Cork in 50 Artworks, No 14: Men of the South by Seán Keating
Men of the South depicts a scene during the turbulent creation of a nascent state. Picture: Crawford Art Gallery
Bought by the Crawford Art Gallery in 1924 for £200, Men of the South has become one of Cork’s most-loved works of art, priceless in terms of the enjoyment it brings to the citizens of the city where it resides. Seán Keating’s oil-on-canvas painting of the members of the North Cork Brigade during the War of Independence is deservedly described as iconic.
The fact that descendants of the men who feature in the painting — Jim Riordan, Denis O’Mullane, Jim Cashman, John Jones, Roger Kiely, and Dan Browne — still live in Cork also preserves a link with the work, according to art historian Eimear O’Connor, author of the biography, Seán Keating: Art, Politics and Building the Nation.
