Quick viewing(Text Mode)

ART GALLERIES and ARTS CENTRES in IRELAND 1 the Irish Museum of Dublin City Gallery Modern Art (IMMA) the Hugh Lane

ART GALLERIES and ARTS CENTRES in IRELAND 1 the Irish Museum of Dublin City Gallery Modern Art (IMMA) the Hugh Lane

ONLINE MATERIAL

INE MAT L ER N I O A L Appreciation: Art Galleries

O N L L IA I R NE MATE and Arts Centres in

Dublin

The of Image of Bono (2003), and the large tapestry Triumph of Cúchulainn Ireland (2001).

The National Gallery of Ireland has numerous European Art works of art on display. The main emphasis is on The works of art in the gallery date from the early , but it also has examples from every major 13th century through to the mid-20th century, and school of European painting in its collection. include an impressive range of masterpieces by artists from the major European schools. The Yeats Collection The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio today hangs Jack Yeats is considered the greatest Irish artist of proudly in the National Gallery of Ireland after it was the first half of the 20th century; the National Gallery given on permanent loan to the gallery. It was found has a large number of works and material relating to in a Jesuit House in almost two centuries him. In addition, the collection holds material relating after it had gone missing in Europe. to members of the artist’s family: his father, John The finding of such a great painting by the renowned Butler Yeats; sisters, Elizabeth Corbet Yeats and Italian artist has naturally brought great fame to the Susan Mary Yeats; niece, ; and cousin, gallery, but among the other very fine works in the Ruth Pollexfen. collection are paintings by: * the 20th-century artist Pablo Picasso * the 19th-century French artist Louis le Brocquy was a towering figure in Irish the 18th-century Spanish artist Francisco Goya art. His work is a testament to his openness to * international modernism and Irish influence, while * the 17th-century Spanish artist Diego Velázquez also being a record of a singular vision. He is perhaps the 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer best known for his unique series of compositions, * featuring celebrated literary figures and fellow artists. * the 16th-century Italian artist Titian. Among le Brocquy’s works in the collection of the For more information, visit the National Gallery’s National Gallery of Ireland are: A Family (1951), website.

ART GALLERIES AND ARTS CENTRES IN IRELAND 1 The Irish Museum of Dublin City Gallery (IMMA) The

The Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin is the The houses one of Ireland’s beautiful setting for Ireland’s leading national foremost collections of modern and contemporary art. institution for the collection and presentation of The original collection has grown to include almost modern and contemporary art. This building was 2,000 artworks, ranging from the Impressionist restored by the Irish government in 1984, and the masterpieces of Manet, Monet, Renoir and Degas, Irish Museum of Modern Art opened in May 1991. to works by leading national and international Over those years, IMMA has built up a collection contemporary artists. of over 4,500 works, acquired through purchase, The gallery has a programme of dynamic temporary donations and long-term loans, as well as through exhibitions, which are often linked to work from the the commissioning of new works. The museum has permanent collection and promote new ways of regular exhibitions that present a wide variety of expressing art like multimedia. art, sometimes from its own collection or from other institutions or private sources. An online catalogue is a new feature of the gallery’s website. It is hoped that art lovers, the general public and students can enjoy highlights from the gallery’s The building renowned permanent collection of modern and The 17th-century building was founded in 1684 as contemporary art. a hospital or home for retired soldiers, and was used The importance of The Hugh Lane’s cultural position for this purpose for over 250 years. With its formal in contemporary Ireland gained wide recognition façade and a large elegant courtyard, it is similar in after it acquired all the contents of the artist style to Les Invalides in Paris. The permanent and Francis Bacon’s studio from London. In 2001, it temporary exhibitions are displayed in a series of was reconstructed as a permanent exhibit in the interlocking rooms on the long corridors that flank gallery. Francis Bacon, who was born in Ireland but the sides of the courtyard. worked all his life in England, produced often quite controversial works. The studio offers an invaluable insight into the artist’s life, inspirations, unusual Exhibitions techniques and working methods. The museum’s permanent collection of over 1,650 The gallery also recently received a gift of some works is shown in a series of temporary exhibitions. paintings from contemporary artist , who These sometimes feature the work of individual was also born in Dublin. These seven superb abstract artists or they may be group exhibitions. The work paintings form the second permanent installation is frequently that of leading, well-established in a dedicated gallery in the new wing, acting as a international artists, but new work by younger- mainstay for the collection of non-figurative painting generation artists is often shown as well. The in the gallery. range and styles also vary greatly from painting and sculpture to installation, photography, video and For more information, visit the Dublin City Gallery The performance. Hugh Lane website. For more information, visit the IMMA website.

