Madeline Green
, American
Title
Portrait of John McGahernDatec.1980s
MediumGelatin silver print
Dimensions
42 x 59.4 cm
Credit LinePresented, 2019
Object numberNGI.2019.227
DescriptionJohn McGahern, (Dublin, 1934-2006), was a well-regarded Irish novelist and short-story writer, known for his depictions of Irish men and women constricted and damaged by the conventions of their native land. McGahern’s lyrical portraits of his native Ireland and its denizens earned him a reputation as one of the country's most eminent writers of his generation. Often termed the successor to James Joyce, McGahern wrote stories that "moved deliberately through their agonies of love and misgiving," asserted the New York Times' James F. Clarity, "always with reference to the dominating Catholic culture and the rigors of wresting existence from the fields and the peat bogs."While taking evening courses at University College Dublin, he worked as a teacher. His first published novel, 'The Barracks' (1963), tells of a terminally ill, unhappily married woman. Praised for its brilliant depiction of Irish life and for its sensitive portrayal of despair, the work won several awards. His next book, 'The Dark' (1965) is a claustrophobic portrait of an adolescent trapped by predatory male relatives in a closed, repressed society. McGahern’s frank sexual portrayals in this novel earned the wrath of Irish censors, and he was asked not to return to his teaching job. He spent the next few years living abroad, before returning to Ireland with his wife and amateur photographer, Madeline Green. For the remainder of his life, McGahern farmed, wrote, and took the occasional visiting professorship. Green made this photograph of John in their home sometime in the 1980s.
Perhaps his most acclaimed work is 'Amongst Women' (1990), which centres on a tyrannical father who was a former IRA leader; it was adapted into a popular television series for the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1998.