The 1853 Dublin Exhibition of Art-Industry

Illustration: Central Hall of the Dublin Exhibition, 1853.

With the publicity surrounding the ground-breaking Great Exhibition held in Hyde Park, London in 1851, publicity that has made it as enduring an event today as it was one hundred and sixty one years ago, it is often tempting to think that it was the only significant event of its kind in Britain for some time after 1851. However, another international exhibition was held a mere two years after London, this one in Dublin.

The Exhibition of Art-Industry opened in Dublin on 12th may 1853 within the Irish Industrial Exhibition building which had been especially commissioned and built for the occasion. The Exhibition was in fact a grander version of exhibitions that had been running on a regular basis for a number of years and were part of the Dublin calendar of events. However, previous exhibitions had been limited to products that had been produced in Ireland, not internationally.

Illustration: Items from the Hall of Irish Antiquities at the Dublin Exhibition, 1853.

Apart from the fact that the Dublin Exhibition building was only a quarter the size of the original Crystal palace building in London, the event was very similar in many respects to the Great Exhibition of 1851. That exhibition was used very largely as a platform to project the image of Britain to the world; the Dublin event equally gave Ireland the chance to project its own unique identity on to a potentially international stage. 

Although all or most of the internationally staged exhibitions of the last century and a half have used the event to highlight the achievements or flavour of a particular nation or region, they have usually been organised by sovereign states. The Dublin event of 1853 gave what was perceived by many in Europe and North America as a subjugated sovereign state, the opportunity to have a voice independent from Britain and more importantly London. In this respect, the feel and flavour of the Dublin Exhibition was very different from that of London. The Roman Catholic Church for example, played a much higher profile than it would have been allowed to have done in London, and although Pugin's Medieval Court was both tolerated and indeed popularised and admired by the crowds, it was contained and portrayed by the press as being shorn of any real Catholic influence or idealism.

Illustration: Contemporary Irish jewellery inspired by the Celtic traditions of Ireland shown at the Dublin Exhibition, 1853.

Interestingly, there was a Medieval Court at the Dublin Exhibition, and although Pugin himself had died the previous year, his collaborator John Hardman produced the Medieval Court for Dublin. It is highly probable that had Pugin lived he would have been enthusiastically involved in the Dublin exhibition along with its more overt Catholicism. An interesting description of the Medieval Court from a London perspective can be found in a copy of The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal for May 1853:

The medieval court has been fitted up with great care and elaboration. Window of stained glass, representing a number of figures of saints, serve to throw "a dim religious light" on altars, crucifixes, paschal candlesticks, credence tables, priests' vestments, lecterns, chalices, ciboriums, monstrances, triptics, and other "furniture" of a Roman Catholic church. Mr Hardman of Birmingham, who has the charge of this department, has had the roof painted and gilded with various designs suited to ecclesiastical decoration, so as to give to the medieval court almost a sacred character in the eyes of Roman Catholics, who enter it with looks of reverence that ill accord with the fiery glances of puritanical visitors.

As with the previous exhibition of 1851, the Dublin event was a strange combination of the contemporary industrial and the traditional craft. many of us would not necessarily see this as being a natural or comfortable combination, but many in the mid-nineteenth century saw no real problem in both admiring the significant strides made by Victorian technology whilst also admiring the traditions of the decorative arts.

Illustration: Contemporary and antique Irish jewellery at the Dublin Exhibition, 1853.

The Dublin Exhibition therefore highlighted in a series of exhibits, features of traditional Irish decorative life that was very much part of the pre-English and Scottish interference in Ireland, namely its Celtic heritage. One of the obvious contributors to the history of both European and world decorative art, Ireland was seen by many as the natural home of Celtic decoration and ornament. Therefore, examples of Celtic art that were both traditional and of contemporary inspiration were included in the exhibition. Some examples of the intricate Celtic inspired jewellery work that was on display at the exhibition are featured in this article.

On reflection, the Dublin exhibition was perhaps not as internationally successful as the organisers would have hoped and wished. On the whole the London press gloated on the fact that the Dublin event lost money and was under-represented internationally. They seemed at great pains to portray Dublin as an after-event to the London exhibition of 1851. Many in London found the idea of any form of subsequent exhibitions as a pointless exercise as the feeling was that the earlier exhibition had defined the contemporary moment of the mid-nineteenth century and that that moment had been largely seen as British, and as an international industrial event there seemed little point in Dublin restating the facts that had already been made. However, the Dublin press were equally exuberant and positive that an event on such a scale had been organised entirely within Ireland. There were in fact significant entries from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, some of the German states including Prussia, as well as the United States. The British Empire was also represented, particularly India which made as impressive an impact on the public as it had in London in 1851. English and Scottish textile companies were particularly well represented as a number saw the event as a means of competing with the relatively large Irish textile industry. Significantly, what much of the London press perhaps failed to understand was the significance that could be accrued through self-publicity by holding an event on an international scale as well as the potential in trade. Therefore, international exhibitions have been held constantly since that point in the mid-nineteenth century and are the mainstay for many industries today.

Illustration: Contemporary jewellery and copies of antique Scottish jewellery at the Dublin Exhibition, 1853.

As far as Dublin, and more importantly Ireland as a whole was concerned, the feeling was that they were heavily unrepresented as far as trade and industry were concerned. That they were politically and socially subsumed within the artificial empire-making conglomerate that had become the United Kingdom, was blatantly clear, that the identity of their trade and industry was also largely hidden within the UK, was perhaps not so clear. Ireland was often portrayed and imagined by London as little more than a backward colony of the British Empire suitable only for raw recruits for its empire-building army, and although technically seen as an important and integral part of the United Kingdom, practically it was often treated as being near non-existent.

