13 May 1929 – 25
October 2012
Oonagh Swift, who
has died in the Algarve
While her life in
Ireland , London
and Portugal
Born in Dublin , she was the third youngest of eight children of
Séamus Ryan and Agnes Ryan, née Harding, from County Tipperary
Her parents were
Republican activists during the Irish War of Independence from 1919 to 1921.
Her father, a successful, self-made businessman, was a totally committed member
of the then fledgling Fianna Fáil party, a senator in De Valera's government and
an active supporter of the old IRA.
The best known of
her siblings were John Ryan, an artist, man of letters and an influential
figure in bohemian Dublin in the 1940s and 50s, and Kathleen Ryan, a famous
Irish film actress who appeared in British and Hollywood films between 1947 and
1957. Another brother, Séamus, became a Benedictine priest. Her older sister,
Cora, married an Irish politician, Sean Dunn. A younger sister, Íde, became a
nun, scholar and author.
After education
in Dublin and finishing school in London , Oonagh spent a year in Belgium Dublin Brussels ,
Paris and Saint Tropez, returning to Dublin
It was in Dublin
In 1954, Oonagh
accompanied Patrick on a study visit to Italy ,
returning to Dublin London Soho were popular meeting
places for some of the most innovative artists and writers of the day. So was
their flat in Westbourne Terrace W2 where Oonagh was able to feed the hungry,
if not sate the gargantuan avante-garde thirsts. Frequent visitors included the
South African-born poet David Wright with whom Patrick founded the quarterly
review of literature and the arts, X magazine.
As one of the
first expatriate families in the Algarve Portugal
Patrick and
Oonagh established a pottery near the village
of Porches with a renowned Portuguese
artist, Lima de Freitas, who many years later would become the minister of
culture in Lisbon
After Patrick’s
death in 1983, Oonagh managed Porches Pottery for more than 20 years, employing
and training a considerable number of local craftswomen and building up a high
reputation internationally. The creative side of the business was led by her
daughter Kate, an outstanding artist in her own right, until Kate’s untimely
death in 2004. Upon retirement, Oonagh was able to hand over control of the
business to her two younger daughters, Juliet and Stella.
In 1987, Oonagh
married David Wright, whose wife had died two years after Patrick. David, a
prolific author and editor as well as a poet, had co-written with Patrick three
books on Portugal : Algarve (1965), Minho and North Portugal (1968)
and Lisbon
Throughout the
intellectually and culturally glittering years, the Swift home near Carvoeiro
was a meeting place for a rotating cast of overseas visitors from the world of
painting, literature and photography. The conversation and the laughter, like
the wine, always flowed copiously. Music came into it too. Even in her more
sedentary years, Oonagh had a wonderful voice. In addition to Irish songs, she
would perfectly accompany recordings by Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich.
After David died
in 1994, there was a saying that if a book were written about Oonagh it should
be called ‘The Prince, the Painter and the Poet.” That sort of jibe appealed to
her keen sense of humour. She was often heard to come out with banter like,
“he’s as blind as a bat flying through a thunderstorm.”
A lover of life
to the full and an avid reader of everything from European classics to the
latest bestsellers, until the very end Oonagh would quote from memory such
poets as Yeats and Auden with a glass of wine in her hand and a twinkle in her
eye.
The funeral
service was held in the parish church at Porches.
Oonagh is
survived by her daughters: Juliet (pictured left), Stella and Ania (right).
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