Irish Arts Review

The Vicissitudes of the Royal Hibernian AcademyAuthor(s): Thomas RyanSource: Irish Arts Review (1984-1987), Vol. 2, No. 3 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 26-27Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20491796 .

Accessed: 12/06/2014 22:41

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Irish Arts Review is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Irish Arts Review(1984-1987).

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.63 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 22:41:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

IRISH ARTS REVIEW

THE VICISSITUDES OF THE ROYAL HIBERNIAN ACADEMY

W ith the advent of the 18th century a remarkable growth of artistic

expansion began in Ireland. Homes for the new and old nobility were built; the towns expanded; the work of the archi tect, the mason, the sculptor and the stuccodore was utilized in the decora tion of public and private buildings.

The Grand Tour improved taste; pic tures and sculpture were acquired to adorn the fine interiors of town and country houses.

The Dublin Society, under the stimulus of Dr. Samuel Madden, one of its founders, was induced to offer premiums to young students of the arts; later the Society sought exhibition space in the Parliament House for the prize winners. James Barry, it is said, was awarded a prize of ?10 for his picture 'The Baptism of the King of Cashel' in 1763. Before it acquired an art school of its own, the Society arranged with Robert West to provide training for twelve young boys in his school in

George's Lane; later the Society's new house in Shaw's Court had its top floor adapted to the requirements of a Draw ing School. The Society's involvement

with art education in Ireland continued until the middle of the following century.

The difficulty so far as the practising artists were concerned, was that there was no place to show their work; there was no academy in Dublin and no exhi bition rooms. Artists utilized their own studios to show their pictures and sculpture but the possibilities that existed in larger public displays were outside their reach. Another problem was that resident artists had no cohesion as a professional group. From the 15th century their only representation was in conjunction with artisans in various guilds. By the middle of the 18th century there was still no combination of artists as distinct from artisans.

In 1760, the London artists combined to form 'The Society of Artists'. Clearly this was the example that promised the best results. Four years later the Dublin artists formed 'The Society of Artists in Ireland'. Their first exhibition was such a success that they determined to pro vide themselves with a permanent home and an exhibition gallery. Funds were sought for the purpose and the response was gratifying. In 1764 they erected a house and gallery in William Street

The painter, Thomas Ryan, President of the Royal Hibernian Academy, relates the struggle of Irish artists in the 18th and 19th

centuries to establish a gallery and the subsequent history of their

endeavour.

Pastel portrait of Sean Keating PRHA

by Thomas Ryan, PRHA, collection of the artist.

Courtesy Con-y Gallery.

(now the Dublin Civic Museum). Exhi bitions were held there until 1780 when the first Society of Artists of Ireland

collapsed through internal dissension. For twenty years no public exhibitions were held in Dublin until another

'Society of Artists of Ireland' was

organized. For some years the Dublin

Society provided accommodation for their exhibitions in its new house in

Hawkins Street. However, that facility was withdrawn in 1818 when the Dublin Society moved to the Duke of Leinster's house in Kildare Street. Once

again the artists were without a gallery. It had been realized for a long time

that the situation would not improve unless the artists provided themselves

with a structure of incorporation. The success of the English artists in the

setting up of the Royal Academy under royal patronage was the obvious example

tob olwdi rln.Oe hryo

the leading artists in the country met and petitioned the Government for a Charter of Incorporation. For over ten years the effort continued, greatly aided by the Royal Irish Institution, a body set up to encourage Irish art and artists who had the formation of an Irish Academy as a prime objective. In England, support was provided by Sir Thomas Lawrence and the Irish-born Sir Martin Archer Shee. Finally, a Charter was granted in 1821, but could not be implemented because the artists could not meet the heavy registration fee. The Royal Irish Institution came to their assistance and paid the necessary amount and, at last, a Royal Charter dated 5th August, 1823, was signed, by which was founded 'The Royal Hiber nian Academy of Painters, Sculptors, Architects and Engravers'. The new Academy consisted of 14 Members and 10 Associates: William Ashford, painter,

was elected President; Francis Johnston, architect, Treasurer; and William

Mossop, medallist, Secretary. Though now incorporated and enjoy

ing a Royal Charter, the Academy was still without its primary object, a home.

This was remedied almost immediately when, on the death of William Ashford, in 1824, the office of President was taken by Francis Johnston. By an act of

magnanimity, as remarkable now as it was then, Johnston designed and built an Academy House and Gallery entirely at his own expense in Abbey Street. It was started in 1825 and finished two years later. The building contained exhibition rooms, schools of drawing, of living models, of sculpture and of paint ing as well as apartments for a Keeper; it cost Johnston ?E14,000.

