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Research and Engagement

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Dr Angela Griffith

Angela Griffith is the project's Academic Lead. She is an art historian who specializes in Irish modern and contemporary art and design. Current research examines the history, contexts, and theories of the printed image in Britain and Ireland, including illustration, from modernist fine art printmaking to contemporary multi-media print practices.

Dr Billy Shortall

Billy Shortall is the Ryan Gallagher Kennedy Postdoctoral Fellow on the Cuala Press Print Project.  He was a former visiting fellow at Notre Dame University (2021).  With the support of the Trinity Long Room Hub and TRIARC, he co-developed the 'Seeing Ireland' project, a virtual recreation of the art exhibition associated with the Irish Race Congress in Paris in 1922. www.seeingireland.ie

The relationship between Irish artists and the private press movement, and their contribution to illustration more broadly, is a relatively new area of research.  This project proposes to reevaluate and restore the work and reputations of Cuala Press artists, many of whom were women. The research team will examine the themes addressed in Cuala imagery, the methods used in their production, and it will look to the sources and networks created and sustained by Elizabeth C. Yeats to support their dissemination, nationally and internationally. 

Recent Publications

(2023) Shortall, B., "Read all about it: Art and Politics in Civic Publications" in Self-Determination a Global Perspective. (Dublin: IMMA, 2023).
(2023) Shortall, B., "Irish Art and Politics in Paris 1922" in IMMA texts Vol 1, Text 2. (Dublin: IMMA, 2023), 18-33. Available at https://imma.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMMA-texts-Vol-1.-Text-2-Billy-Shortall.pdf
(2023) Shortall, B., "Curators Choice – Elizabeth Yeats' dance card from the Cuala Press Archive at Trinity College Dublin" in Irish Arts Review, 40, 1.
(2023) Shortall, B., 'No Thatched Cottages' – Representing the Irish Free State at Chicago's World's Fair", History Ireland, 31, 1.
(2022) Griffith, A., 'Elizabeth Corbet Yeats: Dun Emer and Cuala Presses and Irish 'art printing', in Artemis Alexiou, ed. Women in Print: design and (re)construction of personal histories, Berlin, Bern, New York, Oxford, Peter Lang. Women in Print 1 - Peter Lang Verlag
(2022) Griffith, A., Elizabeth Rivers: A welcome outsider, Bethesda, Wild Apple Press
(2021) Griffith, A., 'Clúdach: Elizabeth Corbet Yeats, Plate XXIII from Brushwork Studies of Flowers, Fruit, and Animals (London: George Philip & Son, 1898)', New Hibernia Review, 25, 2.
(2021) Shortall, B., 'Cuala embroideries 'meant for a pious market'', Irish Arts Review. 38, 1.

Online Sources

(2023) Shortall, B., 'The politics of art and crafts in Free State Ireland' https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2023/0814/1399657-ireland-arts-crafts-free-state-cuture-dun-emer/
(2023) Shortall, B.,  St Brigid at home and on tour with Cuala. TCD News.
(2022) Griffith, A., Making beautiful things Accessible: The Cuala Press Project Trinity Today, Winter edition.
(2022) Griffith, A and Shortall, B., 'How Cuala Press created a sense of Irish national identity' https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/0516/1298228-cuala-press-prints-irish-free-state-identity-jack-b-yeats-elizabeth-corbet-yeats-lily-yeats/
(2022) Shortall, B., 'The story behind the Aonach Tailteann art exhibition in 1922.' https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/0811/1315151-aonach-tailteann-great-exhibition-of-irish-art-1922-jack-b-yeats-harry-clarke/
(2022) Shortall, B., Seeing Ireland Project, www.seeingireland.ie Work by Cuala Industries was part of the State sponsored exhibition.
(2021) Shortall, B., 'How a Paris conference in 1922 put Ireland on a world stage' https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2021/0831/1243941-world-congress-of-the-irish-race-paris-1922-aonach-na-ngaedeal/
(2020) Shortall, B., 'The story behind Ireland's 1931 gift of a carpet to the Pope' https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0625/1149550-popes-carpet-ireland-1931/

