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'Co-operative Cow-boy Horace' or what the Influence of Cinema May Lead to!
, Irish, 1888-1955
Title
'Co-operative Cow-boy Horace' or what the Influence of Cinema May Lead to!
Datec.1910
MediumIndian ink and graphite on paper
Dimensions
39.5 x 24.4 cm
Signedupper left: GRACE GIFFORD
Credit LinePresented, Ruth O' Donnell, 2009
Object numberNGI.2009.1
DescriptionThis gently satiric cartoon pokes fun at Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (1854-1932), an important agricultural reformer who as a young man worked as a rancher in Wyoming. His lasting legacy was the development of the Irish cooperative movement whose slogan was: ‘Better farming, better business, better living’. Formerly a Unionist, he later supported Home Rule for Ireland. This cartoon points to the growing popularity of ‘westerns’, early cinema’s most popular genre. It alludes to the fact that Irish nationalists tended to regard cinema as a foreign phenomenon that threatened Gaelic culture.
Inscriptionlower left: "CO-OPERATIVE COW-BOY HORACE" OR WHAT THE INFLUENCE OF CINEMA CAN LEAD TO.
(under image) Sir Horace Plunkett
ProvenanceProfessor Tom and Geraldine Plunkett Dillon; by descent to their daughter Dr Moya O'Donnell and in turn to her daughter Ruth O'Donnell; presented, Ruth O'Donnell, 2009