Although it is renowned for having produced such famous literary figures as William Butler Yeats, Oscar Wilde and James Joyce, and is recognized around the world for its music, Ireland is much less known for its contributions to the visual arts. In the new exhibit "Irish Paintings from the Collection of Brian P. Burns," the Yale Center for British Art will pay "long overdue" attention to the art of Ireland, says the center's director, Patrick McCaughey.
The 70 paintings in the exhibition span a pivotal century in Irish history: from 1840, just before the potato famine decimated the population through starvation and exodus, through the period when Ireland cut its political ties to Britain and experienced a resurgence of national pride.
"It is the century when Ireland became Ireland -- when Ireland struggled and eventually gained independence," Mr. McCaughey explains. "The paintings reflect the identity of Ireland, the struggle and the emergence of a new Ireland."
The collection of works on view was amassed over the past 25 years by Brian P. Burns, a lawyer, business executive and philanthropist from California, who is the leading collector of Irish art in America. Mr. Burns, who began to collect Irish art in the 1960s as part of a larger commitment to the retrieval of the culture and history of his forebears, believes Irish paintings are integral to an understanding of the Irish people, their history and their culture.
"In my judgment, Irish Americans -- if not all Americans -- will be quietly astonished by the depth, breadth and brilliance of the magnificent tapestry bequeathed to us by our artistic ancestors," the art collector says. "Although lately discovered, Irish art is rich and fascinating and a fundamental part of our cultural birthright."
All of the works in the exhibition were painted by artists who were either born in Ireland or who produced a significant body of work there. The paintings generally depict Irish subjects -- the country's natural scenery and its people, as well as interiors, genre scenes and still lifes. In addition to traditional Irish images, such as Paul Henry's evocation of Connemara and Sir John Lavery's panoramas of the Lakes of Killarney, there is also a group of paintings by Ireland's most celebrated artist, Jack B. Yeats, brother of William Butler Yeats.
Also on view are works by artists who left Ireland to gain recognition. The painters Walter Osborne, Roderic O'Connor and Walter Chetwood-Aiken, for example, all worked in France, while both Sir William Orpen and Sir Gerald Kelly became leading members of the Royal Academy and enjoyed success in London from Edwardian times through the 1930s and 1940s. "Many Irish artists sought inspiration and instruction abroad in Belgium, in Paris and London," says Mr. McCaughey. "The expatriates longing for and distance from Ireland forms an integral part of the story of modern Irish art."
Parallels between art, literature and history are explored in the exhibit through an extensive survey of Irish books and manuscripts drawn from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the center's own holdings and the John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections at Boston College, which Brian P. Burns founded in honor of his late father. The written materials represent various periods in Irish history, from the Great Famine of the 1840s to the Celtic Revival in literature at the turn of the century, and from the founding of the Abbey Theater by William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory to the modernism of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett.
"The painters share many of the same themes and interests as Irish writers," explains Mr. McCaughey. "There is the same delight in the Irish landscape and the lore and life of rural Ireland as well as an awareness of recent developments and movements in art."
Several special programs are being offered in conjunction with the exhibit. These include "Tread on My Dreams," a film series on images of Ireland; gallery talks, dramatic readings; musical performances; and lectures that explore the Irish narrative in history, literature and the visual arts.
The first event, on Sunday, Sept. 28, is a staged reading of James Joyce's "Exiles" by members of the English department under the direction of Murray Biggs, associate professor (adjunct) of English and theater studies. It will take place at 2:30 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Yale Center for British Art. (See related story, page X.) On Tuesday, Sept. 30, Mr. McCaughey will present "An Introduction to Irish Painting" at 12:30 p.m. as part of the center's Art in Context series. Later that day, at 5 p.m., Paul Muldoon, a poet and director of the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University, will read selections from poems by Irish writers written over the past 30 years. A lecture titled "Reinventing Ireland" will be given on Wednesday, Oct. 1, by Declan Kiberd, professor of Anglo-Irish literature at University College, Dublin, at 5 p.m. in the lecture hall. All of these events are free and open to the public. More information on upcoming events held in conjunction with the exhibit will appear in future issues of the Yale Bulletin & Calendar.
"Irish Paintings from the Collection of Brian P. Burns" was originally organized by the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College in 1996 and was shown at the Hugh Lane Municipal Art Gallery in London. It will be on view at Yale through Jan. 4.
The Yale Center for British Art, located at 1080 Chapel St., is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. For further information, call 432-2800 or visit the center's web site at http://www.yale.edu/ycba.