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National Gallery of Ireland celebrates Beckett's life-long relationship with the arts and artists in a special centenary show, 'Samuel Beckett: a passion for paintings' |
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Press Release, June 2006 Opens June 15th - September 17th 2006. Admission free. While many contemporary artists have found inspiration in Beckett's drama, the emphasis of this exhibition is to look at the influence that art and artists had on his life and work. Beginning with his visits to the National Gallery of Ireland as a young student and later lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, the exhibition reveals three key relationships in the writer's life; his relationship with the Gallery where, in the words of biographer James Knowlson, Beckett was 'weaned on the old masters'; with poet, art critic and former Director, Thomas MacGreevy; and with Jack B. Yeats. Bringing together over 40 works of art drawn from the National Gallery's collection as well as public and private collections in Ireland and abroad, the exhibition will feature familiar names from the 14th century to the present day, such as Silvestro dei Gherarducci, Perugino, Albrecht Dürer, Nicolas Poussin, Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch, Jack B. Yeats, Alberto Giacometti, Bram van Velde, Avigdor Arikha, Henri Hayden and Stanley William Hayter. The exhibition also investigates his experiences of art in London, Germany and Paris. On show together for the first time will be a number of works by artists whom Beckett knew and befriended; Henri Hayden (Vue sur Signy Signets) Jack B. Yeats (A Morning, Regatta Evening and Cornerboys); Avigdor Arikha (The Golden Calf), and a number of compositions by Bram and Geer van Velde. Fionnuala Croke, Head of Exhibitions, says that central to the show is the correspondence between Beckett and his Kerry-born friend, Thomas MacGreevy, whom he met in Paris in 1928 and who later became Director of the National Gallery of Ireland (1950-1963). It was MacGreevy who introduced Beckett to James Joyce and other prominent writers and painters of the day. The two men became life-long friends and wrote to each other regularly. From that correspondence, drawn from the Manuscripts Department in Trinity College Dublin, we get an unrivalled picture of Beckett's developing interest in art. The exhibition will also have on display a number of 'livres d'artistes' or artists' books where some of the most innovative responses to Beckett's work can be found. Each of the artists' books are collaborations or dialogues of word and image between Beckett and artists, such as Louis le Brocquy (Stirrings Still), Avigdor Arikha (Au Loin un Oiseau), Stanley William Hayter (Still), Dellas Henke (4 original etchings from 'Waiting for Godot'), and Charles Klabunde (The Lost Ones) The artistic aspect to Beckett is explored in detail in the accompanying publication, Samuel Beckett: a passion for paintings with an introduction by Fionnuala Croke and Dr. Riann Coulter, and essays by leading international and Irish scholars: Nicholas Allen, James Knowlson, David Lloyd, Lois Oppenheim and Susan Schreibman. The book also includes the proceedings from the Beckett round table discussion held in the Gallery in April - a valuable contribution to the growing literature on Beckett and the visual arts - (€19.95pb, Gallery Shop) 'Samuel Beckett: a passion for paintings' is grant-aided by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism as part of the Beckett Centenary Festival. For further information
& press images contact: IN BRIEF Exhibition: Dates: Publication: Audio Guide: RTÉ Documentary Lecture Series: Gallery Hours: Further information &
exhibition images, contact: Valerie Keogh, Press & Communications
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