WORK OF THE WEEK | 18 March 2024

CAG.3263 Elton Sibanda, Faded, 2022, screenprint, 46.5 x 33 cm. Purchased, 2023. © the artist.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Faded (2022) by Elton Sibanda is a self-portrait in three layers.

Using a restricted palette of black, pink, and blue, the artist echoes his self-image in pixelated form. The resulting screenprint was inspired by a young African man who dresses in a particular way and echoes contemporary style in Zimbabwe, particularly during the annual Africa Day (25 May) celebrations. Sibanda emulates this style, with his dreadlocks down and dressed in a check jacket and chain.

As such, it is both a representation of his own culture and a response to feelings of isolation. ‘The sense of disconnection is because when I came here to Ireland I felt like I’m isolated,’ the artist reflects. ‘When I came here, the first thing there was Coronavirus. I didn’t know anyone.’ Then, starting college, he recalls that he ‘was there alone trying to make friends and it wasn’t working.’

By creating a self-portrait, therefore, and placing himself at the centre of the image, Sibanda reminds himself that ‘I’m there’. It is perhaps also an expression of dislocation, leaving parts of the self behind as one adapts to a new phase of life.

Elton Sibanda began printmaking as part of the Young Print Collective with the support of Cork Printmakers and Cork Migrant Centre. In late 2022, he exhibited his work alongside Amal Hope, Fionnuala O’Connell, Reem, Viktoria Kondratieva, and Yeaneah O’Connell at Nano Nagle Place and Faded was acquired for the National Collection in 2023. He is currently a student at MTU Crawford College of Art & Design.

Faded (2022) by Elton Sibanda is currently featured in ALL EYES ON US, which must close this Sunday 24 March.

FROM SOURCE TO SEA  

22 June – 22 September  

Gibson Galleries  

‘For close on three miles above Cork the river runs slow and smooth as if reluctant to meet the sea. Pleasant meadows border the stream, meadows in a wide valley, the gateway to the west.’  

– Robert Gibbings, Lovely is the Lee (1945) 

This exhibition follows the course of the River Lee from its origins in the Shehy Mountains and Gougane Barra in the west to its meeting with the Celtic Sea at the mouth of Cork Harbour.  

Artworks from the 1750s through to the present are featured in the exhibition, as it traces perspectives of the river and the stories it has carried and collected. 

Much loved paintings, ranging from John Butts’ View of Cork from Audley Place (c.1750) and George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson’s Paddle Steamer Entering the Port of Cork (1842), are joined by the work of artists Sarah Grace Carr, Kate Dobbin, John Fitzgerald, Robert Gibbings, Nathaniel Grogan, Patrick Hennessy, Samuel McDonnell, and George Petrie. Recent acquisitions by Ita Freeney, Bernadette Kiely, and Donald Teskey offer new contexts, while portraits by Richard Barter, Séamus Murphy, and Nano Reid recall rich tales from the Lee Valley by ‘Father Prout’ and The Tailor and Ansty

Spanning historic and contemporary artworks from the Collection, FROM SOURCE TO SEA celebrates the culture of the River Lee and its tributaries. 

Curated by Michael Waldron 

CLARE LANGAN ‘THE HEART OF A TREE’

14 March – 28 April

Screening Room

This film contemplates the centrality of trees – the giants of nature - to the planet's survival, and ours.

Set in a barren treeless landscape, The Heart of A Tree (2020) is a glimpse into a future world where humans negotiate their way through an inhospitable environment, harvesting air - the new gold – and planting trees on a deserted black beach, hoping to repopulate the planet with its source of oxygen. 

Langan’s film is a glimpse into a future world where human beings have evolved and adapted in order to survive, exploring the disconnection between humankind and nature and ultimately within us.

WORK OF THE WEEK | 11 March 2024 

CAG.3282 Niamh Swanton, I’ve Always Been Rather Shy, 2022, photograph, 56 x 84 cm. Purchased, 2023. © the artist.  

WORK OF THE WEEK! 

