981
Title
Portrait of Sr Stanislaus Kennedy (b.1939), Social Justice CampaignerDate2014
MediumOil on cotton
Dimensions
105 x 78 cm
Credit LineCommissioned, National Gallery of Ireland, 2014
Object numberNGI.2014.9
DescriptionBorn in Lispole, County Kerry, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy (‘Sr Stan’) joined the congregation of Religious Sisters of Charity in 1958. She was appointed in 1974 first chair of the National Committee on Pilot Schemes to Combat Poverty, and in 1985 transnational co-ordinator of the European Rural Anti-poverty Programme. Since the early 1980s she has campaigned on behalf of Ireland’s homeless, establishing Focus Point, now Focus Ireland, in 1985. She is also the founder of The Sanctuary (1998), the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Young Social Innovators (both in 2001). A graduate of Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology who works in various media, Vera Klute has held solo exhibitions and contributed to group shows both in Ireland and abroad and has received several awards. This portrait is a return to a genre in which Klute has always enjoyed working. The sitter’s posture, the plain background and utilitarian office chair, mark the picture very much as a representation of a figure at work.
Exhibition HistoryVera Klute: Plunge, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 7 September - 23 October 2017
Label TextBorn in Lispole, Co. Kerry, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy (‘Sr Stan’), joined the congregation of Religious Sisters of Charity in 1958. Since the early 1980s, she has campaigned on behalf of Ireland’s homeless, establishing Focus Point, now Focus Ireland, in 1985. She is also the founder of The Sanctuary (1998), the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Young Social Innovators (both in 2001). This portrait is a return to a genre in which Vera Klute has always enjoyed working. The sitter’s posture, the plain background and utilitarian office chair, mark the picture very much as a representation of an individual at work.