In 1949, a gifted 22-year-old sculptor arrived in Dublin from post-war Berlin. Raised in an artistic Jewish German family in the heart of Nazi Germany, Imogen met Irish sculptor Ian Stuart, grandson of Irish revolutionary Maud Gonne. Together, they began their married life at Laragh Castle in County Wicklow, under the roof of Ian’s mother Iseult Gonne.
Seventy-four years later, Imogen is revered as one of Ireland’s most distinguished sculptors. Her striking works, rich in spirit and form, grace both public spaces and private collections across the world.
In this intimate documentary shot over ten years, her grandson filmmaker Emile Dinneen captures the essence of her life and legacy. Drawing on archives of her childhood in wartime Berlin, the bohemian world of her Irish family, and her working in the last decade of her life, it traces her path through marriage and motherhood while quietly becoming one of Ireland’s most respected and prolific artists.
Imogen from the Heart reveals how this remarkable woman came to embody, in sculpture and in spirit, a vital part of Ireland’s cultural soul.
Filmed & Directed by: Emile Dinneen
Producer: Adrian McCarthy
Editor: Mirjam Strugalla
Exec Producer RTÉ : Aifric Ní Chianáin
A Curious Dog Films Production for RTÉ © 2023
RTS (Royal Television Society - Ireland) Best documentary Nomination 2024
Imogen’s spirit is inherently infused in her work – a magical and almost childlike naive world of early monks, lyric poetry, and nature. This is a portrait not only of a charming and powerful independent woman, but a picture of a brilliant artist as she continues to forge an artistic path into her 90’s- THE IRISH INDEPENDENT
A beautiful meditation on the long, robust life of Imogen Stuart - IRISH TIMES