Work of the Week | 29 May 2023

CAG.2602 Thomas Chambers, Panoramic View of Cork, 1750, engraving on paper, 18 x 64 cm. Purchased, 2004.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Panoramic View of Cork (1750) is an engraving by Thomas Chambers that offers a topographically accurate depiction of the southern city. It includes a legend of 32 principle locations, from The Exchange and Red Abbey to Skiddy’s Castle and Shandon.

Viewed from a location close to present-day Bell’s Field – much like John Butts’ contemporaneous View of Cork from Audley Place (c.1750) – the centre of the city unfolds between the channels of the River Lee.

Close to the middle of the composition is the old Custom House (10) in a very busy part of the urban landscape with tall masted vessels berthed alongside. A range of stores and cranes, and a dock to assist in the work of the Revenue department, flank the building which is now home to Crawford Art Gallery.

At the time, Cork sat in the centre of a web of global exports and imports. Its motto of Statio Bene Fida Carinis (a safe harbour for ships) attests to its status as one of the largest natural harbours in the world.

Fun fact: Based on a drawing by Anthony Chearnley of Burnt Court (Burncourt), County Tipperary, Chambers’ engraving featured as a fold-out illustration in Charles Smith’s book The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork. A dedication at the base of the print reads:

‘To the R[igh]t Worshipfull [sic] the MAYOR SHERIFFS and COMMON COUNCIL of the City of CORK / This View of that City from the North is Inscribed by their most Devoted humble Serv[an]t

Ch. Smith.’

Panoramic View of Cork (1750) by Thomas Chambers is currently featured in SITE OF CHANGE: Evolution of a Building.

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.

Work of the Week | 24 April 2023

CAG.0307 Anna R. Findlay, Cafe Scene, 1930s, linocut (5/25), 24.5 x 29 cm. Purchased, Doig, Wilson & Wheatley, 1939 (Gibson Bequest Fund). © the artist’s estate.

We’re off to the café with this WORK OF THE WEEK!

Cafe Scene by Anna R. Findlay is a crisp and colourful modernist print that draws us straight back to the 1930s. Cool and analytical, the forms and lines of this linocut echo the fashionable Art Deco.

The scene itself is composed of blocks of blue, black, grey, white, beige, and mustard yellow, and small flashes of orange. The artist has arranged the figures into three planes, as the finely dressed staff and clientele of the café drink and chat. Is that Cole Porter we can hear…!?

Fun fact: This is one of 13 prints purchased in 1939 through the Gibson Bequest Fund from Doig, Wilson & Wheatley of 90 George Street, Edinburgh. Following approval of the purchase, expert advisors (and artists) Soirle MacCana and George Atkinson had selected 24 prints by influential British printmakers – five female, five male – at a cost of £56.13.6 (approximately €3,000 today).

Anna R. Findlay (1885-1968) exhibited regularly from the 1920s through to the 1940s. Having studied at Glasgow School of Art, she learned linocut techniques under Claude Flight at Grosvenor School of Modern Art, which had been founded in 1925 by wood-engraver Iain Macnab. Findlay was a member of St Ives Society of Artists and Glasgow Society of Artist Printers. Examples of her work can also be found in the collections of the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Cafe Scene by Anna R. Findlay is featured in RADHARC: Perspectives in Print until 21 May.

In the mood for a tasty treat? The Green Room at the Crawford is open daily!

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.

Work of the Week | 17 April 2023

CAG.2065 Diarmuid O’Ceallacháin, The Fiddler, 1940s-70s, acrylic on canvas, 68 x 55 cm. Purchased, 2003. © the artist’s estate.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

There’s more than meets the eye with The Fiddler by Diarmuid O’Ceallacháin. Begun in the 1940s, the artist reworked this painting in the 1970s, adding new elements as he did.

The main focus of O’Ceallacháin’s canvas is the eponymous fiddler – modelled on the artist’s brother, Denis – with the scene behind almost conjured from his playing. Two ‘shawlies’ (inner-city women wearing shawls) fill the middle-ground, while the background is composed of a view of the River Lee, St Patrick’s Bridge, and St Patrick’s Quay.

This was an area familiar to the artist who taught in our building (when it operated as Crawford School of Art) from 1940 through to 1970. His wife, Joan O’Sullivan, was from nearby Drawbridge Street.

Among the 1970s additions O’Ceallacháin made to this work is the car transporter crossing the bridge. This may be an allusion to his other brother, Paddy, who worked for Henry Ford & Sons in Cork’s docklands.

Fun fact: this painting has itself inspired Philip Martin to create a tribute to composer Aloys Fleischmann, while it also gives its name to a poem in Aidan Murphy’s Stark Naked Blues (1997).

Diarmuid O’Ceallacháin (1915-1993), who died thirty years ago this week (20 April), attended evening classes in our building in the 1930s. A Taylor Scholarship enabled him to study under Seán Keating and Maurice MacGonigal at the National College of Art and Design. Aside from his teaching career, he exhibited regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy and Munster Fine Art exhibitions. A major retrospective was held at Crawford Art Gallery in 1991.

The Fiddler by Diarmuid O’Ceallacháin is featured in SITE OF CHANGE: Evolution of a Building.

