More than a hundred years after his ancestors departed these shores, collector and philanthropist Brian P Burns is circling back, perhaps with an eye to adding to his outstanding collection of Irish art, writes John Mulcahy
Who is set to be the first US Ambassador to this country to present his credentials to the President in Aras an Uachtarain with an impressive collection of Irish art in his train? Step forward one Brian P Burns the recently nominated US Ambassador to Ireland who is the proud owner of what must be the largest private collection of Irish art outside Ireland. His collection is reminiscent of that belonging to another American lawyer, John Quinn, who famously patronised the Yeats family in the early years of the last century and commissioned the final self-portrait by John Butler Yeats which the old man considered to be his masterpiece. (see Hilary Pyle, ‘Pilgrim father’ Irish Arts Review Winter 2015, p550). Brian Burns’ grandfather emigrated from Sneem in Kerry to Boston in 1882 and in the best Irish tradition his son John J Burns prospered in his new environment to such an extent that he was eventually the founder and principal benefactor of the Burns Library of Rare Books at Boston College. Today the Library houses more than 100,000 rare books and over three million manuscripts including many of Irish origin.
Eddie Rafferty’s love affair with Africa is manifest at his first major survey exhibition on view this summer at the FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, writes Riann Coulter.
