Celebrating 50 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art at Trinity College Dublin
Posted on: 27 September 2010
This year, Trinity College Dublin celebrates 50 years of collecting, displaying, and promoting modern and contemporary Irish and international art. In particular, we are celebrating the College Gallery Picture Hire scheme, founded during the academic year 1959-60 and still running today. The scheme allows students and staff with rooms and offices on campus to engage with art during their normal daily routines. To mark the anniversary year, a series of three major exhibitions will be held at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, the Royal Hibernian Academy, and Trinity College’s own Science Gallery, to be accompanied by a commemorative book and a programme of related events, supported by the alumni through the Trinity College Association and Trust.
On the occasion of the launch of the first exhibition at the Douglas Hyde Gallery this week, Provost, Dr John Hegarty said: “In addition to education and scholarship in the visual arts, the great universities of the world are important collectors and exhibitors of art. Trinity is no exception. These exhibitions celebrate 50 years of a great drive in promoting, collecting and exhibiting modern and contemporary art. We are justly proud of our collection. The tradition continues in new ways and with the same intensity by, for example, seamlessly connecting what was the emerging art of the 20th century with the very new art forms of today. In a university environment, this interplay between education, scholarship and artistic practice represents a great opportunity to enhance the creativity and skills of our students in new ways.”
‘Holding Together – An exhibition to celebrate 50 years of the Modern Art Collection of Trinity College Dublin’ at The Douglas Hyde Gallery (24th September – 3rd November)
The programme commenced on September 24th last within the Trinity College campus, at the internationally renowned Douglas Hyde Gallery, where a special collaboration between the Gallery staff and the Curator of the College Art Collections, Catherine Giltrap, foregrounds Ireland and emerging contemporary artists working here today, set against a selection of works by influential 20th century modern artists active during the formative decades of the College’s modern art collection. George Dawson (1927-2004), former Professor of Genetics at Trinity College, was the initial driving force behind the College’s involvements with modern and contemporary art. With the help of a group of students he set up the campus picture hire scheme, which still exists today, and went on to found the first university art gallery in Ireland, simply called ‘The Exhibition Hall’, at the Berkeley Library (1967-77). By 1978, he influenced the founding of a permanent exhibition building in the form of the Douglas Hyde Gallery, meanwhile developing an extensive collection of Irish and international art for the College, prioritising the acquisition of Irish paintings in order to support and promote artists of the moment, in the moment. It is George’s pioneering efforts to encourage both established and emerging artists, with student-run ventures such as the Exposure exhibitions in the early 1980s when little support was available, that has inspired the initial concept of the current Douglas Hyde Gallery exhibition.
The title of the show, derived from Hexagram 8 of the I-Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes, is intended to highlight the importance of unity, complementarity, and collaboration, and with that aim it juxtaposes a selection of older work from the Modern Art Collection of Trinity College with recent pieces by emerging Irish artists. The interrelationship between the two is the heart of the matter, but there is also an underlying emphasis on landscape, nature, and the elements.
Works by the following artists are included in the exhibition: Cecil King, David Beattie, Paul McGonagle, Miriam De Búrca, Norah McGuinness, Patrick Collins, Sarah O’Brien, Aoife Desmond, Liam O’Callaghan, Laura Fitzgerald, Tony O’Malley, Judy Foley, Daniel O’Neill, Tracy Hanna, Nano Reid, Áine Ivers, Elaine Reynolds, Mainie Jellett, William Scott, Caoimhe Kilfeather, Jack B. Yeats.
The exhibition will run from 24th September – 3rd November 2010 (including special late night opening Friday 24th September until 10pm as part of the nationwide Culture Night programme) Further information: www.douglashydegallery.com
‘George Dawson: An Unbiased Eye. Modern & contemporary art at Trinity College Dublin since 1959.’ The Royal Hibernian Academy (19th November – 19th December)
At the Royal Hibernian Academy in November, the scope of the anniversary celebrations are expanded to assess the Trinity College modern art collection for its Irish and international artistic content, within the context of major international artistic movements since the 1950s, and to discover the generations of people and personalities that have shaped the collection, inspired by George Dawson. Selected by Catherine Giltrap, Curator of the Trinity College Art Collections, the exhibition comprises over 35 works inviting the viewer on a journey through Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, and Minimalism, to Pop, Conceptual, and Installation art, right up to the influence of digital technology on visual arts practice. Artists represented will include Nevill Johnson, Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, Gerard Dillon, William Scott, Roy Lichtenstein, Camille Souter, Victor Vasarely, Louis Le Brocquy, Brian O’Doherty (Patrick Ireland), Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Gorman, and Clare Langan. Woven through the selection is a narrative recounting how the modern art collection at Trinity College was formed, by whom, and why. Visitors to the exhibition will be encouraged to continue their experience by taking an interactive walking tour through the nearby Trinity College campus which serves as the University’s living exhibition space and features works by Arnaldo Pomodoro, Alexander Calder, Patrick Scott, Anne Madden, Barrie Cooke, and Michael Warren, among others.
For further information: www.royalhibernianacademy.ie ________________________________________________________________________________
Commemorative publication
‘George Dawson: An Unbiased Eye. Modern and contemporary art at Trinity College since 1959.’ edited by Catherine Giltrap
A beautifully illustrated commemorative publication will accompany the RHA exhibition in November. The 100-page book recounts and contextualises Trinity College’s significant contribution to the development of modern and contemporary visual arts practice in Ireland, led by former Professor of Genetics, George Dawson (1927-2004). Internationally renowned sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro contributes to the preface which is followed by essays from Catherine Giltrap (Curator of the Trinity College Art Collections), Dr. Yvonne Scott (Director of TRIARC – The Trinity Irish Art Research Centre), and Dr. Angela Griffith (Expert in the history and development of Irish graphic art). The final chapter brings together for the first time, insightful and humorous stories by Trinity College graduates and staff, as well as artists, arts professionals, architects, and friends of George Dawson, recounting 50 years of modern and contemporary visual arts activities at Trinity. Proceeds from the book will support new acquisitions and conservation to perpetuate opportunities for generations of students, staff, and the visiting public to engage with the visual arts at Trinity College.
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The Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin (December 2010)
The final element of the programme marking 50 years of modern and contemporary art at Trinity College goes global with a collaborative display of digital art held at the most recent cultural addition to the campus, the Science Gallery. During the month of December 2010, a display interconnecting art, research, and technology will consider the current and future potential of the intersection of art and science. George Dawson, was equally passionate about science and art, starting off his research life in Botany at Cambridge University, and later founding Trinity College’s Department of Genetics in 1958, only five years after the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA. One year later he launched his first initiative that stimulated all subsequent engagement with modern and contemporary visual arts practice at Trinity College. His creative vision did not distinguish science from art, believing the two were intricately linked. This final show provides an open question about how the art collection at Trinity College might develop and communicate with the campus and the wider public community over the next 50 years. No better place to pose the question than at Trinity College’s cutting edge Science Gallery, where creativity and innovation know no boundaries.