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. You can listen back to this week’s chat here:

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 106 DIARMUID O CEALLACHAIN - THE FIDDLER

Work of the Week | 10 April 2023

CAG.2107 Arthur Hill, View of Old Custom House, 1862, watercolour on paper, 52.5 x 84 cm.

This WORK OF THE WEEK is a real time portal!

View of Old Custom House (1862) by Arthur Hill takes us back to a time when our landmark building in the heart of Cork was quite a bit smaller.

Hill depicts a part of our building that dates to 1724 but, by the time he painted this view, it had already changed function from Custom House to School of Art. It was also very familiar to him as he had attended classes there with his mother, Margaret Hill, while only a teenager.

Recognisable features include the external clock flanked by limestone pineapples, but the roof lantern is something of the past. This was likely added some time after 1832 when the collection of Canova Casts were placed on the top floor by the Royal Cork Institution.

The building also functioned as a Government School of Design from 1850 but, after 1854, this support from London was withdrawn. Afterwards, the School was funded by local taxation (rates) and voluntary donations. 100 male and 60 female students attended.

Following many of his family into the profession, Arthur Hill (1846-1921) was an Irish architect of some note. He and his son, Henry Houghton Hill, designed the Munster and Leinster Bank (now AIB) at 66 South Mall, Cork, while his granddaughter, Myrtle Allen (1924-2018), was to become the doyenne of Irish food.

View of Old Custom House (1862) by Arthur Hill is featured in SITE OF CHANGE: Evolution of a Building until 12 November 2023.

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 105 ARTHUR HILL - VIEW OF OLD CUSTOM HOUSE

Work of the Week | 3 April 2023

CAG.3053 Janet Mullarney, Drawing from Memory, 2010, wood, graphite, on metal base, 48 x 46 x 110 cm. Presented, 2018. © the artist’s estate.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

This week we are sharing a sculpture by Janet Mullarney to mark her third anniversary.

Drawing from Memory (2010) by Janet Mullarney is a wood and graphite sculpture of what appears to be the upper torso of a human figure. Although there is no head or arms, the form and materiality hold magnetic presence.

Seeking to free her work of certain Classical aesthetics, the artist travelled to India where ‘the concept of sculpture refers to the internal presence of spirit.’ In this way, the description of musculature is unimportant and the effect in her own work is something psychological, haunting, even mysterious.

Reflecting on her career in 2019, Mullarney would write: ‘I love sculpture. I love the air it needs around it, the space it takes up, the inherent sensuality. I love the dreaming up of where and how it will breathe that air, the theatrics of installing. I love wood for its human warmth and the figure for its closeness to me […] Colour, drawing, paint, textures, masks – animal and not, painted and otherwise, help me find an answer in the search for my own truth, anonymity and the universal.’

Janet Mullarney (1952-2020), who died on 3 April 2020, was a member of Aosdána. During her career, she exhibited widely and had two solo shows at Crawford Art Gallery: Carving Roots (8 February – 3 March 1990) and The Bermuda Triangle (7 June – 10 August 2002).

Drawing from Memory (2010) by Janet Mullarney is featured in BEHIND THE SCENES: Collection at Work which must close on 10 April.

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.

Work of the Week | 27 March 2023

CAG.0669 John Hogan, Hibernia and Brian Boroimhe, 1855, plaster, 167.5 x 83 x 96 cm. Presented, William Horatio Crawford.

This WORK OF THE WEEK marks the 165^th anniversary of a celebrated Irish sculptor!

Hibernia and Brian Boroimhe (1855) by John Hogan, who died on 27 March 1858, is among the artist’s most political and imaginative late works.

The plaster sculpture depicts Hibernia, female personification of Ireland, with a young boy, Brian Boru (c.941-1014), who would become King of Munster and High King of Ireland. Gathered around them are potent symbols of kingship, heroism, and nationalism.

Brian, who holds a down-turned sword suggestive of pacifism, gains a foothold upon a resting Irish wolfhound, recalling the Cú Chulainn myth. Hibernia wears a ‘mural crown’ to indicate sovereignty and, by her side, holds a wreath of oak leaves (akin to a laurel wreath). Next to this, a shamrock-adorned crown lies upturned beside a harp (embellished with interlace motifs) and a scroll bearing the inscription: ‘Victoria [?] Brian Boroimhe Regis Hibernia A.D. MXIV’ (Victory of Brian Boru King of Ireland 1014 A.D.).

In essence, Hogan’s sculptural composition meditates on legitimate government in the aftermath of An Gorta Mór (Great Irish Famine) and suggests the hope embodied by an emerging generation.

John Hogan (1800-1858) hailed from Tallow, County Waterford and began his career as an apprentice to architect Sir Thomas Deane (1792-1871). Encouraged to pursue training in sculpture at the Cork School of Art, he subsequently moved to Rome in 1824, living and working in the ‘Eternal City’ until 1848 when he relocated to Dublin. His health declined after suffering a stroke in 1855, the year he made Hibernia and Brian Boroimhe.

Hibernia and Brian Boroimhe (1855) by John Hogan is displayed in our Sculpture Galleries.

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.

Work of the Week | 20 March 2023

CAG.2071 Frieda Meaney, Map: Rabach’s Glen, 2002, etching and carborundum on paper (4/15), 35 x 27.5 cm. Purchased, 2003. © the artist.

As today is World Storytelling Day, our WORK OF THE WEEK comes with a tale attached!

