May Power was an Irish sculptor active primarily in the mid-20th century. From Phibsborough, Dublin, she was the eldest daughter of the prominent Irish sculptor Albert G. Power and pursued a similar career in sculpture. Power lived in Dublin, with her main period of creative activity spanning 1933 to 1951, during which she exhibited several times at the Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition. In 1948, she represented Irish in the sculpture event of the art competitions at the Summer Olympics in London. May Power and her father were both members of the Academy of Christian Art. This group started in 1934. Through the Academy, May taught art to others. She also helped to organize a large collection of religious artworks that the group gathered. She even served as the honorary secretary for the Academy.
When her father passed away in 1945, he had not finished a sculpture of Thomas Davis. Thomas Davis was an important Irish writer and politician. May Power took the plaster model of the sculpture and painted it to look like bronze. She finished it just in time for the 100-year celebration of Davis's birth. Today, the Hugh Lane Gallery has a bronze sculpture by May Power of Joseph Holloway, a famous Irish writer.
Arts
