Irish Arts Review

Crawford Open 1-4, Crawford Municipal Art GalleryReview by: Brian McAveraIrish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring, 2004), p. 144Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25503026 .

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1 CO

CATALOGUES

Louise Bourgeois: Stitches in Time August Projects/IMMA, London 2003

ppl06, h/b Stg?12.90/ 19.00

ills 51col & ills 22 b/w. Pocket Book format

ISBN 1-902854-24-1

Readability: *****

Reference Use: ***iVfc

Design & Durability: *****

Quality of Plates: _

This is a very attractive-looking small

book, a mini coffee table book really,

which contains a substantial essay by the

T?te curator Frances Morris, a brief intro

duction by Brenda McParland, a useful

chronology, and a bibliography which is

limited to books and exhibition cata

logues. The essay is informative and tact

ful (i.e. it doesn't deal with the awkward

stuff, such as the artist's use of the

Feminist Movement, her cavalier claims of

being abused -

her father having a mis

tress is Bourgeois' definition of this term

- or the relationship of her career to that

of her husband, the art historian Robert

Goldwater, one of the foremost specialists

in Tribal Art. Bourgeois' first sculpture

exhibition is clearly influenced by such

work, and her career clearly helped by his

contacts). The reproductions are excellent,

as is the design.

One major quibble is the reference use:

the block of colour plates in the middle of

the book is followed by a list of these

reproductions, but neither the 19 plates

in the curator's essay, nor any of the plates

in the other ten photo essays, are individ

ually referenced by an index. H

The Forgotten Irish Artist: William Docherty Weir 1863-1903 Cleft Gallery Donaghadee 2003_

pp.30, h/bStg?12.00/ 17.50

ills 26 col & ills 1 b/w. Oblong format

Readability: ***i?rfr

Reference Use: **#iVfr

Design & Durability: ****i?r

Quality of Plates: -&_

Weir was a professional lithographic artist

who designed posters for the Belfast firm

of David Allen; and who painted in his

spare time. The gallery owner Bill

Morrison purchased his collected works,

and this catalogue presumably reproduces

a selection of them. There is a one-page

introduction by the Ulster Museum's

Martyn Anglesea, and a two-page essay by

the gallery owner. Weir seems to have

been a competent but uninspiring Sunday

painter, though the few art nouveau style

posters reproduced suggest that his

graphic work might be worth exploring.

No ISBN number. No list of illustra

tions. H

Crawford Open 1-4, Crawford Municipal Art Gallery Cork/Gandon Editions, 2003_

pp.288, p/b 20.00. Square format

ills approx 118 col. ISBN 0946846855

Readability: <&<&

Reference Use: *****

Design & Durability: ****iiV

Quality of Plates: #_

This is a record of the first four annual,

juried exhibitions at the Crawford.

Gandon Editions, who published the sim

ilar EV+A catalogue, here use a similar

overall format, in that there is an essay at

the beginning, this time by Peter Murray,

which is split into four parts, and briefly

mentions everybody in the four exhibi

tions (no mean feat, but not nessessarily

an illuminating read) followed by an A -Z

of the artists, each one having a full-page

colour image, and a page which contains

a thumbnail biography, and a brief state

ment, should they want to provide one.

Unlike the Limerick tome, this is fully ref

erenced to include the essays.

An Irish Eye: Landscapes of Fact & Imagination Solomon Gallery, Dublin, 2003_

pp. 36, ills 28 col. Square format p/b.

Readability: ****iir

Reference Use: -fri?rfr

Design & Durability: ****i?r

Quality of Plates: # _

Catalogue to the Solomon Gallery exhibi

tion at Cape Town, South Africa, which

exhibited works by twenty-nine largely

20th-century artists, ranging from Yeats,

Blackshaw and Crozier, to Francis and

Teskey. It contains a two-page introduction

by Director of the Dublin City Gallery -

the Hugh Lane, Barbara Dawson and brief

biographical notes on each painter.

No ISBN number, no list of illustra

tions or artists. No bibliography.

Hector McDonnell Blackstaff Press/MAGNI, 2003_

pp.60, h/b Stg? 12.99/ 19.00 Oblong format

ills 12 col. ISBN 0-85640751-8

Readability: ****iir

Reference Use: ***iVfr

Design & Durability: *****

Quality of Plates: _

This is one of MAGNI's better publica tions. The artist is a genre painter (interi

ors, exteriors etc) born the younger son of

the Earl and Countess of Antrim. The

book contains a brief foreword by John

Julius Norwich, a biographical essay by Martin Anglesea (he's been busy), an essay

on the work by Bernd Krimmel, a check

list of the eighty-seven works in the retro

spective exhibition, an exhibition checklist

doubling as a bibliography and, most use

fully, a chronological list of McDonnell's

works, stretching from 1963 to the pres

ent day. It's pity that there aren't more

illustrations though. Unfortunately the

twelve illustrations in the book are not ref

erenced to either the checklist or the

chronology, and the dates for a number of

paintings in the chronological list are

those of the first gallery showing, as

opposed to the date of composition, or

vice versa. (For example Ground Zero,

September 2001 is credited on the illus

tration as being 2003, but in the checklist

as being exhibited in 2002).B BRIAN McAVERA is a playwright and an art critic.

144 IRISH ARTS REVIEW SPRING 2004

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