I’ve Always Been Rather Shy (2022) by Niamh Swanton presents a frontal perspective on a flowering fuchsia hedge. A figure in a hot pink formal pant suit stands with their head in the hedge, and their back to the viewer, in a diffident expression of the title.  

The pose of the figure echoes and subverts the art historical Rückenfigur (back-figure) of nineteenth-century Romantic art in which a figure with their back to the viewer signifies subjective experience.  

Often her own subject, Swanton deliberately obscures her face to allow her images to gain a sense of ambiguity. In this work, is she resisting our gaze with characteristic humour in order to project a sense of introversion too?  

Niamh Swanton is a performative photographer based in Dunmore East, County Waterford. In her work, she ‘plays the roles of both character and director in images that depict the complexities of being.’  

As she explains, her work ‘is influenced by the intricacies of psychology and dream symbolism, acting through performance and staged photography to build tangible forms of thoughts and emotions. By moving through such territories, [the artist] fabricates scenes which obscure the boundaries between imagination and memory. Although the narratives are fictitious, the images act as a catalyst for viewers to question the relationship that we have with ourselves on a very real and interpersonal level.’ 

Swanton is a graduate of MTU Crawford College of Art & Design and previously featured in our exhibition, SATURATION: the everyday transformed (2022). Seven of the artist’s works are in the Collection, including There Are No Perks to Being a Wallflower (2019) and Nothing Didn’t Get Worse (2023). 

I’ve Always Been Rather Shy (2022) is featured in ALL EYES ON US until 24 March.  

Lonradh

Lonradh at the Crawford is an arts programme for older adults experiencing memory loss, their families and carers. While memory may change, creativity and the scope for self-expression remains. Led by Artist Facilitators Gillian Cussen and Inge Van Doorslaer,

An Irish word, Lonradh is also the title of a stained- glass work by James Scanlon (1993), displayed on the grand staircase of the Crawford Art Gallery. 

Light and Shade

9 March – 14 April

The Long Room

Taking its name from Soirle MacCana’ s Light and Shade, Youghal, the exhibition features 26 works from the gallery’s extensive collection.

This selection is evocative of Spring, as a season of renewal, herds brought to pasture, new growth in gardens and hopefully good drying weather.

The exhibition is an invitation to discover some lesser-known works and artists in our collection and to enjoy the grand stretch in the evening.

Artists featured include John Arnesby Brown, Gerald Bruen, Sylvia Cooke-Collis, Elizabeth Cope, Stefanie Dinkelbach, Doug DuBois, Brigid Ganly, Adrian Hill, James le Jeune, William John Leech, Soirle MacCana, Sean McSweeney, Cormac Mehegan, Rosaleen Moore, John Murphy, Tom Nisbet, Eva O'Connell, Aloysius O'Kelly, James O'Halloran. Monica Poole, Nikki Tait, Michael Sheehan, Niamh Swanton, Anne Yeats.

WORK OF THE WEEK | 04 March 2024 

CAG.3244 Mollie Douthit, Voting Day, 2023, oil on canvas panel, 36 x 46 cm. Purchased, 2023. © the artist.  

WORK OF THE WEEK! 

As voting day (Friday 8 March) fast approaches, it’s good timing to focus on a small work by Mollie Douthit titled, you guessed it, Voting Day (2023)! 

The painting records the appearance, from both aerial and frontal perspective, not of a polling station, but of a local doughnut shop. This is where the artist’s parents would bring their children – as enticement to get in the car on a freezing cold day – to carry out their democratic right.  

Douthit depicts a darkened snowy setting, as the headlights of a parked car illuminate the façade of the low, red-roofed building. An ‘open’ sign in its doorway and glimpses of furnishings and foodstuffs inside suggest an inviting warmth on a bleak wintry day.  

The artist’s work explores ‘how biography and memories are shaped through experiences, stories and objects.’ Referring to the source of these memories as ‘the file cabinet of my mind,’ she creates evocative scenes that sometimes, uncannily so, become visual triggers that resonate with our own personal experiences of place and time.  

