Upload
review-by-brian-mcavera
View
214
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Irish Arts Review
Imagining Ireland: The Collection of Drawings and Watercolours by John Butler Yeats andJack B YeatsReview by: Brian McAveraIrish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 21, No. 2 (Summer, 2004), p. 144Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25503065 .
Accessed: 15/06/2014 20:56
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Irish Arts Review is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Irish Arts Review(2002-).
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:56:47 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
CO
CATALOGUES
^*?ti?i?!y?iiLstyff
>ne Hundred Years of Watercolours
A Vision of Modern Art: In Memory of Dorothy Walker IMMA Dublin
2004_
pp 56 Card covers. Large format ills 23 col
ills4b/w 14.00 ISBN:1-903811-28-7
Readability: ****&
Reference Use: **-?WWV
Design & Durability: *****
Quality of Plates: _
This is an elegantly-produced catalogue,
accompanying the exhibition curated by
Ciaran Bennet to celebrate the achieve
ments of the art critic Dorothy Walker,
which is poorly served by its editors.
There is a foreword by the museum's
director Enrique Juncosa, a reprint from
Hibernia of Walker's credo as an art critic,
and a fluent essay by Bennett which is
obviously a labour of love. There is also a
somewhat laboured essay by Donald
Kuspit. The paper is excellent, the plates
beautifully produced but in classic annoy
ing fashion, there is an un-numbered list
of plates, and the catalogue is unpagi
nated. With five editors credited, this is
disapointing.
High Falutin Stuff IMMA, Dublin
2004_
pp.20. Card covers. Slim tall octavo
pamphlet. 16 plates in colour and mono.
5.00 ISBN: 1-903811-31-7
Readability: *****
Reference Use: ic?r?r?rk
Design & Durability: ***~fr^r
Quality of Plates: **^WV_
This is a rather odd footnote to the Joyce
industry, based entirely on artworks
made in response to Joyce that are in
IMMA's collection. There are two help
ful essays by Terence Killeen and
Catherine Marshall, but it has to be said
that as a response to the centenary
anniversary of Bloomsday, this is a very
niggardly footnote. A fair bit of the text
is taken up with Richard Hamilton,
although there is reason to question just
how closely that artist has read and under
stood Ulysses; and although Killeen at
least briefly acknowledges elements of
this, Marshall does not. Why is it that in
areas like these, the French and the
Americans in particular can produce well
researched, substantial catalogues-but we
can't? No list of plates, no index, no bib
liography, no artist CVs.
Imaging Ireland: Selected Works Arts Office, National University of Ireland, Galway
and Galway University Foundation 2004
pp.84 Card wraps. Large format, ills 30 col
23.00 ISBN: 0-9546815-0-9
Readability: *****
Reference Use: *****
Design & Durability: *****
Quality of Plates:
This is an impressive volume, compiled
and edited by Gerard O'Brien and
Siobhan Piercy, which does the job prop
erly. There is a well-written overview of
the collection by Peter Murray, which
gives the socio-political context (he's been
busy this past year!), a brief history of the
collection by O'Brien, thirty fine plates
each with facing commentary, as well as a
bibliography and a preface. Both artists
and plates are indexed, though cross-ref
erencing the plates would have helped. It's
true that the bibliography is very hit-and
miss but that's a small price to pay for an
otherwise first-class volume.
One Hundred Years of Watercolours Jorgensen Fine Art Dublin 2004
pp 48 Square format Card covers 57 col.
plates. 10.00
Readability: ***^r
Reference Use: ****-&
Design & Durability: ****^
Quality of Plates: &
Neatly organised with a numbered list of
illustrations corresponding to the num
bered plates. Primarily UK and Irish
artists, ranging from Rose Barton and
Mildred Anne Butler to William Lee
Hankey and Gwen John, though there are
a smattering of European names like
Signac. Also contains a one-page intro
ductory note, presumably by Sile
Connaughton-Deeny. Basically a dealer's
selling catalogue but attractively pro
duced. No ISBN number.
William Crozier Taylor Galleries Dublin 2004
pp 35 p/b Square format ills 23 col ills 6
b/w 5.00
Readability: *****
Reference Use: *?WWWV
Design & Durability: *****
Quality of Plates: ***^r_
This is a well-produced catalogue with
good plates. Its advantage is that it has a
straightforward lucid essay on the artist
by Dr Yvonne Scott (Director of the Irish
Art Research Centre, Trinity College,
Dublin), and a CV with a useful bibliog
raphy. Its disadvantage is that while it has
a list of works in the exhibition, not all
of them are reproduced?a starred system
would have helped?and there is no pagi
nation, which makes it difficult to use for
reference. No ISBN number either.
Imagining Ireland: the Collection of
Drawings and Watercolours by John Butler Yeats and Jack B Yeats Model Arts & Niland Gallery/
Royal Hibernian Academy, 2003
pp 60, ills 23 col Square format p/b 12.00
Readability: ****^r
Reference Use: **-*?WV
Design & Durability: ****&
Quality of Plates: * _
This catalogue accompanied a selection o?
works of Yeats, father and son, which was
exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy.
There is a two-page introduction by the
doyenne of Yeats' scholars, Hilary Pyle,
along with very brief notes on each image.
There is no bibliography, or list of illustra
tions, though rather oddly, there is a list of
additional works by Jack B Yeats (not shown in the exhibition) which, together
with the five printed illustrations in the cat
alogue, totals thirty-eight works, whereas
the introduction claims that there are forty
eight works by Jack B Yeats in the Sligo
Municipal collection... .
BRIAN MCAVERA is a playwright and art critic.
144 I
IRISH ARTS REVIEW SUMMER 2004
This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:56:47 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions