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| The view from Michael Kirby´s house to Horse Island and Ballinskelligs Bay, his first painting. |
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| Wild flowers in a vase |
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| Sea pink and rocks |
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| Ballinskelligs Bay |
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| South Kerry scenery |
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| A cottage near the mountain and the sea |
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| Kerry hills and fields |
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| Ballinskelligs Bay |
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| Wild flowers and vase on table |
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| A seascape |
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| Cottages, bog and fields after harvest |
The archive of Michael Kirby from Ballinskelligs was presented to Cork University College on Monday, December 5th.
Anne and Pat Coffey handed the collection over to the University for future research and publishing projects.
Michael Kirby was born in 1906 and lived most of his life in Ballinskelligs apart from a few years in the USA. He died in 2005.
He worked in Ballinskelligs as a fisherman, learning the skills from his father as a young boy. When he retired from fishing at the age of 75 he began to write books and poetry in the English and Irish language. He also started painting pictures of the area and the sea that he knew so well. When he passed away he had written eleven books and painted over 300 paintings.
The private archive contains published books, newspaper and magazine articles, periodicals, audio recordings, hand-written copies, photographs and personal effects.
I had the privilege to take some photographs before the material was handed out to the University.
I would like to thank Anne and Pat Coffey for the opportunity to see the works of Michael again and to allow me the publication on my blog.
The paintings belong to Anne and Pat Coffey´s private collection.
Here is a link to another article on my blog about Michael Kirby. link
©Michael Herrmann 2017