Originally from the United States, Mollie Douthit lives and works in West Cork. She holds degrees from the University of North Dakota (Grand Forks), School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), and Burren College of Art (Ballyvaughan). Winning the Hennessy Craig Award in 2013, she has also been shortlisted for the New Sensations Prize and the John Moores Painting Prize. She was awarded an Arts Council bursary in 2023. 

Three of the artist’s works – Lisa and I (2021), Cereal Bowls (2021), and Voting Day (2023) – are featured in our exhibition A MATTER OF TIME until 3 June.  

Mollie Douthit’s solo exhibition, WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, runs at the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny until 24 March. 

Social Story: Visiting the Crawford Art Gallery

You can prepare for a visit to the gallery with this social story. It offers information on what to expect when you visit.

Click here to download Crawford Art Gallery Social Story.

If you have a question about access,
please email emmaklemencic@crawfordartgallery.ie

WORK OF THE WEEK | 26 February 2024 

CAG.0300 Circle of Allan Ramsay, Portrait of Mrs Emmet, c.1765, oil on canvas, 75 x 62.4 cm. Bequeathed, H.L.R. Emmet, 1980.  

CAG.0420 Circle of Allan Ramsay, Portrait of Dr Emmet, Father of Robert Emmet c.1765, oil on canvas, 76 x 64 cm. Bequeathed, H.L.R. Emmet, 1980.  

We’re doubling up with these WORKS OF THE WEEK! 

As they are pendant portraits, Portrait of Mrs Emmet and Portrait of Dr Emmet must be considered together as an expression of unity.  

Attributed to the circle of Scottish portraitist Allan Ramsay (1713-1784), the exact date of their making is not recorded. But a clue in the portrait of Dr Emmet might help us make an educated guess. 

Circle of Allan Ramsay, Portrait of Dr Emmet, Father of Robert Emmet c.1765, oil on canvas, 76 x 64 cm. Bequeathed, H.L.R. Emmet, 1980

Bearing the inscription ‘Robert Emmet M.D. of Cork’, it suggests that this was made at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Mason, in Cork, on 15 November 1760. It is certainly likely that they were painted before the couple moved to Dublin, in 1770, when Emmet became State Physician of Ireland, an office he purchased from the widow of his predecessor.   

The picture of elegance, Elizabeth Mason (1739-1803) was the daughter of Catherine Power and James Mason of Ballydowney, near Killarney, County Kerry. She would bear seventeen children but, sadly not unusual for the time, only four of whom reached adulthood: 

Robert Emmet (1729-1802), son of Rebecca Temple and Christopher Emett [sic] of County Tipperary, studied medicine at Montpelier University in France. Returning to Ireland, he practiced in Cork where he treated fever cases. It is he who changed the spelling of the family’s surname to Emmet. 

Both portraits were bequeathed to Crawford Art Gallery in 1980 by the couple’s descendant, H.L.R. Emmet of Pennsylvania. 

Both portraits are featured in ALL EYES ON US until 24 March. 

The Arts House: Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the Collection every Sunday morning on Cork’s 96FM and C103 Cork. 

Curatorial Tour of ALL EYES ON US

Thursday 7 March, 6:30pm

Join us on Thursday 7 March at 6:30pm for a special tour of our exhibition ALL EYES ON US! Focusing on a selection of works from ALL EYES ON US, co-curator Matt Ryan will explore the rebels, revolutionaries, literary lives, and queer voices represented in the exhibition, shedding light on the choices made when developing the show. This event is free to attend, and no booking is necessary! This tour will take place in the Gibson Galleries at Crawford Art Gallery.

Matt is a PhD researcher working on the collaborative practices of sixteenth century creative communities. He also works as a freelance performance maker, teacher, and curator.  Much of his work involves excavating hidden or silenced voices from the past.

Music at Midday | Sunday 3 March 2024

Directed by Jerry Creedon, Guitar Plus is a professional-level performing guitar ensemble based at MTU Cork School of Music. The group specialises in exciting and colourful works composed and arranged for multiple guitars, and performs regularly in the community in an effort to expand the audience base and promote an appreciation for classical guitar music.

The members of Guitar Plus are all senior students and graduates of MTU Cork School of Music with the group providing a valuable ensemble experience for guitarists of diverse backgrounds whilst maintaining musical excellence.

WORK OF THE WEEK | 19 February 2024 

CAG.3064 Daphne Wright, Dead Christmas Tree, 2019, mixed media, 150 x 28 x 28 cm. Presented, Daphne Wright and Frith Street Gallery, London, 2021. © the artist. Photo: Jed Niezgoda. 

WORK OF THE WEEK! 

It may not quite be the season, but Dead Christmas Tree (2019) by Daphne Wright serves as a reminder of temporality and the markers in our daily lives. 

From origin to completion, Dead Christmas Tree evolved over a four-year period. Wright, as she tells Ellen Mara de Wachter, would ‘drive around after Christmas and see the old trees in people’s recycling boxes. I would stop the car and pick them up, and then skin them back to the stalk.’ 

Wright’s denuded tree mourns the loss of its potential, and of a time when the tree was useful and a focus for – and of – conversation. As the artist has suggested. ‘it’s also about the combined mood of seasonal expectation and disappointment at the same time.’  

Always concerned with how the overlooked minutiae in daily life informs our macro existence, Wright’s objects are often suggestive of a particular moment in a life. Dead Christmas Tree was previously shown in her solo exhibition, A quiet mutiny, at Crawford Art Gallery in 2019-2020. 

Her art-making process and what gets subsequently exhibited is often based on which artworks she considers have ‘matured’. Many of her works ‘have roots way back, and then it is a process of development.’ At times – perhaps like some of our own personal relationships – she can ‘struggle with them for years.’  

Dead Christmas Tree (2019) by Daphne Wright is featured in our new exhibition, A MATTER OF TIME, until 3 June. 

Open daily | Free entry 

The Arts House: Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the Collection every Sunday morning on Cork’s 96FM and C103 Cork. 

St. Patrick’s Weekend Celebrations 2024

14, 16, 17, 18 Márta | March

Lá fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh go léir.

FÁILTE ROIMH CHÁCH | ALL WELCOME

To celebrate Patrick’s Weekend, Crawford Art Gallery is proud to present a programme of special events featuring live music, family-friendly trails and specially themed tours. 

All Events Are Free | No Booking Required

THURSDAY, 14 MARCH

Déardaoin 14 Márta, 6i.n.
Turas Gaeilge
Tá an-áthas orainn a fhógairt go bhfuil turas uathúil á thairiscint againn ar Ghailearaí Crawford Chorcaí á chur i láthair trí Ghaeilge!
We are delighted to announce that we are offering a unique tour of Crawford Art Gallery presented through Irish!

SATURDAY, 16 MARCH

All Day
St Patrick’s Art Trail

Explore the themes of Irish heritage and culture, good luck and fortune through an interactive trail in the Gallery for St. Patrick’s Weekend.

All Day
Portrait Peek-A-Boo

Roll up, roll up and take a photo through our Portrait Peep Boards! Carnival-style fun for all ages in conjunction with ALL EYES ON US!

SUNDAY, 17 MARCH

All Day
St Patrick’s Art Trail

Explore the themes of Irish heritage and culture, good luck and fortune through an interactive trail in the Gallery for St. Patrick’s Weekend.

All Day
Portrait Peek-A-Boo

Roll up, roll up and take a photo through our Portrait Peep Boards! Carnival-style fun for all ages in conjunction with ALL EYES ON US!

2:00pm (45mins approx)
Tour of ‘Great Irish Artists in the Collection’

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, Crawford Art Gallery is offering a specialised tour of ‘Great Irish Artists in the Collection’. The tour will highlight some of the most iconic works by Irish artists in the gallery's collection.

 2.30pm – 4pm 
Live Traditional Irish Music

Come to experience live traditional music echo through Crawford Art Gallery on St. Patrick’s Day as you explore the gallery's current exhibitions. (Trio trad players, fiddle, flute and guitar).

MONDAY, 18 MARCH

All Day
St Patrick’s Art Trail

Explore the themes of Irish heritage and culture, good luck and fortune through an interactive trail in the Gallery for St. Patrick’s Weekend.

All Day
Portrait Peek-A-Boo

Roll up, roll up and take a photo through our Portrait Peep Boards! Carnival-style fun for all ages in conjunction with ALL EYES ON US!

2:00pm (45mins approx)
Tour of ‘Great Irish Artists in the Collection’

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, Crawford Art Gallery is offering a specialised tour of ‘Great Irish Artists in the Collection’. The tour will highlight some of the most iconic works by Irish artists in the gallery's collection.

Turas Gaeilge | Irish Tour

Déardaoin 14 Márta, 6i.n. | Thursday 14 March, 6pm

Tá an-áthas orainn a fhógairt go bhfuil turas uathúil á thairiscint againn ar Ghailearaí Crawford Chorcaí á chur i láthair trí Ghaeilge! Déan tú féin a thumadh sa Bhailiúchán Náisiúnta agus sna taispeántais atá ar taispeáint faoi láthair ag Gailearaí Crawford Chorcaí mar threoraí eolach a thugann tú ar thuras tríd an nGailearaí. Cuireann an turas seo deis iontach ar fáil chun tuiscint a fháil ar na saothair ealaíne agus tú ag plé leis an nGaeilge, is cuma má tá tú líofa i nGaeilge nó díreach ag iarraidh taithí a fháil ar an teanga. Tá an turas seo ar oscailt do chách, saor in aisce chun freastal air agus ní gá aon áirithint a dhéanamh roimh ré.

We are delighted to announce that we are offering a unique tour of Crawford Art Gallery presented through Irish! Immerse yourself in the National Collection and exhibitions currently on show at Crawford Art Gallery as our knowledgeable guide take you on a captivating journey through the Gallery. This tour provides a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the artwork while engaging with the Irish language, whether you're a fluent Irish speaker or simply interested in experiencing the language. This tour is open to all, free to attend and requires no prior booking!

Sé Daingean Uí Chúise, Co. Chiarraí, áit dhúchais Deirdre McKenna. D'fhreastail sí ar Choláiste Ealaíona agus Dearadh Crawford, i gCorcaigh mar a dhein sí staidéir ar mhínealaíon agus tá sí ag cleachtadh mar ealaíontóir gairmiúil ó shin i leith. Tá spéis faoi leith aici i gcúrsaí priontála agus cló-bhualadh agus is ball í de Cork Printmakers, áit a dhéanann sí formhór dá cuid saothar priontála. Tá a cuid saothar ealaíona le fáil i mórán bailiúcháin, ina measc, i nGailearaí Ealaíne Crawford agus coimisiún ó Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí (OPW) i dTeach Laighean. Cuireann sí ceardlanna eitseála ar fáil i Cork Printmakers ó am go chéile.

Deirdre McKenna is an artist from Dingle in West Kerry. She has been working as a professional artist since studying fine art at the Crawford College of Art and Design in Cork. Printmaking has become an important part of her multidisiplinary practice and she is a member of Cork Printmakers where she explores the possibilities of etching and relief techniques. Her work is included in many collections including The Crawford Gallery and Leinster House (commissioned by the OPW). McKenna facilitates etching workshops at Cork Printmakers.

In Conversation: Joy Gerrard and Gail Ritchie 

Lecture Theatre

Hear more from artists Joy Gerrard and Gail Ritchie in conversation about their respective practices and their work featured in new exhibition A MATTER OF TIME.

Free | Open to all | No Booking Required

Joy Gerrard graduated with an MA and MPhil from the Royal College of Art, London. Gerrard is known for multimedia work that investigates different systems of relations between crowds, architecture and the built environment.

Gail Ritchie works in a variety of media from installation, photography to sound and object based pieces, drawing on both cultural and historical references. Ritchie completed her practice based PhD in International Relations at Queen's University Belfast.