Map: Rabach’s Glen (2002) by Frieda Meaney draws together landscape, history, and folklore in sepia tones.

Offering an aerial perspective on a remote combe (short valley or hollow) in the Caha Mountains, this print is saturated or heavy with history. Its brownish colouration suggests age, vintage photography, the Beara locale, and perhaps even something blood-soaked?

The location of the title, Rabach’s Glen, is the site of deserted pre-Famine cabins and is named for Cornelius “An Rabach” O’Sullivan. An Rabach – which may mean the bold, the dashing, or the reckless – committed two murders there: a mariner sometime after 1800 and his neighbour, Máire Caoch, in 1814. He evaded detection and capture until 1831 when he was tried and hanged at Tralee Gaol.

The landscape is now part of a walking trail – Rabach’s Way – on the Cork-Kerry border, not far from the Healy Pass, and which might remind us of the opening lyrics to “Whiskey in the Jar” by Thin Lizzy: ‘As I was goin' over the Cork and Kerry mountains…’

Originally from Raheny, Dublin, Frieda Meaney (b.1953) is a multimedia artist working from her studio on the Beara Peninsula and at Cork Printmakers. She is interested in concepts of climate change, transformation, evolution, and extinction. Reflecting on her practice, Peter Murray has noted that ‘memory, imagination and actuality gently intersect and overlap, creating works resonant with feeling and empathy.’

Map: Rabach’s Glen (2002) by Frieda Meaney is featured in RADHARC: Perspectives in Print until 21 May.

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.

Work of the Week | 13 March 2023

CAG.0944 Pauline Bewick, Fourteen Steps to Nowhere, 1982, watercolour on paper, 51 x 45.5 cm. Presented, the Artist, 1989. © the artist’s estate.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Fourteen Steps to Nowhere (1982) by Pauline Bewick offers a startling embodiment of female power.

Painted following a visit to Sceilg Mhichíl (Skellig Michael), it depicts a nude woman maternally descending – as if landing from flight – over a nest of speckled seagull eggs. Two feathers appear to fall from her form, as her auburn hair streams in the air.

The perilous Skellig steps – the building of which in the middle of the sea intrigued the artist – rise up behind her dynamic form, while a clump of Thrift (Armeria maritima, or Sea Pink) grows amongst the flagstones in the left foreground.

‘When we went there,’ Bewick wrote in her book, Ireland: An Artist’s Year (1990), ‘we all felt slightly queasy, and we washed that feeling away by diving into the deep black-green water. Half dressed, we climbed the flight of steps, not daring to look back, the drop was so steep. The puffins were so unafraid of us, you could almost touch them. Thrift had been ousted by bladder campion. I dared to look to the right at the upright stone, the Wailing Women.’

Dated 4 January 1982, Bewick’s watercolour expresses a characteristic joie de vivre and interest in the natural world. Part of its power is that it also holds its secrets, its own set of associations and meanings that we may guess at – and even feel – if not fully possess.

Pauline Bewick RHA (1935-2022) lived and worked, between mountains and sea, near Lough Caragh, County Kerry. Her practice embraced watercolours, oils, sculpture, tapestry, and publishing.

Fourteen Steps to Nowhere (1982) by Pauline Bewick is featured in OTHER WORLDS: Harry Clarke Watercolours until 19 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. You can listen back to this week’s chat here:

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 104 PAULINE BEWICK - FOURTEEN STEPS TO NOWHERE

Work of the Week | 6 March 2023

CAG.0073 John Butler Yeats, John Redmond (unfinished), c.1905, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 70.8 cm. Bequeathed, Dr Lennox Robinson, 1959.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Today is the 105^th anniversary of parliamentarian John Redmond, who died on this day in 1918.

John Redmond (1856-1918) was leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party at the time that John Butler Yeats commenced this portrait, which would remain unfinished and was bequeathed to the Gallery in 1959 by playwright Lennox Robinson.

Much admired as one of Ireland’s finest portrait painters, Yeats nonetheless often frustrated his clients due to his inability to meet deadlines. Those commissioning portraits, such as Redmond, were known to give up on the artist after several sittings when it was clear that the painting was becoming increasingly sketch-like and further from completion.

Perhaps fittingly, it is of historical irony that Yeats should leave this portrait unfinished, as Redmond himself had not achieved his goal of ‘Home Rule’ for Ireland by the time of his death in 1918. Despite its unfinished quality, Yeats’ portrait captures not only Redmond’s likeness, but also something of his frank and unassuming demeanour.

John Butler Yeats (1839-1922), who was born in County Down, studied Law at Trinity College Dublin before embarking on a painting career in 1867, much to the dismay of his wife, Susan Pollexfen (1841-1900). They are better known today through the achievements of their children, poet and senator William Butler Yeats, embroiderer and designer Susan Yeats, publisher and educator Elizabeth Yeats, and artist Jack B. Yeats.

John Redmond (c.1905) by John Butler Yeats is featured in BEHIND THE SCENES: Collection at Work until 10 April.

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.

Work of the Week | 27 February 2023

CAG.2440 Séamus Murphy, Deirdre (of the Sorrows), 1933, bronze, 42 x 32 cm. Presented, 2006 (Great Southern Collection). © the artist’s estate.

There’s more than meets the eye with this WORK OF THE WEEK!

