Fortitude 2005
Abilgail O’Brien

Fortitude is Abigail O’Brien’s exploration of the Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude. These are the hinges on which moral virtues were said to depend; “they govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to faith and reason”. The Virtues can be achieved through human effort – they are therefore valid, attainable and worthy. In examining Fortitude, the virtue of courage, O’Brien questions; Who the courageous are, How courage manifests itself in contemporary culture and What are the gender issues? In her sculpture and photography she deconstructs the familiar masculine terrain of military hardware, male bonding and learned gender roles. ¹

Abigail O’Brien has won many awards for her work and her work is represented in both private and public collections, including The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, The European Central Bank, Frankfurt, Goldman Sachs, London, The Caldic Collection, Rotterdam and the Volpinum Collection, Vienna. She has shown extensively, including Haus Der Kunst, Munich, The Gemeentemuseum, Holland, and Centro National des Artes, Mexico. Born in 1957, she received a first class honours BA Fine Art Painting in 1995 and an MA Fine Art Painting in 1998, from The National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Abigail O’Brien lives and works in Ireland. ²

The George Moore Association seeks to promote the study of George Moore’s works, to help young scholars, and to foster related literary tourism, cultural exchange, and new art products.³