This is a subscriber-only article
Planning some travel for the next few months, I intend heading south to Cork where I will set aside one full day at the Crawford Art Gallery.
There are seven defined exhibitions, all housed in this wonderful building. You can take some beverage breaks in The Green Room with tasty treats and the best of local produce on offer daily.
I am a fan of the work of Harry Clarke, best known for his stained-glass masterpieces. On continuing display are three of his earliest stained-glass panels in a darkened, secluded setting. These panels were made while Clarke was still a student at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, and for which he was awarded a gold medal at the South Kensington National Competitions in 1911.
On show until 19 March is the Crawford Art Gallery’s annual exhibition: Other Worlds, featuring Clarke’s watercolours and ink drawings. This explores Clarke’s capacity for conjuring images from literature and bringing romantic or macabre worlds into being. From delicate blue-tinged watercolour studies to pen-and-ink illustrations for the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, Clarke translated his vivid imagination into remarkable works that have been in the collection for almost a century.
As a bonus, the exhibition also draws together works by other artists, including the recently deceased Pauline Bewick, Salvador Dalí and Jan de Fouw. This show is a timely celebration, given that 2023 marks the centenary of Clarke’s illustrations for Marie Rogêt and The Fall of the House of Usher, and watercolour studies for The Eve of St Agnes.
Highly recommended
Curated by Dr Michael Waldron, the ongoing exhibition, Recasting Canova, celebrates the bicentenary of the Canova Casts, the prestigious gift that forms the basis of the Crawford Gallery collection.
The exhibition presents a streamlined display of a dozen historic sculptural casts. These reproductions of renowned sculptures from antiquity and the early 1800s were created under the supervision of the great neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova who died in 1822.
Reproducing some of the great works of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture in the Vatican, the Canova Casts were commissioned by Pope Pius VII as a gift for the Prince Regent (later King George IV) in thanks for Britain’s role in deposing Napoleon at Waterloo.
Must mention
While I cannot cover all of the exhibitions currently running, I must mention Behind the Scenes. Crawford Art Gallery is home to part of the national art collection, and Behind the Scenes takes visitors on a journey through the collection across two floors and several themes.
The exhibition offers an experience of the collection with a twist, venturing beneath the surface of selected artworks to reveal the process of their making, and how they have been collected and cared for. It also poses lots of questions. Largely focused on painting, but featuring photography, drawing, watercolour, and sculpture, the exhibition presents a rich array of works from across the centuries.
More Info
Visit www.crawfordartgallery.ie
SHARING OPTIONS: