CAG.0911 Mark Hathaway, Crawford Art Gallery, c.1989, watercolour on paper, 42.5 x 48 cm. Presented, Friends of Crawford Art Gallery, 1989. © the artist.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

It’s not often that a work of art shares your name, but Crawford Art Gallery (c.1989) by Mark Hathaway does just that. This detailed watercolour captures our own likeness as we looked over thirty years ago!

The artist presents a view across a car-lined Emmet Place towards the former Johnson & Perrott premises and Irish Examiner / Echo offices, Queen Anne house, and Crawford Art Gallery itself. The redbrick and limestone façade of the latter glows behind mature trees, one of which is still thriving today. A bilingual sign stands just within the cast iron railings and a series of lampposts and benches punctuate the centre of the urban space.

Can you count the changes that this part of the city has witnessed since?

Mark Hathaway (b.1960) was born in Hull, Yorkshire but moved to Cork with his family around the age of ten. He studied at the Crawford College of Art and Design in the years before and after its move from Emmet Place to Sharman Crawford Street. His early work, such as this watercolour, can be described as photorealist and the artist has noted that: ‘I have always been interested in trying to depict the world as I see it without schematising, simplifying, glamourising or sentimentalising it.’

Fun fact: this watercolour was presented by the Friends of Crawford Art Gallery in 1989, the year in which this longstanding independent support organisation was established. Be sure to watch out for the Friends upcoming autumn programme.

Crawford Art Gallery (c.1989) by Mark Hathaway is featured in SITE OF CHANGE: Evolution of a Building until 12 November.

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