Deirdre (of the Sorrows) (1933) by Séamus Murphy is a bronze sculpture depicting the head of a woman.

The artist was inspired by John Millington Synge’s three-act play, Deirdre of the Sorrows (1909), which was itself inspired by the Ulster Cycle myth, Deirdre an Bhróin. The figure of Deirdre holds major significance in Irish legend and has found comparison in the mythical Helen of Troy.

Rather than representing a reclining or sleeping head, however, Murphy appears to depict her in the moment of death, Deirdre having thrown herself from a chariot.

Did you know: Deirdre (of the Sorrows) exists in two plaster and four bronze versions. Three of these are in the Collection – two plaster, one bronze – and offer insights into the process of making. Given the material’s ease of use and relative inexpensiveness, plaster (or clay) is the first iteration. Once an artist is satisfied with their modelling of a sculpture, a mould (or moulds) can be made for casting in bronze.

In 1921, while still a teenager, Séamus Murphy (1907-1975) enrolled in sculpture modelling in the Gallery’s building when it functioned as the Crawford Municipal School of Art. Ten years later, he received a Gibson Bequest Scholarship which enabled him to study in Paris. His memoir, Stone Mad, was published in 1949 and five years later, in 1954, he became a full member of the Royal Hibernian Academy.

Deirdre (of the Sorrows) (1933) by Séamus Murphy is featured in BEHIND THE SCENES: Collection at Work until 10 April.

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 103 SEAMUS MURPHY - DEIRDRE (OF THE SORROWS)

Work of the Week | 20 February 2023

CAG.3141 Brianna Hurley, Beautiful Landscape of Castalia, 2019, acrylic and pencil on canvas, 100 x 120 cm. Purchased, the Artist with KCAT, 2021. © the artist.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Beautiful Landscape of Castalia (2019) by Brianna Hurley is a richly coloured nocturnal scene, which joined the Collection in 2021.

The deep red soil, crescent-shaped trees, cool white cliffs, and expanse of orange plain bathed in moonlight suggest something otherworldly. In the distance, a settlement is visible under a mesmerising field of stars.

Although named after Castalia Hall in Ballytobin, County Kilkenny, the artist has developed her own world – the planet of Castalia – painting by painting. Indeed, this imagined and dramatic landscape features in numerous other recent works by Hurley and is the subject of her fully illustrated book, The Story of Castalia (2022), which is now available from our shop.

Reminiscent of Dune and Avatar, Hurley’s Castalia considers the value of difference through the lens of science fiction and follows a female hero who resists destruction and discrimination.

‘Art is a way of getting into imagination and feeling freer.’

Based in County Kilkenny, Brianna Hurley (b.1998) is originally from Bucharest, Romania. She takes inspiration from her travels in Spain, interest in architecture, and love of playing basketball. She is a full-time member of KCAT Studio – a multi-disciplinary arts and educational centre in Callan – where she continues to develop her painting and drawing practice.

Beautiful Landscape of Castalia (2019) by Brianna Hurley is featured in OTHER WORLDS: Harry Clarke Watercolours until 19 March.

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 102 BRIANNA HURLEY - BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE OF CASTALIA

Work of the Week | 13 February 2023

CAG.3019 Robert Indiana, The Seventh American Dream, 1998, serigraph in six colours on Coventry rag paper (28/70), 111.76 x 88.9 cm. Purchased, 2015. © the artist’s estate.

This WORK OF THE WEEK goes Pop!

The Seventh American Dream (1998) by Robert Indiana is a playful meditation on success and creative exile.

The bold graphic of this serigraph (or silk-screen print) draws upon the artist’s vocabulary of colour and text, and characteristic diamond-shaped format. It is also the largest of Indiana’s American Dream series, which numbers nine in total.

Delving into the artist’s imagery, we can learn something of his own biography at the time of its making. His use of blue, white, and red, for instance, suggest both the United States and French national flags, which corresponds with Indiana’s career retrospective – and 70^th birthday – at the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain in Nice.

He also considers his personal version of the American Dream and includes his name among those of others who made a success in France. Aside from Indiana, the names and locations allude to entertainers – and gay icons – Josephine Baker (1906-1975), Isadora Duncan (1877/8-1927), and Grace Kelly (1929-1982), who perhaps embody a reverse of the American Dream as they were each to leave the United States in pursuit of fulfilment. Given this particular selection of women, the irony of earlier works in the series is perhaps tinged with tragedy.

Robert Indiana (1928-2018) was a hugely influential pop artist who is perhaps best known today for his iconic LOVE series of images and sculptures. He changed his name from Clark to Indiana (his home state) in 1958 during his relationship with fellow artist, Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015).

The Seventh American Dream (1998) by Robert Indiana is featured in RADHARC: Perspectives in Print until 21 May.

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 101 ROBERT INDIANA - THE SEVENTH AMERICAN DREAM

Work of the Week | 6 February 2023

CAG.3190 Shevaun Doherty, 'Fucus ovalis, Whiddy 1805', Gastroclonium ovatum, 2017, watercolour on calfskin vellum, 45 x 39 cm. Purchased, the Artist, 2022. © the artist.

This WORK OF THE WEEK marks the anniversary of the ‘Botanist of Bantry Bay’!

