View a video overview of Éire|Land (Real Media).

View selected works from the exhibition.

From its earliest history, Ireland has been contested land, claimed by waves of invaders, each attempting to inscribe and possess the island territory. Cultural artifacts that reveal this contested past are, therefore, central to any historical exploration of Ireland. From February 2 to May 19, 2003, the McMullen Museum at Boston College presents the first major art exhibition to examine this theme over the past seven centuries.

Éire/Land is comprised of nearly 100 outstanding works of art from the medieval to the modern period, including the finest works of their kind from Irish museums, the British Library, and private collections. The works selected exemplify the ways that the idea of land as an icon of the Irish nation has pervaded Irish visual culture. Through this exhibition, the McMullen Museum builds on its success as a leading proponent of Irish art, which until recently was largely excluded from the canon of art historical scholarship in North America. View a list of contributors to Éire|Land.

This interdisciplinary project considers Irish visual culture in its fullest cultural and political settings. Drawing on original research by prominent international scholars and the largest and most distinguished Irish Studies faculty in the country, catalogue essays and developed wall texts relate objects to new scholarship in a variety of disciplines. Thus, visitors respond to visual representations of Ireland's land in a historically informed context.

McMullen Museum
Boston College
140 Commonwealth
Devlin Hall 108
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

Contents of site copyright © 1995-2003 McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College