Onion Seller - Select Image To View Photographs

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THE ORIGINAL

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The Silent Witnesses: Séamus Murphy’s "Mary Anne" and the Echoes of the Mardyke

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To navigate Cork through a viewfinder is to realise that the city’s identity is anchored by a specific archetype: the street trader. While the current regeneration of Bishop Lucey Park captures the headlines and the "scrawl" of modern graffiti, two bronze figures stand as stoic observers of this evolution.

The Tale of Two Onion Sellers

There is a common sense of geographic disorientation when tracking the "Onion Seller" through the city. This is not a single statue that moves, but rather two distinct bronze casts of the same masterpiece, titled "Mary Anne," created by the renowned Cork sculptor Séamus Murphy.

Murphy, a master who worked out of his studio on Watercourse Road, originally modelled the figure in plaster in 1937. He sought to immortalise the "Shawlies"—the formidable women of the Coal Quay who were the backbone of Cork’s working-class economy.

The version currently situated in Bishop Lucey Park was the first public bronze cast, presented in 1985 by Sunbeam Wolsey PLC. This textile giant was once the city’s largest employer, and the gift marked both the park’s opening and Cork’s 800th anniversary.

The confusion regarding its location often stems from the second cast. In 1995, the local McDonald’s franchisee, Ray Doherty, sponsored another edition of the statue. It spent years stationed on Winthrop Street before being relocated in 2012 to its spiritual home on Cornmarket Street (The Coal Quay). This explains the recurring memory of the statue appearing in different parts of the city under different corporate patronage.

The Predecessor: Marshall Hudson’s "Apple Woman"

For those documenting the lineage of Cork’s public art, the "Onion Seller" feels like a continuation of a theme established nearly two decades earlier. In the Mardyke, the "Apple Woman" stands as a significant, larger-scale predecessor.

Created by the sculptor Marshall Hudson and unveiled in 1968, this piece shares a profound DNA with Murphy’s work. Both sculptures elevate the ordinary working woman to the status of a monument. However, Hudson’s "Apple Woman" carries a different physical weight and scale, reflecting the mid-century transition in Irish public art.

Where Murphy’s "Mary Anne" is intimate and gritty—now frequently framed by the neon spray paint of 2026—Hudson’s work in the Mardyke offers a more classical, expansive take on the same resilience.

A Photographer’s Perspective

In the current landscape of Bishop Lucey Park, these sculptures serve a vital documentary purpose. They provide a fixed point of historical dignity against a backdrop of rapid change and social friction. To capture the "Onion Seller" today is to photograph a collision of eras: 1930s inspiration, 1980s civic pride, and the raw, unfiltered energy of the 2020s.

These figures are no longer just art; they are the permanent residents of a city in flux, indifferent to the "scrawl" but essential to the narrative of the lens.

Man And Dog - Select Image To View Photographs

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The Art And Arist - Select Image To View Photographs

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