Artists put children first

More than 100 artists have donated works to an event with a difference at Dublin’s Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA). From cartoonist Martyn Turner, to sculptor John Behan and painters Pauline Bewick, Joe Dunne and Tom Climent, the works on display will be raffled in aid of the charity Children First, aimed at the one in 10 children in Ireland living below the poverty line.

Buy a ticket at €350, and if your ticket is drawn on the final day of the show, you get to take your pick. Each ticket guarantees an art work – but obviously the first tickets drawn get first choice. One of these works (pictured) is particularly fascinating, as it was painted by one of Picasso’s models, Lydia Corbett, an artist in her own right. Born in Paris to an art dealer father and art student mother, Corbett meet Picasso in 1953 when she was 19. During an intense three months, Picasso painted around 40 paintings of her, including Girl with a Ponytail, the story of which was turned into a children’s book, Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail, by Laurence Anholt. During the time he was painting Corbett, Brigitte Bardot visited, accompanied by her lover, Roger Vadim. Picasso refused to paint Bardot, saying he could only have one model at a time. Admiring Corbett’s hair, however, Vadim suggested to Bardot that she too go blonde, and the rest (as they say) is history.

The Children First Fundraising Art Show is at the RHA, September 16th-19th. Tickets from childrenfirst.ie, tel: 01-8573098