Analysis: Pickow's photos capture the capital and its people at a time when modernisation and internationalisation were gathering pace
American photographer George Pickow possessed an eclectic eye for an image. Born in Los Angeles in 1922, Pickow is most associated with photographing the most recognisable names and faces of modern American jazz, blues, and folk music, from Pete Seeger to Nina Simone. He was also equally adept turning his lens to everyday life of work, sport, leisure, and rituals from Brazil to Russia in the mid to late twentieth century.
Pickow's wife, the renowned Kentucky folk singer, Jean Ritchie, won a Fulbright scholarship to travel to Ireland and Britain in 1952 to collect Irish folk songs. Pickow accompanied Ritchie on the trip and focused his lens on Ireland, documenting their trip and creating a remarkable photographic archive of over 1,000 images which is now digitally available from the University of Galway Library.
Pickow’s photographs of Dublin capture a unique essence of the city and its people at a point in time when modernisation and internationalisation was gathering at pace. Yet many traditional aspects of city life, from barges transporting goods on the Liffey to city shops and traders, are still visible. The following selection of photographs showcase Pickow’s Dublin, and of the people, places, and events which caught his eye and lens in 1952.
Dublin from on top of Nelson’s Pillar
A mainstay of O’Connell Street (or Sackville Street), Nelson's Pillar was an ominous if also contentious presence on Dublin’s main thoroughfare from the early 19th century until it was blown up by republicans ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1966.
Pickow’s photo of Dublin city from on top of Nelson’s Pillar, 120 metres above street level, presents a vista of the city outwards towards the Dublin mountains in the foggy distance. The footpaths below are busy with shoppers and others ambling around the city. The road is relatively quiet with car parking available in the middle of the street as buses and delivery trucks go about their daily business.
Mass in a Dublin Airport hanger
Pickow spent time in Dublin Airport where he photographed the mix of glamour of early commercial air travel, with the planes and cabin crew all photographed, as were the technical skill of the mechanics working on the aircraft engines ferrying passengers from Ireland’s capital to other European and American metropolitan centres.
At a meeting point of tradition and future is Pickow’s photograph of a mass being said in the hanger at Dublin Airport and the blessing of the new plane, the St. Senan. The planes in Aer Lingus fleet at the time often carried names of Irish saints and the St Albert plane is also pictured in the hanger. Both are Bristol 170 Freighter airplanes, passenger and cargo workhorses of the then fleet. The priest faces his congregation from a makeshift altar. The women are seated at the front, with the men standing at the back. It is not known if those attending the mass are passengers or if it is a mass for airport staff and their families.
Street artist and local children on the Ha’Penny Bridge
A group of local children interrupt a street artist painting a scene of Dublin city from the vantage point of the Ha’Penny Bridge. The painter’s canvas is visible and the view of the Liffey he is painting can be seen. One child climbs the railing to talk with the artist, while Pickow captures the street scene in his photograph. The children push a pram with a breadboard on top, possibly on route to a street market across the Liffey at Moore Street or Henry Street on the North side of the river.
Dublin Bird Market
A weekly bird market was one of Dublin's oldest and longest running markets, if also perhaps one of the lesser spotted of gathered street traders. Located on Bride Street for many years until the 1960s, the Dublin Bird Market attracted traders, breeders, enthusiasts and the curious alike, where birds from pigeons to larks were the main draw of the gathered crowd looking to buy or sell. Pickow had a skill of finding local events and customs to photograph and here again he captures a busy scene where largely men and young boys are gathered in the market on a confined city laneway.
Gardaí on parade at Dublin Castle
Pickow photographed the Gardaí on parade during his visit in 1952. Pictured is a line of Garda patrol cars in the Upper Castle Yard at Dublin Castle. Seven cars, each with two members of the Garda Síochána standing on the driver's side, are parked in a line in the yard, with part of the Castle Hall visible in the background. The Garda parade was likely staged especially for Pickow’s visit, creating images that would showcase the state’s police force to an international audience.
A different Dublin childhood
Pickow attended the Dublin home of the American ambassador to Ireland, William Howard Taft III, (grandson of former U.S. president William Howard Taft) and photographed the rather privileged life of the children of the ambassador and their mother, Barbara Taft.
The children are pictured playing the garden of the ambassador’s residence, being tended to by the family nanny, on family outings, and on drives in a comically full Morris Minor car driven by their father. The children are also pictured immersing themselves in Irish culture, learning Irish dancing and language with their home-based tutors. One an outing to Dublin Zoo, William Taft junior is pictured standing on the knee of an elephant, alongside his sisters, Martha and Maria Taft.
Dublin by bicycle
A series of photographs taken by Pickow focus on cyclists making their way around Dublin city. Long before traffic congestion took over, traversing the city by bicycle was still a favoured mode of transport for many Dubliners.
One photograph shows a young man adding his bicycle to a parking rack of hundreds of others, all impossibly similar, parked on the central island of O’Connell Street. Another photograph shows cycling commuters with double decker buses baring down behind them. The buses bear the slogans of Dublin industry advertisements such as Boland's Biscuits.
The faces of the cyclists passing by are quizzical, as to the unknown American photographer facing them from the footpath. In this image we see a group of cyclists, stopped at the junction of O'Connell Bridge with the base of the O’Connell monument clear behind them. The hair and clothing styles all indicate a different time, but yet in a recognisable Dublin.
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