A Vision of Modern Art: In Memory of Dorothy Walker IMMA Dublin 2004 pp 56 Card covers. Large format. ills 23 col ills 4 b/w e14.00 ISBN:1-903811-28-7 Readability: 4 Reference Use: 2 Design & Durability: 5 Quality of Plates: 5 This is an elegantly-produced catalogue, accompanying the exhibition curated by Ciaran Bennet to celebrate the achievements of the art critic Dorothy Walker, which is poorly served by its editors. There is a foreword by the museum’s director Enrique Juncosa, a reprint from Hibernia of Walker’s credo as an art critic, and a fluent essay by Bennett which is obviously a labour of love. There is also a somewhat laboured essay by Donald Kuspit. The paper is excellent, the plates beautifully produced but in classic annoying fashion, there is an un-numbered list of plates, and the catalogue is unpaginated. With five editors credited, this is disapointing. High Falutin Stuff IMMA, Dublin 2004 pp.20. Card covers. Slim tall octavo pamphlet. 16 plates in colour and mono. e5.00 ISBN: 1-903811-31-7 Readability: 5 Reference Use: 1 Design & Durability: 3 Quality of Plates: 3 This is a rather odd footnote to the Joyce industry, based entirely on artworks made in response to Joyce that are in IMMA’s collection. There are two helpful essays by Terence Killeen and Catherine Marshall, but it has to be said that as a response to the centenary anniversary of Bloomsday, this is a very niggardly footnote. A fair bit of the text is taken up with Richard Hamilton, although there is reason to question just how closely that artist has read and understood Ulysses; and although Killeen at least briefly acknowledges elements of this, Marshall does not. Why is it that in areas like these, the French and the Americans in particular can produce well-researched, substantial catalogues–but we can’t? No list of plates, no index, no bibliography, no artist CVs. Imaging Ireland: Selected Works Arts Office, National University of Ireland, Galway and Galway University Foundation 2004 pp.84 Card wraps. Large format. ills 30 col e23.00 ISBN: 0-9546815-0-9 Readability: 5 Reference Use: 5 Design & Durability: 5 Quality of Plates: 5 This is an impressive volume, compiled and edited by Gerard O’Brien and Siobhan Piercy, which does the job properly. There is a well-written overview of the collection by Peter Murray, which gives the socio-political context (he’s been busy this past year!), a brief history of the collection by O’Brien, thirty fine plates each with facing commentary, as well as a bibliography and a preface. Both artists and plates are indexed, though cross-referencing the plates would have helped. It’s true that the bibliography is very hit-and-miss but that’s a small price to pay for an otherwise first-class volume. One Hundred Years of Watercolours Jorgensen Fine Art Dublin 2004 pp 48 Square format Card covers 57 col. plates. e10.00 Readability: 3 Reference Use: 4 Design & Durability: 4 Quality of Plates: 4 Neatly organised with a numbered list of illustrations corresponding to the numbered plates. Primarily UK and Irish artists, ranging from Rose Barton and Mildred Anne Butler to William Lee Hankey and Gwen John, though there are a smattering of European names like Signac. Also contains a one-page introductory note, presumably by Sile Connaughton-Deeny. Basically a dealer’s selling catalogue but attractively produced. No ISBN number. William Crozier Taylor Galleries Dublin 2004 pp 35 p/b Square format. ills 23 col ills 6 b/w e5.00 Readability: 5 Reference Use: 1 Design & Durability: 5 Quality of Plates: 4 This is a well-produced catalogue with good plates. Its advantage is that it has a straightforward lucid essay on the artist by Dr Yvonne Scott (Director of the Irish Art Research Centre, Trinity College, Dublin), and a CV with a useful bibliography. Its disadvantage is that while it has a list of works in the exhibition, not all of them are reproduced—a starred system would have helped—and there is no pagination, which makes it difficult to use for reference. No ISBN number either. Imagining Ireland: the Collection of Drawings and Watercolours by John Butler Yeats and Jack B Yeats Model Arts & Niland Gallery/ Royal Hibernian Academy, 2003 pp 60, ills 23 col Square format p/b e12.00 Readability: 4 Reference Use: 3 Design & Durability: 4 Quality of Plates: 5 This catalogue accompanied a selection of works of Yeats, father and son, which was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy. There is a two-page introduction by the doyenne of Yeats’ scholars, Hilary Pyle, along with very brief notes on each image. There is no bibliography, or list of illustrations, though rather oddly, there is a list of additional works by Jack B Yeats (not shown in the exhibition) which, together with the five printed illustrations in the catalogue, totals thirty-eight works, whereas the introduction claims that there are forty-eight works by Jack B Yeats in the Sligo Municipal collection… . Brian McAvera is a playwright and art critic.