Kildare Arts Service : Municipal Collection

‘Waterfall’ - Mary Farl Powers

Medium: Lithograph

Dimensions: 60cm x 70cm

Location: Naas Library

Born in Minnesota, USA, in 1948, Mary Farl Powers moved to Ireland in 1951 where she studied Art at Dun Laoghaire and then at the National College of Art and Design. She exhibited her work from the early 70s and was printmaker-in-residence at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She was a director of Graphic Studio, Dublin, for many years. She died in 1992 at the age of 43. 

This painting by Mary Farl Powers at first seems like a purely abstract work, but its title suggests a representational reading. The style is similar that used by Surrealist artist Max Ernst, especially in his landscape work Terre Écossaise from 1935. The blue at the top of the composition represents the water while the red can be seen as a rock face or hillside.

Click here to compare this work to ‘Terre Écossaise’ by Max Ernst.

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