Artist in Exile: The Last Caravaggio

12:30, 22 March. Dr Matthew Whyte

As part of the Friends Spring Lecture Series 2024

No booking required but places are limited so arrive early to avoid disappointment.
Friends €5 | General Public €8 | Students go free with a valid I.D.

Baroque sensation Caravaggio is never far from the imagination of art lovers. Furthermore, we need only think of Andrew Graham-Dixon’s famous biography Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane (2010) to remember the jarring contradictions present in his life – the creator of a Counter-Reformation painting style of stirring spirituality, and simultaneously the frequently-imprisoned brawler forced to flee Rome for murder. The last years of Caravaggio’s short life were spent in exile. From Naples, to Malta, to Sicily, and back to Naples, Caravaggio evaded authorities and completed his last paintings. Sometimes pious, often shockingly violent, and at times self-deprecating, these late paintings offer a fascinating image of the artist in exile. This talk parallels with the upcoming exhibition in London’s National Gallery entitled ‘The Last Caravaggio’ (18 April-21 July 2024), offering an introduction to the ways in which we can think about the works of an artist in crisis.

Visions from the Irish Rhine: Explorations on the Munster Blackwater

15 March: Bill Power

As part of the Friends Spring Lecture Series 2024

No booking required but places are limited so arrive early to avoid disappointment.
Friends €5 | General Public €8 | Students go free with a valid I.D.

Bill Power is an historian and international award-winning photographer who spent two decades exploring the Munster Blackwater, often referred to in the 19th century as 'The Irish Rhine'. In 2019, he became the founding chairman of Saint George's Arts and Heritage Centre in Mitchelstown. Since its foundation in 2019, €800,000 has been raised to convert the former church into a superb venue for the performing arts. He is the author of 14 books, the most recent of which was 'The Blackwater, History and Images from the Irish Rhine,' published in 2023. This illustrated talk will be based on his photography of the Blackwater and stories from the river that is the fourth longest in Ireland. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the talk.

Another Famine Story?

The Physical Development of Cobh/Queenstown during the Potato Famine and After

8 March: Dr Tom Spalding

As part of the Friends Spring Lecture Series 2024

No booking required but places are limited so arrive early to avoid disappointment.
Friends €5 | General Public €8 | Students go free with a valid I.D.

An Cóbh is synonymous with the Famine as a port of last resort to tens of thousands of Irish people fleeing deprivation in search of a better life in Britain and further afield. At the same time, there was a small but important group of people making journeys to the town in the opposite direction. This talk will illustrate some of the far-reaching developments which occured in An Cóbh and the lower harbour between 1840 and 1860 and which changed its design and appearance for ever. The cast of characters includes Anglo-Irish landlords, local property speculators and builders and British elite architects. The talk will argue that the Famine is something that happened more through Cove (as it was) than to it, and that by looking at the designed environment we can start to understand the town in a more nuanced way beyond the doom laden emigration-Titanic-Luisitania triangle.

‘Will I look a hag?’: Portraits of Elizabeth Bowen 

1 March: Dr Michael Waldron

As part of the Friends Spring Lecture Series 2024

No booking required but places are limited so arrive early to avoid disappointment.
Friends €5 | General Public €8 | Students go free with a valid I.D.

In anticipation of a television appearance, the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) expressed her anxiety: ‘Will I look a hag?’ Having sat for several portraits and studio photographs during her career, she was acutely aware of the power of the image and how it could affect the reputation of a public figure. This illustrated talk will feature photographs by Cecil Beaton, Jane Bown, and Gisèle Freund, and portraits by Sylvia Cooke-Collis, Patrick Hennessy, and Mervyn Peake. 

WORK OF THE WEEK | 12 February 2024

CAG.0920 Domenico Brucciani & Co. (after Alexander of Antioch), Bust of Venus de Milo, undated, plaster, 78 x 53 x 36 cm. Transferred, Royal Cork Institution, c.1849.

