A MAJOR retrospective exhibition of the New York based, Irish born painter Sean Scully is one of the features of the Irish Museum of Modern Art's programme for 1996, writes Brian Fallon. Details of the programme were announced by the director of IMMA, Decian McGonagle, at a press briefing in the museum on Tuesday.
The Scully retrospective is planned for May 30th August 25th and will include works from the last 20 years of the artist's career. Another highlight will be the Louis le Brocquy retrospective (October February 1997) featuring nearly 100 works ranging from the 1940s to the last few years. A series of exhibitions is also planned based on IMMA's own collection.
Other features of the programme will be a season of shows, films and projects looking at European identity, and a greatly expanded artists' residency programme involving, among others, the greatly respected painter Hughie O'Donoghue.
Throughout the year, the galleries on the west ground floor will be occupied by shows from the museum's collection. The first of these, entitled "IMMA Collection Literary Themes", runs until June 4th and will be followed by a show dealing with figuration (June, December). Other events will include works on paper from the Weltkunst Collection (March 30th, June 16th) and an IMMA sculpture exhibition (May 11th September 15th).
IMMA also continues its policy of working with school groups and community interests. Following its award for the Best Museum Project from the Gulbenkian Museum of the Year Awards last year, the primary school programme is engaged in a project with the Touchstone Centre in New York, involving the distinguished writer and researcher in childhood, Richard Lewis. This brings together "a team of artists and teachers who are researching the child's imaginative process".
The declared policy of making IMMA's collection "more visible" to the public at large, particularly though a series of regional initiatives", will cause much interest and will be closely watched. In Decian McGonagle's own words
"This will confirm IMMA's stated intention of being national in effect as well as name.
