No room in Galway for art collection

conaire1

Galway City Council has handed back an important art collection lent by a philanthropist because the city had no municipal gallery in which to show it.
The collection – which included paintings by significant Irish artists Jack B Yeats, Paul Henry and Sir John Lavery – was returned to the estate of owner Peter Daly last April after lying unseen in storage for 23 years. Daly was a wealthy Irish art collector who lived on the Isle of Man.
More at Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2013/0104/1224328422372.html


And to think that we had the nerve to want to be a European City of Culture only a short few years ago. Shame.

galwayrush

So many vacant buildings,i'm sure the money could have been found somewhere. what a shame.

Ficheall

Would have been lovely in the Fisheries Tower.


Caveat: I have no idea whether the inside of the tower would have been suitable or not.

Seaneh

Ficheall wrote: »

Would have been lovely in the Fisheries Tower.


Caveat: I have no idea whether the inside of the tower would have been suitable or not.

It wouldn't cost a lot to make it suitable.

inisboffin

This is sh*te.
Yes there is a lot more than meets the eye in terms of security, temperature, insurance etc, but for example:
Was there no way they could even have *rotated* the collection and exhibited even a couple at a time in the Museum, rather than have the whole lot housed there (which seems to have been an issue).

People will think twice about donating anything to the *City of Galway* after hearing this, and rightly so. Shame to keep these in storage.

McTigs

nothing about Galway City Council surprises me anymore

Shakti

23 years in storage .....23 years what a bunch of useless wa.......s

_Whimsical_

I was going to say I could understand this decision in the context of the times, but that it's been in storage for 23 years, that is inexcusable.

You can be sure that the storage was expensive too. You don't store art collections of this value in any old warehouse.They would've required insurance,security and a temperature sensitive environment etc.

Why was nothing done with them when there was money teeming from the heavens here?In the past 20 years Galway,with its thriving arts related tourist industry, was so well placed to have built an amazing reputation around an art museum and attracted interesting and valuable exhibits. I feel absolutely cheated! Not only because it could've put us on the map and attracted more tourists/income to the region,it should've also been paramount in feeding and inspiring what is a very creative local population. That creativity has largely been the backbone of Galway's international attraction. Someone seriously missed a trick on this one.

Mrs OBumble

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I was going to say I could understand this decision in the context of the times, but that it's been in storage for 23 years, that is inexcusable.

You can be sure that the storage was expensive too. You don't store art collections of this value in any old warehouse.They would've required insurance,security and a temperature sensitive environment etc.

The temp-sensitive envt etc makes me think it would have cost a LOT to make many existing buidling suitable. (The Fisheries Tower must be damp as, just due to where it is.)

These paintings where exhibited for a while, then put into storage. Some people must have known that they were there, but there was no outcry over them not being shown.

Is it possible that they weren't actually such a great gift, after all?

inisboffin

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

These paintings where exhibited for a while, then put into storage. Some people must have known that they were there, but there was no outcry over them not being shown.

Is it possible that they weren't actually such a great gift, after all?

I think it's out of sight out of mind for the regular art-goer (as opposed to an art expert). TBH I'd probably assume they had 'gone on tour' after they were gone had I seen them.
I suppose if you got a Merc and you had no parking spot it would be a similar situation, except these paintings are for sharing and part of our heritage. I wonder who *did* know about this in the art/council world?

conaire1

Maybe there's still time to put the paintings on show in the Galway Arts Centre. I know it would discommode some important conceptual artist, but concept is timeless and this collection's time in Galway isn't.