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Deenihan opens MacMonagle Photography – 100 years in Killarney Exhibition

—Jimmy Deenihan T.D., Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, will be in Killarney, Co. Kerry, this evening to open the exhibition MacMonagle Photography – 100 years in Killarney in Killarney Library on Rock Road at 9pm.

The MacMonagle photography agency was founded by Daniel MacMonagle in 1913. MacMonagle was born and raised in Rathmullan in County Donegal and learned his trade in Scotland in his late teens before moving to County Cork in 1905 at the age of 22. Having opened studios in Skibbereen, Skull (Schull) and Castletownbere, he eventually teamed up with French photographer Louis Anthony in Killarney in 1908.

 

The ten MacMonagle photographers whose work is on display include Dónal, whose aerial photos of Dublin and Limerick for the Irish Press in the 1950s are an invaluable record of the time; Harry, who won awards for his work in Belfast at the start of the Troubles; and Louis, who documented the evacuation of the Blasket Islands in 1953 and also took the famous ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ image of Ned Power and Christy Ring in the Munster Hurling Final of 1962.

 

Speaking in advance of the opening, Minister Deenihan said: "Photography is a medium to educate and inform, to record and preserve moments in time for generations to come; a method of keeping and sharing memories and illustrating different people, life styles, cultures and places. This fabulous collection of photographs and memorabilia is a hugely important archive for photographers and historians."

 

MacMonagle Photography is the oldest photographic agency in Ireland. The earliest picture in the collection is from the studio’s coverage of the funeral of Lord Mayor Terence McSwiney in 1920 and a MacMonagle photographer has photographed every Taoiseach and President since the foundation of the State. The work of four generations of the MacMonagles is on display in the exhibition. The family also have strong newspaper and printing connections.

Minister Deenihan said: "It is extraordinary that this exhibition features the work of ten different photographers from the one family. I congratulate the MacMonagles on their 100th anniversary."

The exhibition includes over 200 mounted photographs as well as a display of old cameras and photo equipment, including the Sanderson camera Daniel MacMonagle used in 1913. Other memorabilia on display include newspaper cuttings, film, cameras and photo transmission equipment.