Hilton Edwards, co-founder of the Gate theatre

Contrary to appearances, the Irish are not visually illiterate. This fine portrait of Hilton Edwards is by the Jewish artist Harry Kernoff.

In 1928 Edwards co- founded the Gate Theatre with Micheál MacLiammóir, who like Edwards was actually English. In the Gate they presented European plays in contrast to the Irish peasant fare at the Abbey. (The two theatres were written off as Sodom and Begorrah.) Edwards sat for this portrait in 1928, the year the Gate was founded.

With thanks to Don Buckley

Watch some clips of Micheál MacLiammóir acting: