New Histories of Irish Art and Modernism: A Conference in Honor of S. B. Kennedy

The New Histories of Irish Art and Modernism conference at the Ulster Museum and Queen’s University and organised by the Keough-Naughton Institute at and the University of Notre Dame celebrated the life and work of the art historian S.B. Kennedy. It also marked to donated of Kennedy’s papers to the Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame where it will transform the University’s holdings in this important area and complement the already strong collections of Irish paintings, prints, and other material held in the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. It has been nearly 35 years since Brian Kennedy published his landmark Irish Art and Modernism. When it appeared, it was immediately apparent that it was a transformative book. The conference asked a distinguished array of speakers not to simply re-visit that work but consider the question of Irish Modernism anew. I Chaired several panels and the main Keynote