Gibson Scholars

Established according to the wishes of Joseph Stafford Gibson, the Gibson Bequest Scholarship preceded the Gibson Travelling Fellowship Award. It enabled exceptional local artists to embark upon travel to study in European centres such as Bayreuth, London, Madrid, Paris, and Rome.

Administered by the Gibson Bequest Committee between 1923 and 1966, the Gibson Bequest Scholarship was only awarded occasionally and in line with Gibson’s Will. The following artists were all recipients:  

CAG.3057 William Sheehan, Portrait of a Lady, c.1917, oil on canvas, 61 x 51 cm. Presented, in memory of Nuala O'Donovan (née Horgan) (1934-2017), niece of William Sheehan, by her family, 2019.

1923 | William Sheehan

Born and raised in Cork, William Sheehan (1894-1923) studied at both Crawford Municipal School of Art and Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. In 1923, he became the first recipient of the Gibson Bequest Scholarship, which recognised the ‘unusual talent and good habits’ of an artist. At the time, George Atkinson (1880-1941) noted that he was ‘the most talented young man in Ireland, with the exception of [Seán] Keating.’ Although Sheehan hoped to study in Paris, the Gibson Bequest Committee recommended he instead travel to Madrid, where Joseph Stafford Gibson himself had lived. Sheehan’s scholarship unfortunately came to a premature end in June 1923 and, suffering from ill health, he died later that year in the home of his sister. A retrospective exhibition of his Spanish paintings was held in Cork soon afterwards.

1924 | Kathleen Murphy O’Connor

Known as “Kay”, Kathleen Murphy O’Connor (1896-1959) studied at Crawford Municipal School of Art during the early 1920s and, by 1923, was Honorary Secretary of the Students’ Union. Considered an artist of unusual talent and noted for her superb furniture carving skills, she was the second recipient of the Gibson Bequest Scholarship, which enabled her to travel to and study in Paris between 8 September 1924 and 26 April 1926. An embroidered fire-screen by the artist was featured in the exhibition, Site of Change: Evolution of a Building, in 2023.

1930 | Michael O’Sullivan

Michael O’Sullivan attended Crawford Municipal School of Art and received a Gibson Bequest Scholarship in 1930, attending the Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900 (1 January – 20 March 1930) at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. He also regularly exhibited with the Munster Fine Art Club (1947, 1949, 1950-53, 1955-58).

CAG.0460 Séamus Murphy, Ruth Ripley, 1934, marble, 54 x 49 x 37 cm. Purchased, Munster Fine Art Club, 1935 (Gibson Bequest Fund). © the artist’s estate.

1931 | Séamus Murphy

Séamus Murphy (1907-1975) first enrolled at Crawford Municipal School of Art in 1921, aged 14, having been encouraged by his schoolteacher, the writer Daniel Corkery (1878-1964). From 1922 until 1930, he was also an apprentice stone carver at John Aloysius O'Connor’s stone yard in Blackpool. He was awarded a Gibson Bequest Scholarship (1931-32), which enabled him to study in Paris and greatly influenced his style and career. Establishing his own studio back in Cork, he created portrait busts of numerous public and cultural figures, including Arnold Bax, Éamon de Valera, Jack Lynch, Terence MacSwiney, Constance Markievicz, Tadhg Ó Buachalla, Frank O’Connor, and Seán Ó Riada, religious sculpture, funerary monuments, and designed the Church of the Annunciation, Blackpool. In 1949, he published his memoir, Stone Mad, and became a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) six years later. He served as RHA professor of sculpture from 1964.

CAG.0696 Breda O’Donoghue-Lucci, Seán O’Hegarty, 1947, bronze, 46 x 19 x 23 cm. Presented, the Artist, 1967. © the artist’s estate.

1949 | Breda O’Donoghue-Lucci

Breda O’Donoghue (1924-c.2015) studied at Crawford Municipal School of Art during the 1940s. She travelled to Rome in 1949 on a Gibson Bequest Scholarship and showed annually with the Munster Fine Art Club (1947-49, 1956, 1983-85), ultimately serving on its committee (1949-53). A bust of hers was presented to the collection by her father, the revolutionary Florence “Florrie” O’Donoghue (1894-1967). She lived at Rosscarbery, County Cork, with her husband Emilio Lucci and children, before relocating to Rome in the early 2000s. In her reminiscence, “Gougane Barra Revisited” (Cumann Staire Journal, 2000), she recalled visiting the fabled locale where she and her family ‘spent many evenings with The Tailor and Ansty, sometimes staying late.’

CAG.0134 John O’Leary, Night Odyssey, undated, 87 x 61 cm, acrylic on canvas. Purchased, the Artist, 1962 (Gibson Bequest Fund). © the artist’s estate.

1957 | John O’Leary

John O’Leary (1929-1999) graduated from Crawford Municipal School of Art in 1957. He was awarded a Gibson Bequest Scholarship to travel to France where he studied at the atelier of André Lhote (1885-1962), following in the footsteps of Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone. While not adopting Lhote’s Cubist style, O’Leary was drawn to abstraction and was impressed by the teachings of Serge Poliakoff (1900-1969). He later taught at both Crawford Municipal School of Art and Sligo Regional Technical College, where his tuition was strongly based on direct observation and drawing from nature, yet one in which he encouraged self-reliance on the part of the student.

1966 | Patrick Murray

Born in Cork, Patrick “Pat” Murray (1938-2006) studied at Crawford Municipal School of Art and was awarded a Gibson Bequest Scholarship to travel to Bayreuth, Germany. Best known as a set designer, he worked on various productions of plays by Patrick Galvin, John B. Keane, and Hugh Leonard. He was a member of the Arts Council of Ireland (1993-95) and consulted on the refurbishment of The Everyman, Cork. His final project was the set design for the theatre’s pantomime, Sleeping Beauty (2006). Dublin Gay Theatre Festival named an award for ‘outstanding contribution to Irish gay theatre’ in his honour. 

1974 | Sheila Walton

Born in Kenya, Sheila Walton-Hough (b.1952) studied at Crawford Municipal School of Art. In 1974, she travelled to Oslo on a U.O.I.S.S. scholarship and, later that year, was awarded the Gibson Bequest Travelling Scholarship to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Here she met the artist William Hayter (1901-1988) and studied alongside him. She subsequently studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. In 1975, she exhibited at the Dublin Arts Festival and Cork Arts Society (Lavit Gallery). Principally a painter of portraits and landscapes, she also lectured at Athlone Institute of Technology (now Technological University of the Shannon). She lives in Banagher, County Offaly.