Sean Scully: Walls of Aran

by Sean Scully (Photographs), Colm Tóibín (Designer)

A new, compact edition of Sean Scully’s photographs, featuring horizontal and vertical shards of limestone that echo his painted work and reveal a creative process best expressed through abstract shapes. Sean Scully, one of today’s most esteemed painters and an accomplished photographer, spent time on the remote Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland, photographing the ancient drystone walls that crisscross the stark and barren landscape. Sean Scully brings together his sensitive images, revealing the unexpected yet monumental beauty of these centuries-old structures that meander across the windswept and rocky islands. In their form and spirit, the photographs shed light on Scully’s own sensibilities as an artist. They also capture the stillness and serenity of this rugged, timeless place on the edge of Europe. This new edition features an evocative text by the award-winning Irish writer Colm To´ibi´n, which conveys the mysterious beauty of the three Aran Islands. This volume is a must-have for Sean Scully fans, as well as anyone with an interest in Ireland or photography. 73 illustrations

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, Art

128 pages, Hardcover

First published July 2, 2007

About the author

Sean Scully, RA, a painter, printmaker, sculptor and photographer. In 1972, was awarded the Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship to attend Harvard University. In 1975, he was awarded a two-year Harkness Fellowship with which he moved to New York. He became known for Geometric Abstraction in the '80s, and was twice nominated for the Turner Prize. He received the Harper's Bazaar International Artist of the Year Award in 2016.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book, interspersing Scully's photos of the mythic stone walls, his abstract paintings of the same, and Toibin's text on his visits to the islands, especially Meain. The book certainly evokes an elemental response, as does the experience of being there.
Scully remarks that he brought art students from Munich there for a week, and the transformation the islands wrought could be seen on their faces within two days of being there. Toibin reflects on Synge's play, "Riders to the Sea", inspired by his living among the island people and the terrifying presence of the Sea that pervades the place.
The walls of Aran are 'egoless', in that we don't know who made them. They are totally functional, needed to keep the wind out and the animals in. They are also amazing feats of composition and beauty. Something to behold.

[Kevin Tole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great photographs an an excellent essay on the Aran Isles