Hilary Pyle remembers Sarah Purser’s retrospective of Nathaniel Hone in 1901 and its far-reaching role in raising the profile of Irish contemporary art
As the centenary of the death of Nathaniel Hone the Younger (1831-1917) looms, it is worth remembering the role he played in one of the most exciting decades in the country’s history, recently described by Roy Foster as ‘the golden period … when cultural enterprise and national revival went hand in hand’.’ Many contemporaries saw his show, organized by Sarah Purser in 1901 and shared with John Butler Yeats, as being the catalyst that rejuvenated national self-confidence in the visual arts. Hugh Lane certainly felt the event sowed the seed for his inspired modern gallery for the City of Dublin.
Susan Rogers visits woodturner Liam Flynn at his County Limerick studio
William Laffan previews the exhibition ‘Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design 1690-1840′ which opens at the Art Institute of Chicago in March
In his design for the new Coast Guard Station in Doolin, County Clare, Dominic Stevens has discovered his architecture of the Burren; an architecture of abstract rocks, describing the material nature of place, writes Steve Larkin