The difficulties that had bedevilled the efforts of Irish artists were now resolved. The new Academy entered on its existence with an Exhibition Hall and House of its own, as well as a firm structure of incorporation. Further extensions were provided in 1830 when Ann Johnston, the architect's widow, gave the young institution an octagonal gallery for the casts of sculpture. The following year, Parliament voted an annual grant of ?300 for the running and maintenance of the Art School of the Academy. This grant continued (unchanged) until just before the

Second World War. Sir Thomas Jones (P.R.H.A. 1869-1893) added a school

-26

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.63 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 22:41:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

IRISH ARTS REVIEW

THE VICISSITUDES OF THE ROYAL HIBERNIAN ACADEMY

for the study of the Antique and the Liv ing Model. The first Academy exhibition

was held in the new premises in 1826. Its catalogue defines the purposes of the

Academy as being "the promotion of the Fine Arts in Ireland... by the proper management of a public annual exhibition of works of art but princip ally by the communication of instruc tion in painting, sculpture and architec ture . ."

Johnston's Academy building con tinued to serve the Irish public in the presentation of exhibitions and the maintenance of the Art School for the remainder of the 19th and into the 20th century. During the 1916 Rising, a barri cade was made of newspaper rolls taken from the Freemans Journal; it spanned the street in front of the Academy. The gunboat 'Helga' was shelling the area and this barricade was set alight. The fire spread into the R.H.A. building; the fire brigade was not available, and the fire quickly took hold and burnt down the premises. All the academy records, the valuable works of art given to the Academy over the years, the fine library begun by Edward Haughton, Members' pictures as well as the schools and their equipment all perished in the flames. Dermod O'Brien, the President, lost many of his personal possessions includ ing his new Court suit. The Keeper, M.J.

Kavanagh, succeeded in getting out and had just time to take the Presidential gold collar with him.

Once again the Academy found itself in the position it was in before Francis Johnston's bequest. Moreover, condi tions in the country were chaotic; there

was little time for art and the needs of artists. Though compensation was pro vided by the Government for the loss of the building and its works of art, this was not sufficient to buy a new site and replace the Academy. Dermod O'Brien spent many years attempting to procure suitable premises with funds that were increasingly inadequate as land values increased. He did finally procure a place. In 1939 he bought Oliver St. John

Gogarty's house, 15 Ely Place, and an adjacent garden which had been George

Moore's. The house was too small for exhibition purposes but O'Brien hoped to build a gallery in the garden when funds increased sufficiently.

Before and after the Ely Place purchase the Academy was able to

continue its annual exhibition through the availability of the Exhibition Hall of the Metropolitan School of Art in

Kildare Street. This facility was con tinued by the Department of Education of the new State.

During the student unrest in the late '60s, the College of Art was infected.

The student agitators insisted that the R.H.A. exhibition be removed from the College and this was acceded to by the authorities. The Academy, in despera tion, sought the help of the Government and St. Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle was made available to them for the 1970 Exhibition. The Board of Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland then extended the facility of exhibition space to the Academy and all subsequent exhibitions were held there up to the 155th Exhibition in 1984.

With the expansion of the city during the economic boom of the '60s, the half acre site in Ely Place attracted the atten tion of persons and organizations desirous of developing it in conjunction with the Academy. Many suggestions were made for the erection of an office type building in which the R.H.A. would have accommodation. These considera tions were brought to an end with the emergence of a new proposal made by

Mr. Matthew Gallagher. In January 1971, Mr. Gallagher proposed to the R.H.A.

that he build a new gallery on the Ely Place site entirely at his own expense. His magnanimous gesture, fully on a par with that of Francis Johnston a century and a half earlier, was, of course, grate fully accepted by the Academy. The

Gogarty house was demolished, the garden cleared, adjacent freehold leases bought up, and the site prepared for building. Mr. Gallagher commissioned Raymond McGrath, architect, an Acad emy Member and later President, to pre pare plans; these were accepted and building commenced in 1972.

The building was well advanced when Matthew Gallagher died in 1974. As a consequence of his death the Gallagher Group was subjected to internal difficul ties and building did not resume on the

Gallery for some considerable time. Work then continued spasmodically but by the late '70s, it had ceased alto gether. When the Gallagher Group collapsed in 1981, the R.H.A. re possessed themselves of the incomplete building.

The present condition of the structure has been assessed as being 70% com plete: it is structurally sound, roofed and dry; its principal gallery is glazed and many of the services installed. The site has been cleared by the R.H.A. of debris and building materials.

It is the intention of the Royal Hiber nian Academy to complete the building as soon as possible and it was decided to

hold the 156th Annual Exhibition in the unfinished new building this year. The courage and determination of the

Members in doing this was rewarded by a record attendance. It can be said without fear of contradiction that the R.H.A. has been an instrument of the greatest value in the fostering and maintenance of a genuinely Irish expression in the visual arts. It has given the Irish artist his status. The walls of the Academy have been for the majority of Irish artists the best, and for many, the only, contact with the pur chasing public.

"Whatever may have been the short comings of the Academy either as a

Society of Artists or a teaching school" wrote W.G. Strickland "it must be recognized that its extinction would be a calamity".

Thomas Ryan, P.R.H.A.

-27

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.63 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 22:41:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions