Animals have always been a source of joy, humour, awe, companionship and inspiration for Irish artists. With its layers of folk wisdom and memory the Irish language offers more insights with words like bearrthoir (tail-chewing animal) and cluasachan (long eared animal). Inspired by the archives at the Centre for the Study of Irish Art an exhibition titled Tails from the Archive has just opened at the National Gallery. With a particular focus on recent acquisitions the exhibition features the art of Stephen McKenna, Nancy Wynne-Jones, Conor Fallon, Bea Orpen, Elizabeth C. Yeats, Daniel O’Neill, Anne Yeats, Oisín Kelly, Basil Rákóczi, Jack B. Yeats, Deborah Brown, and William Orpen. Pictured here is a work by Stephen McKenna (1939-2017) Stamp from 1955, c2005 © Estate of Stephen McKenna, Centre for the Study of Irish Art, National Gallery of Ireland