Crawford Art Gallery Explained

Crawford Art Gallery
Native Name:Áiléar Crawford
Native Name Lang:ga
Map Type:Ireland Cork Central
Coordinates:51.8998°N -8.4733°W
Established:1850 (as Cork School of Design)
1880 (as Crawford Art School)
1979 (as Crawford Art Gallery)
Location:Emmet Place, Cork, Ireland
Type:Municipal art gallery
Key Holdings:Greek and Roman sculpture casts (1818)
Collection Size:c.4,000 works[1]
Visitors:265,438 (2019)

The Crawford Art Gallery (Irish: Áiléar Crawford)[2] is a public art gallery and museum in the city of Cork, Ireland. Known informally as the Crawford,[3] it was designated a 'National Cultural Institution' in 2006.[4] It is "dedicated to the visual arts, both historic and contemporary", and welcomed 265,438 visitors in 2019.[5] The gallery is named after William Horatio Crawford. [6]

History

The Crawford is based in the centre of Cork in what used to be the Cork Customs House, built in 1724.[7] [8] The Customs House became home to the Royal Cork Institution (RCI) in the 1830s,[9] and the RCI was involved in opening the Cork School of Design on the site in 1850.[10] In the early 1880s, the Cork School of Design was extended with funds and patronage from members of the Crawford family, who were local landowners and brewers.[11] For this reason the school was renamed as the Crawford School of Art in 1885.[11] In 1979, the art school transferred to another site, and the Crawford building used primarily as a gallery and museum. The museum buildings were substantially extended in 2000.[8]

Collections

Among the earliest acquisitions in the gallery's collection are casts of classical Greek and Roman statues by Antonio Canova. These were brought to Cork from the Vatican in 1818.[12] The Royal Cork Institution acquired these works from the Society of Fine Arts in Cork, who had been given the casts by the Prince Regent (later George IV of the United Kingdom).[13] He in turn had received them from Pope Pius VII, who had commissioned Antonio Canova to make a set of plasters from statues in the Vatican. Among the works are casts of the Belvedere Torso, Apollo Belvedere and Laocoön and His Sons.[14]

Due to the gallery's association with the Cork School of Art (later known as the Crawford College of Art and Design), some items in the museum collection are by staff and students of the school. These include works by James Brenan (who was headmaster of the school from 1860 to 1889)[15] and students such as Henry Jones Thaddeus and William Gerard Barry.[16]

Other items in the collection include works by sculptors such as John Hogan and Eilis O'Connell,[17] stained-glass artists like Harry Clarke and Evie Hone,[18] painters including William Orpen (a student of James Brenan),[19] Jack B. Yeats, and Nano Reid,[16] [20] as well as photographer Bob Carlos Clarke.[21]

The gallery hosts education and outreach programmes,[22] and manages temporary and travelling exhibitions.[13] [23]

Redevelopment

In March 2023 planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of the gallery. If completed as proposed, the redevelopment would increase the size of the gallery by and involve the refurbishment and reconfiguration of of existing space.[24] The works, which include the reorientation of the gallery to face Emmet Place,[25] are scheduled to begin in Autumn 2024.[26]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About the Permanent Collection . Official Website . Crawfordartgallery.ie . 25 February 2017 .
  2. Web site: Crawford Art Gallery Cork / Áiléar Crawford Chorcaigh . Official Website . Crawfordartgallery.ie . 16 December 2016 .
  3. Web site: Cork Profile – Artist and lecturer in CIT Crawford School of Art . Cork Independent . 16 December 2016 . 15 September 2016 .
  4. Web site: Crawford Art Gallery Service Level Agreement . April 2016 . 16 December 2016 . Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs . https://web.archive.org/web/20161212215743/http://www.ahrrga.gov.ie/app/uploads/2016/04/crawford-gallery-sla.pdf . 12 December 2016 . dead .
  5. Web site: Popular Cork gallery breaks record for visitor numbers . Echo Live . 3 January 2020.
  6. Web site: Crawford Art Gallery . Cork City Council . 4 December 2022 . en.
  7. Web site: Cultural Institutions > Crawford Art Gallery . Citizensinformation.ie . Citizens Information Board . 16 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161220190827/http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/recreational_activities_in_ireland/cultural_institutions/crawford_art_gallery.html . 20 December 2016 . dead .
  8. Web site: Crawford Gallery Extension, Cork . Architecture of Cork City . Archiseek . 2009 . 16 December 2016 .
  9. Web site: Visual arts in Cork . Cork Past and Present . Cork City Libraries . 16 December 2016.
  10. Web site: History of the Gallery . Official Website . Crawfordartgallery.ie . 16 December 2016 .
  11. Web site: Beamish & Crawford brewers left their mark on Cork . Irish Examiner . 27 October 2015 . 16 December 2016 .
  12. Web site: Artists Bio – Antonio Canova . Official Website . Crawfordartgallery.ie . 16 December 2016 .
  13. Web site: The OPW and the Crawford Art Gallery welcomes ‘The Crawford at the Castle' Exhibition to Dublin Castle . Office of Public Works . 19 October 2016 . 16 December 2016 .
  14. Web site: The Fig Reveal . crawfordartgallery.ie . 2019 . 9 February 2024 .
  15. Web site: Collection – Painting – James Brenan . Official Site . Crawfordartgallery.ie . 16 December 2016 . 21 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161221013157/http://www.crawfordartgallery.ie/pages/paintings/JamesBrennan.html . dead .
  16. Web site: Permanent Collection – Painting . Official Site . Crawfordartgallery.ie . 16 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170713195619/http://www.crawfordartgallery.ie/paintinggrid.html . 13 July 2017 . dead .
  17. Web site: Collection – Sculpture . Official Site . Crawfordartgallery.ie . 16 December 2016 .
  18. Web site: Collection – Stained Glass . Official Site . Crawfordartgallery.ie . 16 December 2016 .
  19. Web site: William Orpen's The Signing of Peace, Versailles, 1919 . Royal Irish Academy . 16 December 2016 . 21 April 2015 .
  20. Web site: A Corkman's philanthropy . The Irish Times . 7 July 2015 . 16 December 2016 .
  21. Web site: Crawford Art Gallery first public gallery in Ireland to acquire Bob Carlos Clarke photographs . Irish Examiner . 4 August 2016 . 16 December 2016 .
  22. Web site: Education archive – The Art of Inclusion 13 September–26 October 2013 . Official Site . Crawfordartgallery.ie . 16 December 2016 . 2013 .
  23. Web site: Exhibition showcases Cork's place in the Arts and Crafts movement . Irish Examiner . 16 November 2016 . 16 December 2016 .
  24. Web site: Crawford Art Gallery Reimagined . Crawford Art Gallery . 27 February 2024.
  25. News: O'Byrne . Ellie . €29m Crawford revamp 'single biggest investment in Cork culture’ . Irish Examiner . 19 March 2023.
  26. News: Hilliard . Mark . Plans approved for redevelopment of Cork’s Crawford Art Gallery . Irish Times . 15 March 2023.

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