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Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann National Library of Ireland Prints and Drawings Collection List Norah McGuinness Collection (PD 4187) (Accession No. 118 ) Collection of personal papers, correspondence, sketchbooks, drawings, illustrations, design studies, scrapbooks, posters, exhibition catalogues, invites, photographs, books and other documentation. Compiled by Prints and Drawings Department 2010 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………….3 Custodial History and Access…………………………………………………4 Content Structure and Arrangement…………………………………………4 Note to Researcher……………………………………………………………..5 Posters, Exhibition Catalogues and Invitations………………………………6 Greeting Cards, Christmas Cards, Brochures and Calendars………………17 Sketchbooks……………………………………………………………………..22 Drawings, Watercolours, Paintings, Sketches and Proofs……………………31 Plates, Prints, Dust Jackets and Stamps………………………………………36 Prefaces, Galley proofs, Talks and Tapes………………………………….…..38 2 Introduction Norah Allison McGuinness, (1901–1980), painter and theatre designer, was born on 7 November 1901 at Lawrence Street, Londonderry, the daughter of Joseph Allison McGuinness, a coal merchant and ship-owner, and his wife, Jessie, née McCleery. She studied graphic design and painting at the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin, from 1921 to 1924. In her final year there, she first exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. It was after this that she decided to concentrate on painting rather than on book illustration, although the latter remained a source of income throughout her career. Having moved to London, she spent some months during 1924 studying art at the Chelsea Polytechnic. She also received her first important graphic design commission, to produce the illustrations for an edition of Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy which was published in 1925. In the same year she married Geoffrey Phibbs, a librarian from Wicklow, who wrote poetry under the name Geoffrey Taylor. Their marriage broke up in 1929 and they were divorced in 1931. In 1926 McGuinness began her long involvement with the theatre, designing the sets and costumes for W. B. Yeats's play Deirdre which was first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, that year. In 1927 she designed sets and costumes for the Peacock Theatre in Dublin. The success of these projects led to many more set designs and costumes for the Abbey Theatre, as well as portraits of leading actors. On the advice of a fellow Irish painter, Mainie Jellett, McGuinness went to Paris in 1929 to study privately with the painter André Lhote. Her stay of two years in Paris greatly affected her painting style, and she introduced some elements from fauvism and cubism. Her subject matter remained constant—mostly still lifes, seascapes, and landscapes, with a few portraits. As her career progressed, she found her own mature style, employing loose brushwork and a spontaneous approach to her subject. She kept her forms simple and strong, and her colours mostly subdued in range. After ending her studies with Lhote in 1931, she spent a short time traveling in France and then returned to London; she lived and worked in Hammersmith until 1937, and sent paintings to mixed exhibitions at Lucy Wertheim's Gallery, and also showed with the Seven and Five Society and the London Group. She had solo exhibitions at Lucy Wertheim's Gallery in 1933, the Zwemmer Gallery in 1934, and the Dublin Painters' Gallery in Dublin in March 1936, shortly after joining the Dublin Painters' Society. McGuinness had two further shows at this venue in 1938 and 1941 and remained a member of the society until about 1950. In her Hammersmith years she resumed her book illustration and produced fashion drawings for the magazines Bystander and Vogue. In 1937 McGuinness returned home to Ireland, where she remained for the rest of her life. She did, however, travel to New York in 1937 and again in 1939, when she had a solo exhibition at the Paul Reinhardt Gallery, and also managed to produce some fashion illustrations for Harper's Bazaar and window displays for Fifth Avenue department stores, such as Bonwit Tellers. In 1943 she was one of the founder members of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, an annual exhibition held in Dublin devoted to showing avant- garde work; its first exhibition was held in September 1943. This organization was set up in opposition to the somewhat old-fashioned outlook of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 3 Dublin. In September 1944 McGuinness was elected chairman of the committee of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art and in March 1948 became president, a post she held until 1972. She probably gained more praise for her diplomatic role in running this organization than she did for her paintings, and is fondly remembered for her energetic role in seeking out opportunities for living Irish artists. However, McGuinness was elected an honorary member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1957, the rival organization that first showed her