FIFTEEN paintings by contemporary Irish artists, or artists closely associated with Ireland, donated by Sligo businessman Mr Vincent Ferguson and his wife Noeleen, went on exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham yesterday.
This is less than half the entire donation, which includes works by Basil Blackshaw, Stephen McKenna, the late Edward Maguire, Michael Mulcahy, Barrie Cooke, Felim Egan and Kathy Prendergast, among others. They are mostly on a large scale, and at the moment occupy the museum spaces in which the Gordon Lambert Collection - also a gift to IMMA - is usually displayed.
As the director of IMMA, Declan MacGonagle, pointed out the bulk of the works represented the middle generation of Irish art, artists who were represented in many private collections but less so in public ones. The gift therefore filled a gap. He added that after being shown in Kilmainham, the works would go on tour in various centres throughout the State.
The Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, formally received the collection on behalf of the State and thanked the donors. He took the occasion to call attention to Section 176 of the Finance Act 1995, under which tax relief may be given for donations to Irish national collections. "I hope that this occasion will further alert people to the existence of this incentive to date, which serves as a pointer to the diverse and imaginative approach we should take to the protection of our cultural heritage, and that Section 176 will continue to be a success," he added.
He paid tribute to collectors such as Mr Ferguson and Mr Lambert for "making excellence freely available to a wider public". Without their generosity, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for the museum to gather such a representative group of paintings from the recent past.