The art collection of troubled Allied Irish Bank, which announced plans to make 2,500 staff redundant this week, was gifted to the state and donated to the Crawford Gallery in Cork. An exhibition of 39 prime pieces from the collection is on view at the Crawford until April 14. The bank, which has built up a fine collection of Irish art over the past 30 years, will make nearly 1,000 additional works available for public exhibition. After April 14 the Crawford will return 27 of the works to AIB on a temporary basis, the remaining twelve will stay with the gallery. Here are some examples from the show (click on any image to enlarge it):
A Race in Hy-Brazil, 1937 by Jack B. Yeats (1871-1957).
The Forty Foot, Sandycove 1940 by Harry Kernoff (1900-1974).
The Lock at Edenderry by John Luke (1906-1975).
The Cockle Pickers by Joseph Malachy Kavanagh (1856-1918).