Seamus Murphy, working usually in limestone, sculpted ecclesiastical and allegorical statues; portrait heads; commemorative plaques and public monuments; gravestones and crosses. In bronze, he made portrait heads of public figures, writers, musicians and friends.
Commissions include:
Saint Brigid and the Twelve Apostles, San Francisco, USA
Bronze busts of 5 Presidents of Ireland, Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin
President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Embassy, Dublin
United Nations Monument, Glasnevin, Dublin
In 1950 Seamus published ‘Stone Mad’, his famous book celebrating the work of the Stonies whose craft had begun to die out in the 1940s. It has been described as a classic and is a tribute to the work of innumerable anonymous craftsmen in a tradition that had continued from medieval times.
Voted
Cork’s Favourite Book 2013.