Love is in the air with this WORK OF THE WEEK!

Bust of Venus de Milo presents a likeness of one of the most famous figures in Western Art and yet you might not think it at first…

This bust is a partial cast of the original 2-metre-tall statue (c.150 BCE) known as Venus de Milo or Aphrodite of Melos, which was discovered on the Greek island of Melos (Milos or Μήλος) in 1820. Set upon a low plaster stand, it is comprised of head, shoulders, and chest but, even in this form, the famed sculpture’s truncated arms are apparent.

It is a representation of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, lust, passion, procreation, sexuality, and – through Venus, her Roman equivalent – of desire and sex. In ancient times, both goddesses inspired cults that worshipped and celebrated in their honour, particularly during the Aphrodisia and Veneralia festivals. In mythology, an intersex child was born to Aphrodite and Hermes, the messenger god, named Hermaphroditus.

This bust itself was made by Domenico Brucciani (1815-1880), the leading plaster cast maker (formatore) in London during the nineteenth century. In an age when photography was in its infancy and long before digital reproduction, he specialised in high-quality casts that were purchased by likes of The British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).

Displayed in our Sculpture Galleries, Bust of Venus de Milo is one of several casts in the Collection that were transferred from the Royal Cork Institution in c.1849.

Fun Fact: This and other Brucciani casts are identifiable by a maker’s mark which, in this case, can be found on the reverse of the bust’s stand!

Domenico Brucciani maker's ark. Photo_Abbey Ellis

Domenico Brucciani maker's ark. Photo: Abbey Ellis.

Hazel, Lady Lavery - Her Life and Loves 

23 February: Áine Andrews

As part of the Friends Spring Lecture Series 2024

No booking required but places are limited so arrive early to avoid disappointment.
Friends €5 | General Public €8 | Students go free with a valid I.D.

Join art teacher and artist Áine Andrews for a colourful and interesting presentation on The Red Rose by Sir John Lavery. She will explore the background to this much loved painting from the Crawford Gallery and reveal the fascinating story of the celebrity couple and the historical times they lived in.

Lucy Marten: Eggshells

Skibbereen Community school   

Click here to download the project.

Presamine Ramos: THIS IS WHAT WE CALL PROGRESS

Nano Nagle College     

Click here to download the project.

WORK OF THE WEEK | 5 February 2024 

CAG.3250 Mags Geaney, Irresistible Force, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 40.5 x 30.5 cm. Purchased, 2023. © the artist.  

WORK OF THE WEEK! 

Irresistible Force (2019) by Mags Geaney possesses a magnetic quality as the subject regards the viewer with their almond-shaped brown eyes. 

The gender of the figure is ambiguous and may be intentionally fluid, echoing the artist’s (at times) rapid brushstrokes. She captures and communicates a deep psychology, that we may guess at, with economy and painterly relish, while a surreal flourish also pervades the work. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it comes from a body of work that ‘explores the recognition of gesture and the art of “giving face”.’ 

Created for her solo show, Penumbra (2019), at Sternview Gallery, this painting was subsequently displayed at The Counting House (Beamish & Crawford) in Cork as part of STAMP Festival (19-21 May 2023). 

Making the work following a personal loss, Geaney recalls: ‘With a mug of tea I stared at this piece, a portrait of a woman. Most people read it as a man. The undercurrent of androgyny revealing itself in this series. A new energy, in the midst of grief.’ 

Mags Geaney explores themes of grief, loss, identity, adoption, mortality, and health through figurative work, particularly portraiture. Her practice is primarily as a painter, but also encompasses drawing, performance, video, and installation. A graduate of both Limerick School of Art and Design and Crawford College of Art & Design, she is currently a member of Sample-Studios. Her work is represented in the collections of Bank of Ireland, Crawford Art Gallery, Lithuanian National Museum of Art, and private collections across Ireland and USA.  

Irresistible Force (2019) by Mags Geaney is featured – along with the artist’s Minimal Chic (2019) – in ALL EYES ON US until 24 March.  

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