Emma Talbot; The Age / L'Età
The Age / L’Età comprises animation, free-hanging painted silk panels, three-dimensional work and drawings. The work explores themes of representation and ageing, power and governance, as well as attitudes towards nature. Talbot imagines a future environment where humankind encounters the disastrous consequences of late capitalism and must look towards more ancient and holistic ways of crafting and belonging – that rethink power structures and celebrate the natural world – in order to survive.
Where: The Model, Sligo When: 22 September'23 - 02nd December '23 More info: https://www.themodel.ie/?exhibition=emma-talbot-the-age-leta |
Her back to the world
Taking inspiration from a quote by the great 20th century painter, Agnes Martin, this exhibition brings together a survey of the changing themes and interests of Irish women artists over 100 years, as reflected in The Niland Collection.
Many women artists from the early part of the twentieth century such as Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone and Mary Swanzy came from privileged backgrounds, and art was seen very much as a recreational activity rather than a career choice. Due to the fact that these women could afford to live and study in Paris, however, they became pivotal in bringing modern art to Ireland and were often far less conventional in their practice than their male counterparts. Mainie Jellett in particular has been noted for the ‘missionary zeal’ with which she attempted to bring Cubism, an avant-garde art movement which swept Europe in the early ‘twentieth century’, to Ireland. In the second half to the 20th century, women who chose to pursue a career in art, such as Norah MacGuinness and Nano Reid had to rely on a meagre income from the sale of their work, and were often forced to diversify into other areas. As well as working as a painter MacGuinness was retained as a set-designer and an illustrator, and also worked as a window dresser for Brown Thomas, Dublin. In the latter part of the twentieth century, artists such as Alice Maher, Rita Duffy and Dorothy Cross, began to address social, political and feminist issues in their work. Cross’s work Stiletto II, 1994, is part of a larger series of works entitled Udder, made in the early 1990s. For these works Cross used cow’s udders to create pieces which deliberately “exaggerate the confusion” between the sexes, seeming both masculine and feminine at the same time. The Udder works marry the animal and primordial with the domestic or civilised through the recreation of objects with such basic, primal material. Amongst the many other works on view are sculptural pieces by Fiona Mulholland, poignant photography by Mary Kelly that addresses care for those with long-term mental health issues in Ireland, and a mixed media installation by Maud Cotter, entitled Breath, 1998, which is new to The Niland Collection. Where: The Model, Sligo When: 05 August '23 - 22nd December '23 More info: https://www.themodel.ie/?exhibition=her-back-to-the-world |
Jack Butler Yeats; Assembled Memories
Jack Butler Yeats (1871-1957) is one of Ireland’s most acclaimed 20th century artists. The Niland Collection, housed at The Model, comprises a large holding of his work across the many phases of his career - from early pen and ink illustrations, through his water colour period (1898-1910), to his work from the 1920s onwards, which is executed primarily in oil paints.
Yeats was a member of one of Ireland’s most accomplished artistic families. His father was the painter John Butler Yeats (1839-1922); and his siblings William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Susan Mary Yeats (1866-1949), and Elizabeth Corbet Yeats (1868-1940), were acclaimed creative talents in literature, visual art, education and publishing. Unlike his brother and sisters, Jack grew up in Sligo in the care of his maternal grandparents Elizabeth & William Pollexfen. From an early age the young artist developed a strong interest in the drama and activity of the community and social life he experienced in Sligo. His movement into oil paint as his primary medium brought about a convergence of his ideas, materials and technique, that saw the artist flourish creatively over a prolonged period of time. His initial work in oil is realistic in style and focuses on depictions of contemporary life – with a particular eye to political events and those who lived on the margins of society. From the mid 1920s, his work becomes freer and more expressive in style, to the point where the presentation of reality, gives way to the expression of emotion through the physicality of paint. The characters he first encountered in Sligo – the sailor, the street seller, the clown, the balladeer - are the figures who populate his painted universe throughout the entirety of his career. Though in his later paintings, which are charged with pathos, these figures are imbued with a more metaphysical significance. The exhibition continues until the end of January 2024. Where: The Model, Sligo When: 28 September '23 - 27nd January '24 More info: https://www.themodel.ie/?exhibition=assembled-memories |
Constallations by Rebecca Massey
Where: Hyde Bridge gallery, Sligo
When: 04th November '23 - 18th November '23 (Tuesday – Saturday: 10am-3pm) More info: https://www.yeatssociety.com/visit/visit-hyde-bridge-gallery/ |