Did Duchamp, Cage and Beuys constitute a liberating and inventive force in artistic practice or were they the creators of a disabling legacy? Brian McAvera investigates
By now a new director should have been appointed to the oddly named Irish Museum of Modern Art.
I say oddly because no one knows what the museum actually is. A repository of 20th-century Irish art it is not. At current funding there is no possibility whatsoever of its acquiring a reasonably comprehensive collection as it is almost entirely dependent upon donations, particularly of entire collections, which results in obvious imbalance. In relation to contemporary art it is demonstrably biased and not remotely inclusive. In relation to modern art there has been no clear sense of direction at the museum since its inception. Is it a museum of Modern Irish Art or of Modern Art in general? What definition of modern is being used? Indeed, what definition of Irish is being used?
The Lemon Street Gallery, in collaboration with RTÉ, are currently hosting an exhibition marking the fiftieth anniversary of the photography of Dublin by Nevill Johnson. For the first time a chronological account of Nevill Johnson’s artistic career is illustrated; mainly through photography, but also incorporating his painting and writing. The paintings range from the early 1940s to the ‘London’ paintings. The occasion also marks the launch of the Nevill Johnson Annual Award to assist emerging artists in the North and the South of Ireland, thereby acknowledging the influence of Belfast and Dublin on Nevill Johnson’s artistic development. At the height of his career as a painter Nevill Johnson turned to photography; Eoin O’Brien and Dickon Hall explain why