Ellen Hutchins, who lived at Ballylickey, County Cork, held a great interest in natural history and began to study cryptogams (non-flowering plants) in her early twenties. Incredibly, she collected more than 1,100 plant specimens over the next several years before her untimely death, aged just 29, on 9 February 1815 following a long illness.

'Fucus ovalis, Whiddy 1805', Gastroclonium ovatum (2017) by Shevaun Doherty is based on an original specimen collected by Hutchins at Whiddy Island in 1805.

To honour Ireland’s first female field botanist, the artist was invited to paint one of Hutchins’ specimens in the care of Trinity College Dublin. She subsequently selected this common red seaweed – complete with a tiny Copepod (small crustacean) – and painted it life-size on calfskin vellum to replicate the look of old manuscripts.

Botanical art is painstaking, and the artist followed a process of sketching, tracing, transferral, and painting, using very fine Japanese brushes to balance the application of transparent watercolours – to suggest translucence – with more opaque elements.

Shevaun Doherty (b.1968) is a self-taught watercolourist, botanical illustrator, and art tutor. Inspired by her enthusiasm for the natural world, she ‘loves the quiet meditation that painting brings.’ She is a member of the Society of Botanical Artists.

Coinciding with the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (10 February), this WORK OF THE WEEK will also be the 100^th edition to feature on radio. as Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the Collection every Sunday morning on The Arts House (Cork’s 96FM / C103 Cork).

This work is featured in BEHIND THE SCENES: Collection at Work until 10 April.

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 100 SHEVAUN DOHERTY - FUCUS OVALIS WHIDDY 1805

Work of the Week | 30 January 2023

CAG.0445 Richard Barter, Bust of Rev. Francis Mahony, ‘Fr. Prout’, 1890, marble, 81 x 66 x 30 cm.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Bust of Rev. Francis Mahony, ‘Fr. Prout’ (1890) by Richard Barter is an affectionate portrait in marble of the celebrated Irish cleric, journalist, poet, and humourist.

Cork-born Francis Sylvester Mahony (1804-1866) was a former teacher of rhetoric at Clongowes Wood College who wrote for Fraser’s Magazine under the pen name ‘Father Prout’. The real Fr Daniel Prout (1757-1830), whom Mahony knew, had been appointed by Bishop Francis Moylan as parish priest of Ballynalty and Ardnageehy (Watergrasshill) in 1806.

Mahony’s Reliques of Father Prout (1836) – illustrated by his friend Daniel Maclise (1806-1870) – were accompanied by the claim that the writings were found in a chest after Prout’s death. They were, however, entirely the witty invention of the ‘caustic, irascible’ Mahony and on publication proved to be hugely popular.

Did you know: From the 1840s through to his death in 1866, Mahony was variously Rome correspondent for the Daily News and Paris correspondent for the Globe. Today he is perhaps best known as the writer of “The Bells of Shandon”.

Richard Barter (1824-1896), who hailed from Macroom, County Cork, was a sculptor of some note. Having trained at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) school, he would go on to exhibit work at the Great Exhibition (1851) in London’s Crystal Palace, as well as with the Royal Hibernian Academy, Irish Art Union, and Royal Academy. He counted fellow sculptor John Henry Foley and politician Daniel O’Connell among his friends.

This portrait bust is currently on display in our Sculpture Galleries as part of RECASTING CANOVA. A plaster version, presented in 1905, is also in the Collection.

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK RICHARD BARTER - BUST OF FR PROUT

Work of the Week | 23 January 2023

CAG.1849 Salvador Dalí, Four Dreams of Paradise: Romantic, c.1972, coloured lithograph, 66 x 50 cm. Bequeathed, Fr John McGrath, 1998. © the artist’s estate.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Four Dreams of Paradise: Romantic (c.1972) is a coloured lithograph by one of the most recognisable artists of the twentieth century, Salvador Dalí, who died on this day in 1989.

Teeming with complex imagery typical of his style, this work brings together characteristic elements of the artist’s work.

A figure reminiscent of his ‘Saint Anthony’ crosses an expanse of landscape fringed with rocky outcrops. Above this, a sleeping head faces downwards with ants crawling across its cheek, perhaps symbolising death, destruction, and decay.

An eruption of blue colour, with hints of red, green, and yellow draw attention upwards to a cluster of collage-like elements representing animals, gods (including Poseidon and Triton), and eroticism.

The collective meaning of these assembled elements may be deliberately obscure, emerging as they do from Dalí’s well-trodden path to the unconscious. The subtitle of the work, however, suggests a Romantic focus on individualism, subjectivity, and inspiration itself.

Printmaker’s Mark: The initials ‘h.c.’ that appear in the bottom left corner of this print denote ‘hors commerce’ (meaning: for commercial use). They suggest that this lithograph was used to promote the edition of 1,075 printed by Grapholith, Paris and published by Zeit Magazin, Hamburg.

Although this is the only one in the Collection, Romantic is accompanied by three other prints in the series, respectively subtitled Mystic, Heroic, and Gala (named for Dalí’s wife).

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) looms large in the public perception of Surrealism. The Spanish artist also delved into cinema, collaborating with Luis Buñuel on Un Chien Andalou (1929) and L’Age d’Or (1930) and creating the dream sequence for Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945).

Four Dreams of Paradise: Romantic (c.1972) by Salvador Dalí is featured in OTHER WORLDS: Harry Clarke Watercolours until 19 March.

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 98 SALVADOR DALI - FOUR DREAMS OF PARADISE ROMANTIC

Work of the Week | 16 January 2023

CAG.3089 Roseanne Lynch, Untitled (Bauhaus Building Research Archive, The Kandinskys’ Bath 62), 2018, photograph (silver gelatine on fiber based paper), 48.9 x 39.1 cm. Purchased, the Artist, 2021. © the artist.

This WORK OF THE WEEK takes us into art history via an unlikely object!

Untitled (Bauhaus Building Research Archive, The Kandinskys’ Bath 62) is a photograph by Roseanne Lynch depicting the corner of a weathered bathtub.

The work stems from a residency at The Bauhaus Foundation (Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau) in which the artist ‘was given unprecedented access to the archive which extends over many floors in a former brewery in Dessau.’

Reflecting on how she arrived at her subject, Lynch notes: ‘In a far corner by a window was a beautifully patinaed bath.’

‘I was told that it had sat outdoors for many years when the Bauhaus school closed, and because of the paint remnants found on it, it could be traced back to the Kandinskys’ ‘Meisterhaus’, one of a number of houses designed by [Walter] Gropius for the teachers of the Bauhaus school.’

The artists Wassily and Nina Kandinsky lived here from 1925 until 1932 and Lynch’s ‘title specifies that it was their bath, not just his.’ Roseanne Lynch uses a darkroom-based international practice to explore light, space, and the medium of photography itself. She lectures in photography at MTU Crawford College of Art & Design and is currently working towards a Photo Museum Ireland exhibition and a photobook.

This photograph is featured alongside two others by Roseanne Lynch in BEHIND THE SCENES: Collection at Work until 10 April.

Open daily | Free entry

Tune into The Arts House with Elmarie Mawe on Cork’s 96FM and C103FM every Sunday morning as Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about each WORK OF THE WEEK! Listen back to this week’s chat here:

Work of the Week | 9 January 2023

CAG.908 Kathy Prendergast, Untitled, 1985, watercolour and gold leaf on paper, 56.5 x 76.2 cm. Presented, 1989. © the artist.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Untitled (1985) by Kathy Prendergast is part of a selection of works that Corban Walker has selected for inclusion in his exhibition AS FAR AS I CAN SEE.

‘In this work,’ Walker ponders, ‘I’m split in two minds with the beautiful figurative watercolour on paper from her anatomical series. The sensuality of the pose and gestures are elevated by the introduction of gold-leaf flickering across the paper with an arm stretched in desire. And yet I'm reading the arm as an awareness of how the body resists domination from unwanted gaze, comment and on my own personal level, mythical mauling.’

Holding ‘a profound resonance’ for Walker, this watercolour with gold leaf elements follows Prendergast’s Body Map series (1983) which combined representations of the female body and landscape in its exploration of issues of colonisation, exploitation, and ownership. The modulations of form and colour in Untitled offer an emotional, even poetic meditation on the human body.

In 2015, Prendergast’s own exhibition OR occupied some of the same spaces as Walker’s current show. ‘Since her undergraduate years,’ he reflects, ‘when she bolted out into the artworld, her work has consistently demanded the viewer to rethink, look again and value the intricacy of her exquisite works.’

Untitled (1985) by Kathy Prendergast is presently featured in AS FAR AS I CAN SEE, which must close this Sunday 15 January.

Free entry | Open daily

Work of the Week | 2 January 2023

CAG.105 Harry Clarke, The Fall of the House of Usher, 1923, pencil and watercolour on paper, 40 x 29.8 cm. Purchased, the Artist, 1924 (Gibson Bequest Fund).

WORK OF THE WEEK!

We’re taking a spooky start to the year with The Fall of the House of Usher (1923) by Harry Clarke.

This pencil and watercolour illustration is inspired by the unnerving, grotesque, and bodily imagery of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839).

At the top of the illustration, Clarke depicts the story’s narrator reading by candlelight with his friend, Roderick Usher. The artist selects the moment in which the two men become aware of sounds made by Roderick’s entombed – yet still living! – sister Madeline Usher, who appears at the bottom of the illustration.

Fun fact: on its reverse, Clarke has not only signed and dated this colour illustration but also isolated the source quotation: ‘yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long—long—long—many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it.’

Clarke – who died in Chur, Switzerland on 6 January 1931 (Epiphany) – was a master storyteller in both stained glass and book illustration. He often drew on literary sources, transforming them through his own extraordinary imagination and skills of draughtsmanship. This work is one of his original illustrations for the colour plates included in George G. Harrap’s edition of Poe’s Tales of Mystery & Imagination (1923).

One hundred years old in 2023, this work still possesses the artist’s dark and sinister intention. Clarke straddles two worlds – one of waking reality and the other of nightmarish and supernatural visions – and powerfully conjures visually what Poe had set down in words.

The Fall of the House of Usher (1923) is featured in OTHER WORLDS: Harry Clarke Watercolours until 19 March.

Tune in to The Arts House on Cork’s 96FM and C103 Cork every Sunday morning as Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the collection!

Work of the Week | 26 December 2022

CAG.2275 Anne Madden, Burren Land, 1960, oil on canvas, 62 x 72 cm. Presented, 2006 (Great Southern Collection). © the artist.

