An exhibition celebrating Irish art and modernism runs at the Ava Gallery at Clandeboye in Northern Ireland from June 16 to September 3. Comprising 49 paintings and sculptural objects it features work by Jack B.Yeats, William Orpen, Mainie Jellett, Charles Lamb, Colin Middleton, F.E. McWilliam, Evie Hone, John Luke, and Gerard Dillon.
Gerard Dillon, Tea Break from the exhibition. (Click on image to enlarge)
William Orpen, Portrait of Dolly Stiles. (click on image to enlarge)
The show marks the 20th anniversary of the ground-breaking exhibition and book ‘Irish Art & Modernism’ by Dr. B S Kennedy. This work surveyed the period 1880 until 1950, and was published to accompany an exhibition of the same title held at Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery in 1991.
The Adam’s exhibition at the Ava Gallery looks to recreate the original show, but largely concentrates on the latter half of the period. It focuses on areas including the Pupils of William Orpen; the Traditionalists, including Keating, McCaig and McKelvey; the Dublin Painters, based on the school established by Paul and Grace Henry; the Ulster Unit, featuring Middleton, O’Neill, Luke, Campbell and Dillon; the White Stag Group and the early Living Art Exhibitions, heralded by Le Brocquy, Jellett and McGuinness.
David Britton, Director, Adam’s & Ava Gallery, said: “We have gone to great efforts to feature almost every artist that was included in the original 1991 exhibition, and in three cases we were able to source the original paintings – Christopher Campbell’s ‘Self Portrait’ of 1950, Charles Lamb’s ‘Hearing the News’, c. 1920-2, and Nick Nicholl’s ‘Contemplation, 1944’. Furthermore a number of works were recently included in the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s (IMMA) ‘The Moderns Exhibition’, including Evie Hone, Paul Henry & Jack B. Yeats. Many of the works we’ve selected weren’t available for exhibition twenty years ago, so we hope this 20th anniversary collection provides further insight to Irish modernism, and perhaps puts the original exhibition into a newer context”.
Further information is available online at adams.ie/clandeboye. An exhibition catalogue can be downloaded.
