GIBSON BEQUEST MEETING
Armed Men Remove Two York Typewriters
‘Armed men removed two York Typewriters from the Technical Institute’ [now the site of MTU Crawford College of Art & Design]. These were valued at £15 each and the thieves were probably Anti-Treaty IRA working on behalf of their publicity and propaganda department which operated out of Muskerry, west Cork.
Art in Ireland lecture by Dermod O’Brien
‘“Irish Art and Its Possibilities” was the subject of an interesting lecture delivered at 16 Dawson Street last night to the National Literary Society by Mr. Dermod O’Brien [recently appointed Expert Advisor to Gibson Bequest Committee]. Having given an erudite review of the historical aspect of his theme, the lecturer dealt with the present time and queried what chances were there for the production of native art.
“We have suitably equipped schools” he proceeded, “in Dublin, Belfast, Derry, Cork, Limerick, and Galway for students who desire to take up almost any form of graphic or plastic art, including design, and we have many schools of music. Moreover, the Irish student seems to have a natural aptitude and quickness, but there is no patronage for them, and those who wish to make even a modest living from the exercise of their art find that they have to take their wares to other countries.”
Having traced the causes of the migration of the landowner classes, upon which art depended, for the most part for patronage Mr. O’Brien continued: “Unlike the wealthy merchants of Italy during the Renaissance, or those of England and Scotland in present days, our merchants would appear to have no appreciation of the fine arts, or at all events no desire to acquire them; nor do they give their support to the furtherance of musical, theatrical or literary effort...”
…They must realise that the means by which they could get the arts to the people were primarily through the Church, and secondly, through the factories, and some might say, through the [City and County] Corporations’…
[source: Freemans Journal p4, 6 March 1923]
Cork Fever Hospital Flag Day Meeting
‘A meeting of the Ladies’ Flag Day Committee was held [at Cork School of Art]…Father O’Regan said it reminded him of old times to see so many ladies present, and all showing a continuance of their earnestness in their faces. …This was only a preliminary meeting, and no doubt they saw that Saturday 21st April, had been fixed for their flag day. In the year 1919 they had made £796 on their flag day collection. In 1920 they made £659. These large figures could only be attained by the energetic work done by the ladies…
Sir John Scott [High Sherriff of City of Cork (1920-26) and a Trustee and Honorary Secretary of Cork Fever Hospital] said it might be no harm to remind the ladies that the hospital debt reported that day by the treasurer was £2,232 which was a very heavy burden on the Committee. They had treated a great many cases of diphtheria and helped to prevent it from spreading in the city.’
[source: The Cork Examiner p10, Thursday Morning, 8 March 1923]
Grand Boxing Tournament at Opera House
[source: image © Irish Examiner p4, Friday 9 March 1923]