It’s our last WORK OF THE WEEK of 2022!

Burren Land (1960) by Anne Madden evokes a fittingly wintry atmosphere as this year draws to a close.

An early work by the artist, Burren Land registers ‘the new possibilities of experimentation’ that Madden found in Abstract Expressionism and in the work of fellow artists Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Jean-Paul Riopelle, and Mark Rothko. At the time of making this work, she had begun to pour paint directly onto her canvases.

The painting’s title, however, offers an entry point for viewers as this abstract field becomes the karst landscape of the Burren. Madden spent time as a child near this ‘rocky district’ (Boirinn) of County Clare, which is characterised by its expansive pavements of limestone, formed some 325 million years ago from seidments in a tropical sea. The artist hones in on the clints and grykes that typify this fabled terrain.

Signed and dated in the bottom right-hand corner, Burren Land used to hang in the Great Southern Killarney hotel before entering the Collection in 2006.

Of Irish and Anglo-Chilean origin, Anne Madden (b.1932) has enjoyed a long career as an artist, noted for her vigorous abstract works with figurative elements. In 1958, she married artist Louis le Brocquy and they divided their time between Ireland and France. She was made Officier des Arts et des Lettres in 2008.

Burren Land (1960) by Anne Madden is featured in AS FAR AS I CAN SEE until 15 January.

The artist’s Le Jardin de Nuit III is featured in BEHIND THE SCENES: Collection at Work until 10 April.

Tune in to The Arts House on Cork’s 96FM and C103 Cork every Sunday morning as Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the collection!

Work of the Week | 19 December 2022

CAG.0139 Robert Ballagh, Cut-out with a Joseph Albers, c.1974, acrylic on canvas mounted on plywood, 99 x 99 cm / 177 x 53 cm. Presented, Arts Council of Ireland and Dr J.B. Kearney, 1974. © the artist.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Cut-out with a Joseph Albers (c.1974) by Robert Ballagh is a surprising, yet inviting encounter in the gallery as it echoes the visitor’s own stance.

Ballagh’s use of the cut-out element came as he continued to introduce the figure into his (previously more abstract) work.

Selected for inclusion in his current exhibition – AS FAR AS I CAN SEE – fellow artist Corban Walker notes that Ballagh’s work from that time ‘was so contemporary and fresh with vitality. His paintings of people in front of paintings by some of the figureheads of the 20th century are stimulating and curious.’

In this work, Ballagh places the cut-out of a woman in front of a painting by Josef Albers (1888-1976). The influential artist and educator associated with the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College was noted for his geometric abstraction and colour studies, and had exhibited in ROSC ’71 in Dublin.

‘In this painting,’ Walker continues, ‘he also demonstrates how Joseph Albers is aligned to my perception of scale, particularly how he employs colour to define space.’

Robert Ballagh (b.1943) is an artist and designer known for the set of Riverdance, numerous postage stamps, and the last series of Irish banknotes (Series C). He is a member of Aosdána and, in 2018, published A Reluctant Memoir.

Cut-out with a Joseph Albers (c.1974) by Robert Ballagh is featured in AS FAR AS I CAN SEE until 15 January.

It is one of two works by the artist presenting on display, with The Rape of the Sabines after David (1969-70) is featured in BEHIND THE SCENES: Collection at Work.

Tune in to The Arts House on Cork’s 96FM and C103 Cork every Sunday morning as Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the collection!

Work of the Week | 12 December 2022

CAG.2784 Colin Middleton, Winter: Camden Street, 1965, oil on board, 91.5 x 122 cm. Presented to the State, 2012 (AIB Art Collection). © the artist’s estate.

It’s a frosty and festive WORK OF THE WEEK!

Winter: Camden Street (1965) by Colin Middleton is giving us the cold, crisp vibes of the current sub-zero weather. The silvery blues of the upper part of this painting suggest fog or breath in the wintry air.

Within this cool palette, however, are chinks of orange, red, yellow, green, and rich blue that offer a patchwork or pattern that might remind us of seasonal lights and decorations.

Although essentially abstract, Middleton’s subject is Camden Street, located between Lisburn Road and University Road, close to the Ulster Museum and Queen’s University Belfast.

Did you know: this painting is one of 39 artworks presented to the State in 2012 by Allied Irish Banks (AIB) that now call Crawford Art Gallery their home.

Noted for his command of a multiplicity of styles, Belfast-born Colin Middleton (1910-1983) was a painter who responded in a deeply personal way to his subject matter. He was greatly influenced by fellow artists Salvador Dalí, James Ensor, Joan Miró, and Vincent van Gogh, and – as Rebecca Minch has observed – often expressed ‘complex psychological meanings’ in his work. A frequent exhibitor in Belfast, Dublin, London, and at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, the award of an Arts Council of Northern Ireland bursary in 1970 finally enabled Middleton to focus full-time on his art.

Winter: Camden Street (1965) by Colin Middleton is featured in BEHIND THE SCENES: Collection at Work until 10 April.

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 96 COLIN MIDDLETON - WINTER CAMDEN STREET

Work of the Week | 5 December 2022

CAG.3070 Gary Coyle, At The Museum, 2019, photographic print, 87.6 x 64 cm. Purchased, the Artist, 2020. © the artist.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Part of a series, At The Museum (2019) by Gary Coyle was taken, as the artist notes, ‘on one of the endless corridors of the Pitti Palace in Florence.’

