13 May 1929 – 25
October 2012
Oonagh Swift, who
has died in the Algarve
at the age of 83, was a cultured, charismatic and quintessentially Irish figure
beloved by people of many nationalities.
While her life in
Ireland, London
and Portugal
was steeped in the arts and literature, many will remember her for her beauty
and her mischievous smile.
Born in Dublin, she was the third youngest of eight children of
Séamus Ryan and Agnes Ryan, née Harding, from County Tipperary.
They christened her Agnes Mary, but Oonagh, a Gaelic variation of Agnes, is the
name that caught on from an early age.
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 learning French. She met a
Belgian linguist and literary scholar, Prince Alexis Guédroitz, whom she later
married in Dublin
when she was only 18. They spent time together in Brussels,
Paris and Saint Tropez, returning to Dublin for the birth of
their daughter, Ania.
It was in Dublin, after her
separation from Prince Alexis, that she met the aspiring Irish artist Patrick
Swift who would become her second husband. Through Patrick, she came to know
the likes of writers Patrick Kavanagh, Anthony Cronin, Brian O’Nolan, John
Jordan, John McGahern and artists Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon and Nano Reid.
Brendan Behan was also a friend but, ironically, Oonagh had first met him
through Alexis.
In 1954, Oonagh
accompanied Patrick on a study visit to Italy,
returning to Dublin
the following year to give birth to their first child, Kate. On moving to London, the Swifts became
further ensconced in creative bohemian life. The French House and the Coach and
Horses pubs in 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.
Dublin and London were the Swifts’
main stamping grounds throughout the 1950s and into the 60s, but then they
chose a totally new working and family environment. In 1962, while still in
their thirties, they pitched up in the remote and almost unheard of fishing village of Carvoeiro. It would remain their home
for the rest of their lives.
As one of the
first expatriate families in the Algarve, the Swifts totally
embraced and integrated into the local community in a way few foreigners do
nowadays. Their many Portuguese friends ranged from the humblest of village
folk to leaders such as Francisco de Sá Carneiro who became Portugal’s
prime minister.
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.
Their first studio was in a 17th-century cottage. It was there that they first
applied old designs and motifs to handmade ceramic plates and panels. The
revival of a dying craft turned into a small business. As demand from residents
and visitors increased, the studio moved into larger premises close by.
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
(1971). Oonagh was very much involved in all three publications having
previously written a book herself with the Canadian poet and novelist Elizabeth
Smart. It was a book on French cookery contained 400 recipes “to add pleasure
and variety to English mealtimes.”
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).
When coastal
lagoons like Salgados become overfull after heavy rains in autumn or winter,
they break out and empty into the sea naturally. It is important that this
happens so that the lagoons do not become overladen and eventually overwhelmed
by sediments. Usually after 10 days or so of dryness, the basins refill with a mixture of freshwater and seawater. This natural, refreshing process is what is happening right now at Salgados.
The second urgent
matter is to implement an agreed conservation management system so that the water
level in the lagoon is under control at all times, especially during the breeding
season. Such a system was agreed back in 2008 between all the parties involved
in protracted negotiations aimed at protecting Lagoa dos Salgados. 
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