Tall Chimneys

Tall Chimneys almost certainly refers to the Poolbeg chimneys in Dublin Bay — the twin red-and-white-banded stacks of the Poolbeg Generating Station, each 207 metres tall, that have stood as vertical landmarks of the Dublin skyline since the 1970s. Although decommissioned, the chimneys are protected as industrial heritage and remain visible from the city, the Wicklow hills, and the Howth peninsula. Early's etching would register their slender taper and banded surfaces in measured line, while aquatint supplies the atmospheric grading of cloud, estuary, and reflective water. As a Dublin-based architect, Early treats the chimneys as a subject of structural rather than picturesque interest — a counterpart to the coastal lighthouses she has etched along the Irish seaboard. Both subjects involve isolated vertical structures in the open marine environment; here, the industrial vernacular replaces the navigational. The print extends her record of Dublin's working harbour edge.