Shamrocks, Bowler Hats, and Irish Artists

Do you know the significance of the shamrock symbol?
St. Patrick used it to explain the Holy Trinity (three) to the Irish while trying to convert them to Christianity. Nowadays it stands for faith, hope, and love. It is often mistaken for the four-leaf clover, although an actual shamrock has only three rather heart-shaped leaves. The British bowler hat or American derby hat was created in 1849 and would have been unavailable to Leonardo da Vinci.










The Girl With a Shamrock Earring is actually wearing a four-leaf clover.

Ben Franklin's family left England for America to escape religious persecution; they were Puritans. Even if he were wearing the bifocals he invented, he still makes a lousy leprechaun!

In modern times, the American derby was worn by Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, and British-American actress, Olga Petrova.

Also, don't forget René Magritte's "The Son of Man", who is also wearing a bowler hat (See Movie Art Cameos post).

Indulge me a bit longer as I share some TV and movie characters and actors famous for sporting the bowler hat. Obviously, Mr. Banks from "Mary Poppins" wore a proper British bowler as did Mr. Steed from TV's "The Avengers" and even Stymie from "The Little Rascals".

How about Oddjob from the James Bond movie, "Goldfinger"? Or Liza Minnelli in Cabaret? 

Or the creepy character Alex from "A Clockwork Orange" starring Malcolm McDowell?

Let's talk about some notable Irish artists: Francis Bacon, Dorothy Cross, Conor Harrington, and Sean Scully. Personally, I am not impressed with their works. The works of two of these artists have been described as grotesque (I agree). Three of them are contemporary and have art as recent as 2013. The fourth, Francis Bacon, is a more established 20th-century artist. I liken his works to artists such as Surrealist Salvador Dali and Abstract German Expressionists Max Beckmann and Willem de Kooning. Beckmann and de Kooning, like Bacon, were largely portraitists. I much prefer the former two artists to the latter.




Bacon and Beckmann loved painting figures in triptychs (3 panels). The threes are in keeping with this post's shamrock theme.

I recall teaching about Beckmann years ago when I was an art docent in my daughter's elementary school classroom. The work we used was Beckmann's "Departure" (1932-35).









Here's a self-portrait of Beckmann wearing a bowler hat
(Are you sensing a theme?)












Another German Expressionist that I taught about is Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and his pastel work entitled "Street Scene". My lesson involved the scribble drawing of elongated figures, and I think we made the teacher model for us.