ARTSCAPETHE NATIONAL GALLERY of Ireland has announced a number of acquisitions of European and Irish art extending back over the past few months and especially to the May sales in the major auction houses, writes Aidan Dunne.
Two notable purchases were made at Sotheby's and Christie's in New York on successive evenings in May. On the evening of May 7th, during what was reportedly a slow sale, but one that produced record prices for several artists (Leger, Munch and Giacometti), the gallery acquired a Cubist painting by the American-born artist Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) for $1.7 million (€1.14 million), a figure well below the upper estimate and one that is further helped by the favourable exchange rate.
Feininger was an accomplished graphic artist who turned to fine art relatively late. His Cubist work is generally quite austere, and Umpferstedt III, the painting acquired by the gallery, is no exception. A dizzying angular composition, it depicts a metropolis in triangular form as a mountain or perhaps a cathedral. The acquisition further consolidates the gallery's holdings of Modernist works from the first half of the 20th century, just as the purchase that followed the night after strengthens the collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works.
In fact that purchase, Gustave Caillebotte's Bord d'un canal, près de Naples, is probably a really good buy. Caillebotte was a fine realist painter associated with Impressionism. This particular painting, made in Italy in 1872 and acquired by the gallery for $445,000 (€300,000), a figure at the lower end of a conservative estimate of $400,000 to $600,000 (€270,000 to €405,000), is a terrific work, an exceptionally spare though visually rich composition and a tremendous exercise in perspective from an artist who was extremely interested in optical theory.
The gallery has also been working on building up its holdings of Irish art of the first half of the 20th century, with purchases of pieces by Harry Kernoff (a large-scale allegorical composition, Death), and by the popular John Luke. The Yeats collection, meanwhile, was bolstered by John Butler Yeats's A New York Sketchbook, a bound sketchbook of 23 pencil drawings, something well worth having.
Irish invasion
The upcoming UK theatre and opera season is full of productions of Irish interest, writes Karen Fricker in London. Sebastian Barry has written a play specifically for the atmospheric space of Canterbury Cathedral; Dallas Sweetman will play there as part of the Canterbury Festival in a co-production with new writing company Paines Plough from September 24th to 28th.
The play is set during Elizabeth I's reign, at the moment when the rise of Protestantism is forcing the people of Ireland and England to choose between queen and faith. Conleth Hill, fresh from the Broadway run of Conor McPherson's The Seafarer, plays the title character, with Brid Brennan also featuring in the cast. A Paines Plough spokesperson says that the short Canterbury run will not be the end of the production's life and that there is a "strong possibility" that it will be seen in Ireland.
It's a prolific time for Marina Carr, whose new play The Cordelia Dream premieres in a Royal Shakespeare Company production at Wilton's Music Hall in London on December 16th and runs until January 10th), directed by Selina Cartmell. The play's theme of fathers and daughters is loosely inspired by King Lear.
A two-hander, it features Michelle Gomez and David Hargreaves, who are currently performing in the RSCA's Conall Morrison-directed Taming of the Shrew in Stratford-upon-Avon (which is itself heading for a London run at the Novello Theatre from February 12th to March 7th). Carr's next act is another world premiere, Marble, which starts performances at the Abbey on February 10th.
The JM Synge revival continues as Fiona Shaw makes her opera directing debut with Ralph Vaughan Williams's version of Riders to the Sea, in an English National Opera production co-designed by visual artist Dorothy Cross. The production, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of the English composer, plays at the London Coliseum for three performances only, November 27th, 28th and 30th. Cross and Tom Pye's design features film shot on the Aran Islands. Cross's involvement is supported by Culture Ireland, whose chief executive, Eugene Downes, calls the project "flagship meeting of the contemporary arts".
Cross is the subject of an documentary to be shown on RTÉ 1 tomorrow at 10.35pm. The film is called About Beauty and it's the first time the Cork artist has participated in a film about her work.
NCH on screen
In a first for the National Concert Hall, a screening of its opening concert in the International Concert Season on September 6th will take place in Temple Bar on the same night. The first visit here by the world-renowned Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, will be filmed and then relayed on screen in Meeting House Square.
The on-screen performance will not be live. It begins at 9.15pm, coming after the first half has ended in the Earlsfort Terrace auditorium. The National Concert Hall announced this week that it had secured its largest-ever "once-off" concert sponsorship for the Berliner Philharmoniker's appearance. Accenture Ireland has agreed to sponsor the event which will feature a programme of works by Brahms and Shostakovich.
The screening is taking place in association with Temple Bar Cultural Trust and tickets are €15. Priority booking for Friends of the National Concert Hall will open on August 11th and general booking on August 15th.
Theatre workshops
The Next Stage is a programme for theatre and dance artists that runs alongside the Dublin Theatre Festival. Eighteen artists including actors, directors, designers, choreographers and producers, will see most of the shows in the festival. They will meet the international directors who are in town and do a series of master classes and workshops with them. Performances every evening will be followed by post-show discussions. It is organised by Theatre Forum and the festival, with support from the Abbey. Applications must be in by this Friday.
Last year was the first year of the programme and the graduates went on to develop a number of interesting collaborations including Project Brand New, an occasional showcase for new work. www.theatreforumireland.com.
artscape@irish-times.ie