Newport Harry Clarke window is President’s Christmas card

PRIDE OF PLACE?This striking image of Harry Clarke’s Christmas scene, ‘Adoration of the Maji’ , photographed by Michael McLaughlin at Newport Church, adorns the cover of the President’s chosen Christmas card.

Newport church photo by local photographer used on President’s Christmas card


Clarke’s ‘Adoration of the Maji’ chosen

Áine Ryan

AS the ceremonial head of the Irish State, President Michael D Higgins must choose the Christmas cards he sends the country’s many officials carefully. This year’s card is the resplendent Harry Clarke image, entitled ‘Adoration of the Maji’, located in Saint Patrick’s Church, Newport and photographed by Westport’s own Michael McLaughlin as part of a Mayo County Council publication honouring the work of the stained-glass artist.
‘Stained Glass Windows of Mayo by Harry Clarke and The Clarke Studios’ is a beautifully illustrated book of his windows which are in churches all over the county. Photographed by Michael McLaughlin, Clarke windows are in churches in Balla, Ballindine, Ballinrobe, Ballyhaunis, Callow, Charlestown, Claremorris, Cong, Kilmaine, Knock, Lahardaun, Newport, Roundfort, Tooreen and Westport.
Speaking to The Mayo News, Michael McLaughlin said he felt ‘honoured’ that Michael D Higgins had used one of his images, adding that he was aware the President was a great fan of Clarke’s work.
“I got a call from the design company, Vermillion, telling me that the President had requested to buy one of my images of a Harry Clarke window. I understand he had a copy of the Mayo County Council book,” said Michael McLaughlin.
The President’s card has greetings in Irish, French and English and includes two of his poems, ‘Of Utopias’ and ‘Nocturne 4’.
The opening lines in ‘Of Utopias’ are: “Old Utopias never die/ nor do they fade away./ Born of possibility/ out of ancestor traces,/ memory gives birth/ to imagination.”
This poem is in Michael D Higgins’s ‘New and Selected Poems, 2011’. Harry Clarke was born in 1889 in Dublin and died in Switzerland in 1931. He was a leading member of the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement.

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