It is a photograph of a seemingly banal subject: a quiet museum interior – a non-space, as Coyle terms it, devoid of art – featuring a red carpet, red contemporary chair, and red-trimmed curtains. The play of light and shadow, however, animate the image and transform the commonplace into something more meditative.

Coyle, who has long explored museum interiors, ‘realised that this experience was in itself a framing device’ and began to photograph the non-spaces in which art is ‘contained and displayed.’

Reminding him of German photographer Uta Barth, Corban Walker has selected Coyle’s photograph from the Collection for inclusion in his current exhibition, AS FAR AS I CAN SEE: ‘I’m drawn to the significance of how it leads the viewer to another detached space. Doing so, releases the walls, floor and occupants of the gallery with an alternative purpose.’

Gary Coyle (b.1965) embraces various media in his practice, including drawing, photography, and spoken word/performance. He has exhibited widely, both in Ireland and internationally, and is a member of Aosdána and the Royal Hibernian Academy. His video installation, Lost in a Ceo (2022), was recently commissioned and exhibited by MoLI.

At The Museum (2019) by Gary Coyle is featured in AS FAR AS I CAN SEE until 15 January.

Open daily | Free entry

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 95 GARY COYLE - AT THE MUSEUM

Work of the Week | 28 November 2022

CAG.0677 Brigid Ganly, Torso of a Seated Man, verso of Faiche Laighean (Leinster Lawn), c.1947, oil on canvas, 49.8 x 59.6 cm. Purchased, An tOireachtas, 1947 (Gibson Bequest Fund). © the artist’s estate.

This WORK OF THE WEEK is back-to-front and upside-down!

When purchasing a work entitled Faiche Laighean (Leinster Lawn) in 1947, our Gibson Bequest Committee may not have expected a ‘two for one’ deal.

On inspection, however, it was discovered that the artist had reused her canvas. Ganly’s placid, colourful view from outside the National Gallery of Ireland and across Leinster Lawn towards Government Buildings is painted on the back of another, very different work.

Front: Brigid Ganly, Faiche Laighean (Leinster Lawn), c.1947, oil on canvas, 49.8 x 59.6 cm. Purchased, An tOireachtas, 1947 (Gibson Bequest Fund). © the artist’s estate.

In Torso of a Seated Man, the model’s semi-nudity reveals tan lines from the neck up and wrists down. Who was this man?

The reasons for reusing a canvas vary, but it may be that the artist was dissatisfied with the initial painting or was simply economical with her materials. Although it is not unusual for an artist to reuse another artist’s canvas, in this instance it seems likely that Ganly painted both works herself. For the purposes of our new exhibition, BEHIND THE SCENES, the reverse of the canvas has been put on display.

Brigid Ganly (1909-2002), daughter of Mabel Emmeline Smyly and artist Dermod O’Brien, grew up in County Limerick, before her family moved to Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin. She studied at both the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and Royal Hibernian Academy, and won the Taylor Scholarship in 1929 for Pity, an allegorical male nude. She often exhibited with her sister-in-law, and fellow artist, Kitty Wilmer O’Brien (1910-1982).

Torso of a Seated Man (c.1947) by Brigid Ganly is currently featured in BEHIND THE SCENES: Collection at Work.

Open daily | Free entry

Tune into The Arts House with Elmarie Mawe on Cork’s 96FM and C103FM every Sunday morning as Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about each WORK OF THE WEEK! Listen back to this week’s chat here:

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 94 BRIGID GANLY - TORSO OF A SEATED MAN

Work of the Week | 21 November 2022

CAG.2185 Megan Eustace, Carbon Copy II, 2003, carbon and watercolour on paper, 56 x 76 cm. Purchased, 2005. © the artist.

This WORK OF THE WEEK marks the final 2 weeks of DRAWING ROOM!

Carbon Copy II (2003) by Megan Eustace is deceptively simple in its sparing use of line.

In approaching her subject, the artist was mindful of the reclining female nude in European art history and the discourse surrounding the ‘male gaze’.

‘As a woman drawing a woman,’ Eustace considers, ‘I wanted to respond to the genre not in hours of analysis but in a perceptual experiential way. I decided to use a really contemporary drawing process whereby you don’t look at your hand drawing – you only look at your subject and draw. The outcome is unpredictable and creates an inventive sensitive line, and a different drawing each time you do it.’

For this drawing, the artist used carbon copy paper ‘to transgress the form and function of the material and the predictable reading of the reclining female nude.’

Megan Eustace (b.1974) graduated in 1996 from Crawford College of Art & Design, where she now lectures in drawing and life drawing. She has previously reflected that ‘I draw to connect to the outside world and to dialogue with my inner one.’

For Your Diary: Join artist twins Megan Eustace and Cassandra Eustace this Saturday 26 November (10:30am – 1:30pm) as they bring THE DRAWING CLINIC to the gallery space. Operating on a first come, first served basis, this session provides the opportunity for you to have a free mini-consultation about your own drawing.

Carbon Copy II (2003) by Megan Eustace is featured in DRAWING ROOM until 4 December.

Open daily | Free entry

Crawford Art Gallery · WORK OF THE WEEK 93 MEGAN EUSTACE - CARBON COPY II