Art News: Turner Exhibit

national | arts and media | opinion/analysis

Saturday January 26, 2008 19:51

by C Murray

and a bit of Politics..

This is the last week of the annual Turner Exhibit in the National Gallery's Print Room.
The blurb on the boards describes the provenance of the bequest and the agreement
between the estate of the collector and the Scottish and Irish galleries.
We only exhibit the Turner's in their climate control cases during the month of
January, this is largely because they are drawings and washes of landscapes
and are fragile.

The light is weakest at this time of year in Dublin and conducive to a visit.

It's Turner season- so Here's a Harry Clarke

I should add in a link or detail, but most students of art or regular gallery goers
are familiar with the bequest and its an annual excursion. Two separate groups of
scientists have been attempting to codify and understand JMW; and over the years
have come up with all sorts of ideas on his use of light diffusion- from cataracts
to the study of the effect of volcanic eruption and global cooling as a result thereof.

I always wondered how someone with cataracts would accomplish such a feat as
the study of light change post-eruption (?) and then a couple of hundred years later
find a thesis based on volcanic eruption as methodology for cooling global temperatures.

The Illustrations are for the political bit of the review;-

The Irish Wing of the National Gallery contains some Harry Clarke angels, they
had been discovered thrown behind the organ pipes of Haddington Road Church
in 1968 and were restored and framed by NGI. They are beautiful, the backbones seem
constructed from a builder's measure and the detail of the symbology is excellent.

Clarke ( http://en.wikipedia.org.wiki/Harry_Clarke ) did some fabulous glass, one
of which is on the newswire in the Ann Madden thread ( http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84095 )
and of course he illustrated Poe...
The drawings are from Poe and The Fairy Tales.
There is a full list of churches and galleries containing Clarkes and many books
on the revival of Stained glass in Ireland available, will add in link.

The Hugh Lane also has a stained glass room and examples of Hone can be
seen in Sandymount too.

Which brings me to the political bit :-

There are trades and crafts that are dying out because of a lack of coherent
policy in education (and heritage) with regard to their preservation- and to the
conservation of built heritage. no-one particularly wants the rariefied halls of the
museum and interpretative centre to understand how art works- I needn't
mention Tara at this point.

Government emphasis is on the knowledge economy which pre-supposes
globalised and increasingly leisured societies.

and the Current minister for Art and Sport is putting the squeeze on galleries
to open at hours other than the 'strict nine to five' which makes me wonder
how he intends to pay staff when he thinks of art as a leisure industry-

It should not be alone in the art's colleges that kids can learn sculpture, stained glass,
tapestry and other such trades- many of us did City and Guild's Training in these
areas and worked on site. art and craft being an integral part of architecture and not just a
stand alone ideality in a hall or museum.