Although much of Ireland was not to see any real practical disengagement from the United Kingdom and the British Empire until well into the twentieth century, events such as the 1853 Dublin Exhibition of Art-Industry did produce the beginnings of a separation of identity on the world stage, if not in London. The event and others like it across Ireland began to create a contemporary awareness in the concept of Ireland as a state rather than a region, and a state that could contribute towards the contemporary world, whether through the traditions of its own unique decorative crafts, or its contemporary industry and technology.

Further reading links:

Happy St Patrick's Day

For the little bit of Irish in you all.

Carrickmacross Lace Work

Illustration: Carrickmacross Guipure lace.

Carrickmacross lace was originally produced in the small Carrickmacross region of County Monaghan in Ireland. It originated in the 1820s from Italian examples that had been brought back to Ireland by a Mrs Grey Porter, collected whilst she was on holiday in Europe. The practice of using exterior sources for Irish hand crafts is a fairly familiar one and can trace its history back to at least the early Christian era. This does not imply that Ireland did not have a fully functioning indigenous decorative culture of its own and therefore had to import one. In fact, Ireland has always had a strong self-identity, which was often directly and indirectly fuelled by the frequent and blunt British attempts at Irish assimilation. That Ireland felt comfortable with a combination of internal and external influences on its craft system shows perhaps the maturity of the culture with its willingness to incorporate new styles and ideas within its traditions.

Illustration: Carrickmacross lace examples, c1897.

Carrickmacross, like much of the Irish production of hand lace, was interpreted over the decades of the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, in a number of fashionable and hopefully profitable styles. It is interesting to follow the lace production over this time period as it shows the flexibility and creative energy of the Irish craft system. Although the general traditions of the craft were always firmly in place, the level of interpretation was always fluid and readily adaptable which probably helped many of the craft disciplines in Ireland to continue well into the twentieth century, although on a much reduced scale. Some in fact have managed to continue into our own century including Carrickmacross lace work, which is still produced in County Monaghan.

Illustration: Carrickmacross applique lace, c1898.

Although the Irish Arts & Crafts movement could often be engineered by outside sources, particularly those interested in retail and manufacturing profit from England and Scotland, Ireland itself had a particular interest in promoting indigenous art and craft. Much emphasis was placed on the unique character and traditions of Irish culture, along with the dynamics of contemporary design, decoration and styling. Ireland during this period was still part of the British Empire, and like other nations and regions of Europe that had no real representation or identity, such as Norway, Finland, Poland and many others, Ireland sought to use the Arts & Crafts movement as a form of social, cultural and political identifier. It was through the domestic Arts & Crafts movement that Ireland was able to both keep alive the ideal of its individuality that was distinct from Britain. Although this was not to necessarily lead to political independence from the British, it did help in some ways at least to build on the idea of Irish distinctiveness through culture.

Illustration: Amelia B Wright. Carrickmacross applique lace dress yoke, 1903.

 

Illustration: Mary G Simpson. Carrickmacross lace dress yoke, 1903.

Illustration: Maud C Fisher. Carrickmacross lace dress yoke, 1903.

As to Carrickmacross lace itself, there were a number of interpretations of the craft, which followed both Irish, and the broader European styling of the early twentieth century. The illustrations of lace dress yokes by Amelia B Wright, Mary G Simpson and Maud C Fisher for example show both the level of craftsmanship that was available within the design area of Irish decoration, but also that of the level of interest and understanding of European contemporary styles of decoration and pattern work. It is interesting to note how both Irish and Scottish Arts & Crafts movements could so readily by-pass the English movement and connect directly with mainstream European movements and decorative styles. It is often assumed by many that both Irish and Scottish Arts & Crafts movements were subservient to that of the English. This is patently not true and the evidence is in the fact that both countries had fully functioning mature, professional and independent systems that sought to link themselves with the contemporary European decorative arts.

Illustration: Carrickmacross guipure lace, c1898.

In the Reference links section below are listed two websites that still produce hand produced Carrickmacross lace work. Both are in Ireland, one still in Carrickmacross, the other in County Carlow. Also listed are a number of books concerned with Carrickmacross lace work.

Reference links:
Carrickmacross lace gallery
Handmade Irish Carrackmacross lace
Needle-Made Laces and Net Embroideries: Reticella Work, Carrickmacross Lace, Princess Lace and Other Traditional Techniques
Carrickmacross Lace: From Beginner to Expert
Carrickmacross Lace: Irish Embroidered Net Lace : A Survey and Manual With Full Size Patterns
Lasadoireacht: Practical Workbook for Carrickmacross Lace
Lasadoireacht II: Carrickmacross Lace: Workbook 2 (Carrickmacross lace workbook)
Needlecraft Practical Journal #28 c.1903 - Carrickmacross Lace
Masterpieces of Irish Crochet Lace: Techniques, Patterns, Instructions (Dover Needlework Series)
Irish Crochet Lace: Motifs from County Monaghan
Irish Crochet Lace 
The Borris Lace Collection: A Unique Irish Needlelace (Milner Craft Series)
Clones Lace: The Story and Patterns of an Irish Crochet
Favorite Irish Crochet Designs (Dover Needlework Series)
Youghal & Other Irish Laces
Irish Crochet Designs and Projects (Dover Needlework Series)
A renascence of the Irish art of lace-making. Illustrated by photographic reproductions of Irish laces, made from new and specially designed patterns