work in the early 1920s. In 1950 McGuinness was one of two painters, the other being Nano Reid, chosen to represent Ireland at the Venice Biennale. In the 1950s and early 1960s she showed work at the Dawson Gallery in Dublin, the leading gallery in the city for contemporary art. Garden Green, a major still life of 1952, is in the collection of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, and Shore Pools, a moody landscape from 1965, can be seen at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. McGuinness had a major retrospective exhibition at Trinity College, Dublin, in October 1968, and her last exhibition was at the Taylor Galleries, Dublin, in 1979. Her work is in the collection of the Ulster Museum, Belfast, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Sligo Museum and Art Gallery, the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin, and the Hirschhorn Museum, Washington, DC. She died at Monkstown Hospital, Dún Laoghaire, on 22 November 1980. * Biography details courtesy of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Custodial History and Access The National Library of Ireland acquired the Norah McGuinness collection through donation from her sister Rhoda McGuinness on 24 August 1994. The collection is comprised of personal papers, correspondence, sketchbooks, drawings, illustrations, design studies, scrapbooks, posters, exhibition catalogues, invites, photographs, books and other documentation. Because of the diverse nature of the collection it has been spread out amongst the relevant sections of the library. Original and printed artworks and all related art and design material are retained in the Prints and Drawings Department. Posters, exhibition catalogues and invites are held in the Ephemera Department. Photographs, negatives and slides are in the National Photographic Archive. Correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks and cuttings are held in Manuscripts and books are shelved in the IR and LO book stacks of the main library. Content Structure and Arrangement The following is a list detailing those items held in the Ephemera and Prints and Drawings Departments. 4 This part of the collection spans from the 1920s right up to the 1990s. The items reflect the diverse nature of Norah’s artistic career from book illustrator to set designer to graphic artist and painter. Some of the choice pieces include a bound volume of original drawings from her first major commission illustrating Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy in 1925 (PD 4187 TX (5) 3), a set of original water colour and pen and ink drawings for illustrations used in W.B. Yeats’ Stories of Red Hanrahan and the Secret Rose (PD 4187 TX (5) 8) and an oil painting on canvas of a landscape (PD 4187 TX (6) 11). As well as the original drawings and illustrations there are numerous exhibition catalogues from galleries all over the world that exhibited Norah’s work over the decades confirming her role as an International Artist of much acclaim. The collection has been divided up according to type. In Ephemera Posters, Exhibition Catalogues and Invitations are available for consultation at the call number Acc 118 and relevant item number. The material in Prints and Drawings has been arranged under the following headings and call numbers. Greeting and Christmas Cards, Brochures and Calendars PD 4187 TX 2 followed by the relevant item number. Sketchbooks can be found at PD 4187 TX 3 followed by the relevant item number. Drawings, Watercolours, Sketches and Proofs are listed under PD 4187 TX 4 followed by the relevant item number. Plates, Prints, Dust jackets and Stamps are held at PD 4187 TX 6 followed by the relevant call number. Finally Prefaces, Galley Proofs, Documentation and Tapes are under PD 4187 TX 7 followed by the relevant item number. Note to Researcher The following abbreviations have been used throughout the list NMcG = Norah McGuinness RMcG = Rhoda McGuinness Lisa Cruise March 2010 5 Posters, Exhibition Catalogues and Invitations ACC 118 (1) 1979 Invite to NMcG exhibition at Taylor Galleries Dublin. Exhibition titled ‘Paintings in oils & gouache 1935-61’. 6 items ACC 118 (2) B/W proof of birthday invitation designed by NMcG for Anne Yeats’ 21 st . 1 item ACC 118 (3) Colour bi-tonal proofs of birthday invitations designed by NMcG Anne Yeats' 21st. 2 items ACC 118 (5) Exhibition catalogues ‘Selection of modern Irish paintings by Dr. Norah McGuinness and Cecil King from Great Southern Hotels Collection’. 11 items ACC 118 (6) 1990 Invitation from Stephen O'Mara to Rhoda McGuinness to a private view of an exhibition titled ‘Selected work by the late Norah McGuinness’. Exhibition catalogue and biography written by Stephen O’Mara in respect of Norah. 2 items ACC 118 (7) [November 1982] Taylor Galleries Dublin Exhibition catalogue ‘Norah McGuinness (1903-1980)’. Copy annotated and contains newspaper clippings related to exhibition. 1 item ACC 118 (8) November 1982 Invitation to Norah McGuinness exhibition in Taylor Galleries, Dublin. 1 item ACC 118 (9) November - December 1983 The Gordon Gallery, Londonderry, exhibition catalogue Christmas show Nov 25 - Dec 24, 1983’.