2 APPRECIATING ART: SECTION 3 – ONLINE MATERIAL ONLINE MATERIAL ONLINE The first public gallery of Friends of the National Collections modern art In an effort to get the paintings back in 1932, the government gave over Charlemont House for use The story of this first public gallery of modern art in as the municipal gallery. This was originally the the world and its collection is a most interesting one. townhouse of James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, It was established in Dublin in 1908 as the Municipal a well-known collector of art and antiques to the city Gallery of Modern Art in Harcourt Street. It was later of Dublin. The corporation then commissioned a bust renamed Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and of Hugh Lane and placed it in the last of the rooms relocated in Charlemont House on Parnell Street. of the new gallery. The room itself remained empty, However, it is still is often called The Hugh Lane, awaiting the return of the paintings. after its founder. A shared arrangement Sir Hugh Lane In 1959, an agreement was reached to share the One of the foremost collectors of Impressionist paintings. In 1961, 20 works of art were officially paintings in England and Ireland, Sir Hugh received on permanent loan from the trustees of the Lane, unfortunately did not live to see his gallery Tate. The two institutions also agreed to share eight permanently located in Dublin. He died in 1915 when of the most important Impressionist paintings in a the luxury ocean liner Lusitania sank during the early rotating arrangement. years of the First World War, having been torpedoed off the west coast of Cork. His death marked the Every six years, four of the eight pictures exchange beginning of a long dispute between Dublin and between London’s National Gallery and Dublin City London over possession of his valuable collection of Gallery The Hugh Lane, but they continue to be pictures. labelled as property of the National Gallery London. The eight paintings are: Dublin Corporation and its business leaders did not agree to Lane’s request for a new gallery for modern * Edouard Manet, Music at the Tuileries art, and he became highly irritated at this. He took his * , Beach Scene collection of French paintings out of Ireland and gave * Auguste Renoir, them to London’s National Gallery. * Edouard Manet, Eva Gonzalès painting Claude Monet, Lavacourt under Snow A codicil to his will * * Édouard Vuillard, The Fireplace The National Gallery in London, however, did not * , A Summer’s Day consider all the paintings good enough to show and * , View from Louveciennes left them in the basement. Insulted by this, Lane withdrew his gift but did not repossess the paintings. In a famous codicil (addition) to his will, he changed Cork his mind and willed the whole collection to Ireland, provided a suitable building was found within five years of his death. Unfortunately, his signature was The Crawford Municipal never witnessed and after his death the National Gallery Cork Gallery London refused to recognise this codicil and kept the paintings. The in the centre of Cork is a small but important art museum. It has a very impressive permanent collection, which is particularly

ART GALLERIES AND ARTS CENTRES IN IRELAND 3 strong in Irish art. The collection is shown on a His work is more rugged than Orpen’s, but has a rotating basis, but one or two are permanently on power and a strength than can affect the viewer display. on a deeply emotional level. Keating became passionately involved in the cause of promoting Irish The gallery’s permanent collection comprises consciousness, and many of his earlier works show a over 2,000 works, ranging from 18th-century Irish support of nationalist and themes. Several of and European painting and sculpture, through to his later paintings in this collection refer to the lives of contemporary works that include video installations. common rural folk conducting their daily business. At the heart of the collection is a very special set For more information on Seán Keating, visit the of Greek and Roman sculpture. This collection was Limerick Gallery of Art website. brought to Cork in 1818 from the Vatican Museum in Rome and presented to the Cork Society of Arts. They are white plaster casts of the original marble sculptures and include such well-known pieces as The Laocoön, Greek figures like Venus de Milo (Aphrodite), and athletes like the Discobolus. On The Model Arts Gallery Sligo display in a large gallery on the ground floor, the figures are all the more impressive against walls The Model Arts and Niland Gallery in Sligo is one of painted in deep red. Ireland’s leading and most vibrant contemporary arts For more information, visit the Crawford Art Gallery centres. Built in 1862 as a Model School, the present website. building was completely refurbished, extended and reopened to wide acclaim in 2000. The impressive Niland Collection is housed here. It Limerick was named after Nora Niland who was instrumental in establishing the Sligo Municipal Art Collection in Limerick City Gallery of Art the 1950s. As county librarian, her awareness of the important connection between Sligo and the Yeats This gallery, in the centre of Limerick city, is one family led her to organise the borrowing of five works of the leading contemporary art galleries in Ireland. by Jack B. Yeats to exhibit for the duration of the first It houses a small but important collection of Irish Yeats Summer School. These paintings were later art works in all media from the 18th to 21st purchased and remain in Sligo as part of the Niland centuries. Collection.

Seán Keating (1889–1977) Jack B. Yeats (1871–1957) Seán Keating was born in Limerick and helped to Jack B. Yeats’s paintings record the experiences and establish a permanent collection of visual art in this memories of his time living in Sligo. His father, John city. He studied in the Metropolitan School of Art in Butler Yeats, is also represented in the gallery with a Dublin and was highly influenced by his teacher, self-portrait, as well as many fine portrait drawings. Sir . He spent some time working on Works by Paul Henry, Estella Solomons and Seán the Aran Islands, before moving to London to serve Keating also form part of the collection. as Orpen’s assistant. For more information on the Niland Collection, visit the Model Arts Gallery’s website.

4 APPRECIATING ART: SECTION 3 – ONLINE MATERIAL

Top View