John Behan (sculptor)

{{Short description|Irish artist (born 1938)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{use Hiberno-English|date=April 2023}}

{{infobox person

|name=John Behan

|birth_date={{birth year and age|1938}}

|nationality=Irish

|education=National College of Art and Design
Ealing Art College

|occupation=Sculptor

}}

File:JohnBehan.JPG

John Behan (born 1938) is an Irish sculptor from Dublin.

Career

Behan studied at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, and Ealing Art College, London, as well as Oslo's Royal Academy School.[http://aosdana.artscouncil.ie/Members/Visual-Arts/Behan.aspx John Behan Profile] Arts Council. He is a member of Aosdána.

Behan helped establish the Project Arts Centre in Dublin in 1967, and the Dublin Art Foundry. He also participated in the Irish Exhibition of Living Art and shows at the Royal Hibernian Academy.

Selected works

Notable Behan sculptures include Arrival, commissioned by the Irish government and presented to the United Nations in 2000, and Wings of the World in Shenzhen, China, 1991.

In the mid-1990s, Behan was commissioned by the Irish government to create a National Famine Memorial that would encompass the magnitude of the suffering and loss endured by the people of Ireland during the Famine period.{{cite web |url=https://www.mayo-ireland.ie/en/towns-villages/murrisk/history/national-famine-memorial.html|title=National Famine Memorial, Murrisk in Co. Mayo|publisher=mayo-ireland.ie|access-date=2022-08-13}} The memorial, located in Murrisk, County Mayo, was unveiled by Mary Robinson on 20 July 1997.{{cite web |url=https://library.mayo.ie/media/Lyons%20Collection/Lyons%20Photographic%20Collection/album/Mayo%20places/Famine%20Memorial/index.html#Lyons00-21057.jpg|title=The Famine Memorial, Murrisk 1997. - Lyons00-21057.jpg|publisher=library.mayo.ie|date=1997-01-06|access-date=2022-08-13}}

The Liberty Tree sculpture in Carlow, designed by John Behan, commemorates the 1798 Rising of the United Irishmen. Several hundred rebels were slain in Carlow town and their remains are buried in the 'Croppies Grave', in Graiguecullen, County Carlow.{{cite web|title=The Liberty Tree |work=Carlow Town.com |url=http://www.carlowtown.com/info_tosee.asp |accessdate=2007-12-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117025154/http://carlowtown.com/info_tosee.asp |archivedate=2007-11-17 }}

See also

References

Further reading

  • {{Cite news |last=Hourican |first=Emily |title=I don't give a damn what age I am, I want to do this... |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/i-dont-give-a-damn-what-age-i-am-i-want-to-do-this-37462570.html |newspaper=Irish Independent |date=2018-10-29}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behan, John}}

Category:1938 births

Category:Living people

Category:Aosdána members

Category:20th-century Irish sculptors

Category:Irish male sculptors

Category:20th-century Irish male artists

Category:21st-century Irish sculptors

Category:21st-century Irish male artists

Category:Alumni of the National College of Art and Design