The Brooklyn Rail

At Rest, in Peace: Farewell to Patrick Ireland

A procession began with the museum’s accompanying exhibition, The Burial of Patrick Ireland. At the interment site, a modest pine coffin holding a death mask of the artist was lowered by pall bearers into the ground. The somber services included orations and poetry readings by prominent art world figures, culminating in a haunting recitation of keening, the traditional Irish mourning wail, by artist Alanna O’Kelly. At the completion of the ceremony, the audience of onlookers—comprised of the artist’s family, friends, colleagues, scholars, reporters, and members of the general public—burst into raucous applause as Brian O’Doherty, the man who created Patrick Ireland, stood with his arms outstretched, cheering “thank you for peace!”