A new addition to the wide array of decorative arts to be seen at Castletown will further enhance its integrated appeal, writes William Laffan
The Irish Georgian Society is well known for its campaigns to preserve our architectural heritage, less familiar is its role in the study and appreciation of the decorative arts. At Castletown the Irish Georgian Society (IGS) has placed on long-term loan examples of Irish craftsmanship showcasing the whole gamut of the decorative arts, from neoclassical sculpture to mahogany peat buckets, and, rather than being divorced from their contexts, as too often they are in museums, they are fully integrated into the display of the house. Often in the past, these gifts to the IGS were from American benefactors who had been charmed and cajoled by Desmond Guinness and the Knight of Glin. In 1980, for example, John Paul Getty Jr, donated a series of volumes of the statutes of the Irish Houses of Parliament in magnificent gold-tooled Irish bindings by Boulter Grierson which have been displayed in Castletown’s Boudoir.
Proving that good design is timeless, Virginia Teehan presents a selection of rare artefacts travelling to Boston College, celebrating Irish design from the Arts and Crafts Movement.
In response to the 1916 centenary, EVA International takes as its theme, the post-colonial legacy on the psyche and imagination of colonized communities, writes Michaele Cutaya.
A recent visit to Sligo County Library prompts Peter Harbison to ask, could our national institutions do more to give local communities access to their treasures?