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'Yours Very Sincerely, William Orpen' |
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Press Release, May 2005 -exhibition of Orpen's illustrated letters and war drawings on view in the Print Gallery from May 21st to August 14th 2005, admission is free- This complementary display to the William Orpen retrospective in the Millennium Wing consists of 90 items selected from the Gallery's collection of 366 sheets presented by Vivien Graves (daughter of Mrs St. George) in 1974. It comprises fragmentary illustrated letters and drawings which William Orpen sent his lover, Mrs Evelyn St. George, over a period of some fifteen years. The exhibition in the Print Gallery will also include 13 of the artist's war drawings on loan from the Imperial War Museum. Admission is free. Many of these letters, or more accurately, informal notes, are illustrated with quirky, humorous sketches. They give a rounded picture of a complex and sensitive man, charming, warm and affectionate yet plagued by self-doubt, bouts of depression and ill-health. The illustrations focus on various aspects of Orpen's private and public life and include the following sections in the display: Orpen as Society Artist; Friends and Acquaintances; Self-Portraits; Mrs St. George; Orpen goes to War, and Humour in Hell. The accompanying exhibition brochure, 'YOURS VERY SINCERELY, WILLIAM ORPEN'-THE ILLUSTRATED LETTERS, written by Anne Hodge and Donal Maguire, is available from the Gallery Shop, price €2. An associated lecture series, 'In the footsteps of Orpen' will take place each Sunday and Tuesday throughout June (admission free). ARTseARCH, the Gallery's new illustrated database, installed at two kiosks at the entrance to the Print Gallery, will allow visitors to browse through all of Orpen's 366 letters and sketches in the Gallery's archive. The collection was digitised as the pilot project of ARTseARCH which is being developed specifically to facilitate the preservation and accessibility of special collections. ARTseARCH will expand to incorporate material from the archive collection housed in the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art (CSIA); the Gallery's archive, and the Yeats Archive. For further
information, contact: Valerie Keogh
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