29th August 2024
‘The Wedding at Mussenden Temple’ by Desmond Kinney
Under the moonlight, groups of dancers young and old whirl merrily as the accordion and fiddle play. Some of the guests’ outfits suggest times past – the men wearing braces and flat caps, some of the women in long coats and cardigans – but the sense of joy and fun on a special occasion is timeless. The artist, Portstewart-born Desmond Kinney (1939-2014), adorns his figures with joyful patches of colour and pattern. Bright pinks, blues and yellows all mingle in the movement. An older gentleman sat on the wall behind – the only solitary figure in the piece – observes the scene contentedly. Meanwhile, the happy couple in the foreground stand off to the side in their own close embrace while the party continues around them.
The painting beautifully contrasts the lyrical motion and expression of the party-goers with the peaceful backdrop of the temple behind, the moonlight above and the waves rolling onto the beach below. In Kinney’s rendering of the landscape, we see a playful approach to shape and colour. The blocks of grass and sand – and even more so the purple-hued clouds above – resemble torn pieces of colourful paper arranged in collage, giving an imprecise and cartoonish texture to the scene along with the small scale of the figures.
Kinney, who died almost ten years ago in September 2014, was an accomplished mosaic artist as well as a painter – in later life he often collaborated with his son and daughter on mosaic projects. One lovely example of his mosaic work can be seen in the main lobby of the Royal Victoria Hospital. Close to the Quiet Room, opposite the shop, look out for a blue panel featuring a dove in flight: this was extracted from a much larger work depicting the creation myth, originally displayed in the old YMCA building on Wellington Place in Belfast and transferred to Belfast Trust on its closure.
This type of mosaic work at large scale also featured in two impressive outdoor works in Dublin. The first, his 1974 rendering of the Irish legend of the Táin Bó Cúailnge on Nassau Street in Dublin – also known as the Setanta Wall or the Táin Wall has recently been taken down with the aim of reinstatement when the building hosting it is redeveloped. The second was his interpretation of Seamus Heaney’s epic poem Sweeney Astray at the Irish Life Centre on Abbey Street; the materials from this piece have recently been completely recycled into a new series of sculptures by emerging artists.
While many of his paintings and murals focus on Irish mythic themes and times past, Kinney was also a highly regarded commercial artist at the forefront of contemporary graphics. Going into business with Ralph Dobson in the early 1960s, he established one of the leading graphic design and commercial art companies in Belfast, Kinney-Dobson Associates, who produced many iconic graphic design schemes, including logos for the Ulster Orchestra, the Arts Council and the Ulster ’71 festival.
Where to see the painting and find out more:
- You can find The Wedding at Mussenden Temple on display at the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre, on the first floor close to the lifts and the link to the Bridgewater Suite and Main Tower. The piece sits alongside numerous artworks kindly donated to the centre for its opening in 2010.
- See the painting online as part of the Trust’s collection on Art UK.