Conferences, Symposia and Lectures

(2023) A. Griffith & B. Shortall, co-conveners, Cuala Press Project Symposium
Art/Text. From Cuala to the contemporary. Saturday, 14th October 2023, Trinity Long Room Hub
Angela Griffith 'Reading Irish illustration: making, meaning, materiality'
Billy Shortall 'Cuala Press. Art, text, and politics'
Jack Quin 'Illustration as interruption? Modernist word and image'
Sharon Lee 'Art/Text: Pulling prints/Pushing text'
Jamie Murphy 'TSP at 10: Art x Text x Craftsmanship'
Julie Morrissy 'Poetry and Experimental Publishing'
(2023) A. Griffith, 'Reflections Talk, A Commemoration of Irish Women 1923', Mick Lally Theatre, Galway.
(2023) B. Shortall., 'Early 20th century Arts and Crafts Movement in Dublin city', Irish Design Week, Design & Crafts Council Ireland at Unit 18, Macken Street, Dublin.
(2023) A. Griffith & B. Shortall, 'Cuala Press Project', Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival.
(2023) B. Shortall, 'Seeing Ireland', Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival
(2023) B. Shortall, 'Cuala Press on display in Paris 1922', Limerick Art Society, Kilmurry Arts and Heritage Centre, Limerick.
(2023) A. Griffith, 'Lily Yeats and Elizabeth Corbet Yeats, art, making, and meaning', The Yeats Sisters' Inaugural Symposium, The Yeats Sisters Commemoration Project, paper.
(2023) B. Shortall, 'The Yeats sisters and pioneering enterprises.', The Yeats Sisters' Inaugural Symposium, The Yeats Sisters Commemoration Project, paper. https://theyeatssisters.com/inaugural-symposium-july-15th-2023/
(2023) A. Griffith, paper, 'The Cuala Press; picturing childhood and the early Irish State', The Children of Achill by Robert Henri, History Festival, Achill Island, invited speaker.
(2023) A. Griffith, 'The Art of the Cuala Press'. University of the Third Age, invited speaker.
(2023) A. Griffith, 'Elizabeth Corbet Yeats: Dun Emer and Cuala Presses and Irish 'art printing', 1903–31', Women in Print, Centre for Printing History and Culture, UK, paper. https://www.cphc.org.uk/events/2023/2/16/boo-presentation-women-in-print-1
(2022) A. Griffith, 'Cuala Press Project', Cuala celebration. Provost House, TCD.
(2022) B. Shortall, 'Elizabeth Yeats' dance card', Cuala celebration. Provost House, TCD.
(2022) A. Griffith, 'The artist and the book: Illustrating nationhood Saorstát Éireann: Irish Free State official handbook, 1932', Seeing Ireland: Art, Culture, and Power in Ireland, 1922-2022, TCD and Notre Dame University, Long Room Hub, TCD, paper.
(2022) A. Griffith, 'Elizabeth Rivers and the Cuala Press', Encounters and Collaborations, Decade of Commemoration, University College Dublin, paper.
(2022) A. Griffith, 'Irish nationalism and the female imagination' for Artists & Activists: 1922 Women in a changing Cultural Landscape, County Galway Libraries lecture series, Gort Library and Tuam Library, invited speaker.
(2022) A. Griffith, 'The Art of the Cuala Press'. Friends of the Library, Trinity College Dublin, invited speaker.
(2022) A Griffith, 'Irish Artists and the Printed Image', The Irish Association of Art Historians AGM, invited lecturer.
(2022) A Griffith, '60 Years of the Graphic Studio Dublin – history, legacy', Royal Hibernian Academy, invited lecturer.
(2022) B. Shortall, 'The Irish Race Congress, Paris, 1922 and its associated art exhibition' Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, Part of Global Ulysses Paris, 2022 series, paper.
(2022) B. Shortall, 'Read all about it; art and politics in Civic Publications', 100 years of self-determination Symposium, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, paper.
(2022) B. Shortall, 'Cultural legacy of the Treaty ', Portrait of a Nation: Art, Politics and the Anglo-Irish Treaty Conference, chair.
(2022) B. Shortall, 'Art and Cultural Diplomacy: The Irish in Paris, 1922', Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, invited lecturer.
(2022) B. Shortall, 'Pictures of modern Irish history, John Lavery on show in Paris 1922', Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, invited lecturer.
(2021) A. Griffith, 'Elizabeth C. Yeats, the Cuala Press and 'Art Printing', Manuscript, Book and Print Cultures Research Centre, Long Room Hub, TCD, invited lecturer.

Exhibitions

(2023) Self-Determination: A Global Perspective (Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)) 28 Oct 2023 - 21 April 2024, Research and specialist support provided by B. Shortall.
(2023) An Exhibition: The Yeats Sisters and Cuala – The Yeats Sisters, (Dundrum Library, Dublin), June – July, curator B. Shortall.
(2022) Blot's Most Marvellous Guide to Printing Books (National Print Museum, Dublin) curator, A. Griffith.
(2022) Exposition D'Art Irlandais and 1922 Paris Congress. B. Shortall and C. O'Neill www.seeingireland.ie

Media

(2023) Sunday Independent 16 July. Cuala Industries exhibition at Dundrum Library, curated by Billy Shortall'
(2023) The History Show, RTE, 23 April. The life and work of Elizabeth and Susan Yeats, Myles Dungan interviews Angela Griffith and Eunan McKinney. https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22242178/
(2023) The Irish Times, 18 March."Lily and Elizabeth, The Brilliant Yeats Sisters" https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/2023/03/11/the-often-forgotten-yeats-sisters-lily-and-elizabeth/
(2022) The Guardian, 20 June. 'Forgotten Sisters…'. The forgotten 'weird sisters' of WB Yeats who helped forge Irish identity | Ireland | The Guardian
(2022) BBC World Service NewsDay, 21 June. 'The Yeats Sisters', Interview with Angela Griffith. BBC Sounds
(2022) RTE Arena, 22 June. 'The Cuala Press'. Sean Rocks interviews Angela Griffith, TCD. The Cuala Press | Arena - RTÉ Radio 1 (rte.ie)
(2022) BBC NI 25 June 2022. "Forgotten sisters of WB Yeats step out of the shadows." https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-61865433
(2022) The Irish Times, 26 January. 'Seeing Ireland: Staging a cultural coup in Paris 100 years ago', Billy Shortall and Ciaran McNeill. Seeing Ireland: Staging a cultural coup in Paris 100 years ago – The Irish Times