New portrait of Dr. Mary Strangman to be unveiled in Waterford

Two new exhibitions will be opening at Waterford Gallery of Art on December, 5 at 6:30pm.

The 'Bodies' exhibition will showcase artworks, including new commissions from the Waterford Art Collection inspired by the human form.

Most auspiciously, the exhibition will feature an OPW and Waterford Council-commissioned portrait of Dr. Mary Strangman by Una Sealy RHA.

Sealy, based in Howth, Dublin, has previously been awarded for her portrait of local artist, Caoilfhionn Hanton.

Dr. Mary Somerville Parker Strangman (1872 – 1943) was born in Waterford, enrolled at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1891, and received her licence in 1896.

After training and lecturing in Britain, she became the second woman to earn the fellowship of RCSI in 1902. Establishing a practice in Waterford, Strangman also volunteered at various local women’s charities and published several research articles on alcoholism and morphine addiction. 

Her increasing activism in women’s health, particularly combatting tuberculosis, as well as women’s suffrage led her to being elected Waterford’s first woman councillor in 1912.

Retiring from public office in 1920, Strangman continued in general practice and as a physician at Waterford County and City Infirmary.

Her life and work was honoured in March of this year at City Hall, as the Large Room was named in her honour. She also has a Civic Trust Blue Plaque dedicated to her on Parliament Street.

The upcoming exhibition will also feature life drawing, carved marble feet, a glass hand, as well as paintings from the likes of William Orpen and Mainie Jellett.

There will also be more recent works and new acquisitions to the collection by Áine Ryan, Eamon Gray and James Horan, Cúan Cusack, and photography by HK Stuart.

Also launching at the same time will be an exhibition titled: 'Ground (two-unfold)' by Susan Connolly. 

This body of work reflects and reappraises 100 years of Irish abstract painting and takes its cues from ‘Decoration’ (1923) by Mainie Jellett, considered the first Irish abstract painting.

Originally from Kildare, Susan is now based between Belfast and Waterford where she is a lecturer and Course Leader in the Visual Art Department of SETU.

She studied at Limerick College of Art and Design, the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and Belfast School of Art, where she was awarded an MFA and PhD. 

The exhibition is free to view at the Waterford Gallery of Art, open Wednesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm, and is accompanied by a limited-edition art book designed by Alex Synge with texts by Sarah Long, Craig Staff and Riann Coulter.