‘He took me down a road I never dreamed I would go’
SCULPTOR OF NEW TERENCE MCSWINEY BUST SPEAKS OF THE CHALLENGE OF IMMORTALISING THE PATRIOT IN BRONZE
IT might seem obvious to say but before renowned sculptor John Coll takes on the challenge of shaping the portrait bust of someone he’s been commissioned to sculpt, he tries to get to know them first.
So when he was approached by Dr. John O’Mahony to sculpt a portrait bust of Terence McSwiney, the former Lord Mayor of Cork and Mid- Cork TD, to mark the centenary of his death on hunger strike on October 25, 1920, his first priority was to research his subject.
The bust was to be unveiled at a special ceremony in Kilmurry’s Independence Museum but that event has had to be postponed due to the restrictions imposed to counter the spread of COVID-19. The bust would then be on display close to the birthplace of Terence McSwiney’s parents, John McSwiney of Crookstown and Mary Wilkinson.
“I loved history in school and I remembered Terence McSwiney from then - he was not unknown to me.
“However I read as much as possible about him and saw photographs of him and, of course, there’s footage of him sitting at a desk..
“And then there’s his death mask, there’s a marble copy of that in the Cork City Museum.
“With any subject, I research about that person as much as I can, the more research I do, the better the result I find.”
The sculptor, who’s created such works as the TG4 ‘Gradam Ceoil’ trophies and a number of iconic Irish writers, historic figures and singers, was commissioned to sculpt the bust
of Terence McSwiney for the Kilmurry Independence Museum back before the March lockdown.
Brendan Behan, Luke Kelly (the non controversial likeness of the Dubliner), Patrick Kavanagh as well as Constance Markievicz are among those whose busts or statues he has sculpted. “I’ve also been honoured to have been asked to sculpt the portrait bust of President Michael D. Higgins which will be placed
in the corridoor containing the busts of all of Ireland’s presidents.”
He’s been working on the bust of Terence McSwiney for the past six months or so and he delivered it to the Independence Museum in Kilmurray in the past few weeks ahead of its unveiling which was scheduled for this coming Saturday - an event which has now been postponed due to the COVID surge.
He got to know Terence
McSwiney over the past six months in as much as anyone can a man who’s been dead for 100 years.
“It became my lockdown project and perhaps the anxiety that was in the air is reflected in the piece, I don’t know, I will leave others to judge that for themselves.
“He was an absolutely fascinating character and I got a sense of the character.
“I like to think that personalities
have a texture all of their own - it could be rough or smooth.
“And from my study of Terence McSwiney, I got the sense that he was a gentle, soft-hearted man, not lined or rough like others and, of course, very bright.”
The sculptor shared his view that Terence McSwiney was a good looking, self effacing man.
“One of the questions you have to answer when you take on a project like this is what point in his life you show him in the sculpture.
“I decided to depict him in the prime of his life.”
Terence McSwiney died on October 25, 1920, after 74 days on hunger strike. It’s still regarded as the longest time for a human to survive without food..
“He wasn’t a man with a weapon - he wasn’t a man for guns, all he had was his body and he used that to advance his cause.”
One of the things which struck John as he carried out his research into Terence McSwiney was how his death was viewed around the world.
“I was told that his picture was in the office of Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Vietnamese,” he said.
Viewing the finished sculpture, John says that he hopes to have captured the man.
“He’s looking slightly away, which is meant to convey that he’s looking into the future.
“There’s a dichotomy between the right and left side, the right side is the stronger side and the left is the more vulnerable.”
He also revealed that the final sculpture is around a tenth as big again as Terence McSwiney’s bust would have been.
The work is cast in bronze and is mounted on a granite slab and weighs around 50 kilos.
“I absolutely love projects that send you down roads that you normally wouldn’t go down - this was such a project.”
The bust, pictured here, will be on display in Kilmurry’s Independence Museum, a fitting place for the patriot’s memorial, as soon as circumstances allow.