Dublin City Council Unveils Commemorative Plaque Honouring Artist Estella Solomons

Lord Mayor of Dublin Daryl Barron unveils plaque celebrating the life and legacy of acclaimed Irish artist and revolutionary figure

Dublin City Council today unveiled a commemorative plaque honouring Estella Solomons, an acclaimed Irish artist and republican whose contributions to Dublin’s artistic, literary and political life have left a lasting legacy.

 

The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daryl Barron, at Trinity City Hotel on Pearse Street, Dublin 2, marking the location of Solomons’ former studio at 26 Pearse Street where she worked from 1919 to 1926.

 

The unveiling brings together Dublin City Councillors, members of Solomons’ family, including her grandnephew Francis Jacobs, and representatives of the arts community. Dr Barbara Dawson, Director of the Hugh Lane Gallery, addressed the event about Solomons’ artistic achievements and contribution to Irish art.

 

Born into one of Dublin’s most prominent Jewish families in 1882, Estella Solomons was one of Ireland’s most accomplished painters and etchers of her generation. She studied at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and Chelsea Art School in London, and her work featured in the Royal Hibernian Academy’s annual exhibition for 60 consecutive years.

 

Alongside her artistic career, Solomons played an active role in Ireland’s revolutionary period as a member of Cumann na mBan. Her studio on Pearse Street, then Great Brunswick Street, became a gathering place for artists, writers and political figures, while also providing shelter for men on the run during the War of Independence. Her portraits of prominent revolutionary figures were later published in Portraits of Patriots in 1966.

 

Speaking at the unveiling, Lord Mayor of Dublin Daryl Barron said, “Estella Solomons spent a lifetime looking closely at this city and its people. From today, Dublin will look back at her.”

 

The Lord Mayor also paid tribute to Solomons’ contribution to Irish cultural and political life, describing her as “one of the finest Irish painters of her generation, and a woman who put her talent, her courage and her money at the service of her city and her country.”

 

The proposal to commemorate Solomons came from Dublin City Council’s Women’s Committee and was been approved by the Council’s Commemorations and Naming Committee, chaired by Councillor Donna Cooney.

 

Councillor Donna Cooney, Chair of Dublin City Council’s Commemorations and Naming Committee, said, “The Commemorative Plaques Scheme allows the City to formally commemorate people who have made a significant contribution to the life of Dublin. I am really excited to have a plaque to Estella Solomons, I proposed that we commemorate this extraordinary woman after a discussion at Dublin City Council Women’s committee and I would like to thank fellow members for support. We welcome suggestions from the public for people and events to be commemorated. Full details are on the Council website. Today’s unveiling marks the 79th plaque and the 17th to a women approved under the scheme.”

 

Solomons was also a generous supporter of Ireland’s literary community. Together with her husband, poet and editor Seumas O’Sullivan, she helped nurture a generation of Irish writers. Her financial support helped sustain The Dublin Magazine, which published early work by writers including Patrick Kavanagh, Mary Lavin and Samuel Beckett.

 

Solomons died on 2nd November 1968, making the unveiling particularly fitting as it coincided with the 58th anniversary of her death.

 

The plaque forms part of Dublin City Council’s Commemorative Plaques Scheme, which recognises individuals and events that have made significant contributions to the history and life of Dublin.

 

For further information on the scheme, visit www.plaquesofdublin.ie.