THE IRISH College in Paris formally launched its autumn 2008 season last night by inviting 200 guests to exhibitions by two leading Irish artists.
"I deliberately chose Seán McSweeney because he's totally and quintessentially Irish, in his thinking and in his palette," said Sheila Pratschke, the director of the Centre Culturel Irlandais.
"He is in some ways the grand old man of Irish painting, but utterly fresh and often surprising, thought he's been exhibiting for 40 years." McSweeney's exhibition, entitled Bogland and Shoreline Sligo, portrays the land, sea and sky of his native Sligo in a semi-abstract way, with an intense and subtle palette.
There are blues, lines of light, touches at the horizon. The show fills the main exhibition space, with new works in the outside gallery, until October 19th.
Art critic Brian Fallon introduced both exhibitions. Eileen MacDonagh's Fire From Stoneis the first major sculptural exhibition to be held in the college's large courtyard. The biggest piece, made of Kilkenny limestone, weighs three tonnes. It is an icosahedrin - a star made of 21 triangles in different relationships to each other. "The stone has such echoes of Ireland," says Ms Pratschke. "The granite with limestone and sandstone - it's the colours of the landscape."
MacDonagh creates these massive works in Athy, Co Kildare, working alone with a hammer, chisel and angle-grinder. Her exhibition continues until December 19th.
Last night's reception was also the main event of the Semaine de l'Irlande (Ireland Week). The French EU presidency has allocated one week to showcase the culture of each of the 26 other EU member states. "It fell nicely into the week when we would have started our autumn programme anyway," said Ms Pratschke.
Another leading event is the French adaptation of the Roddy Doyle novels The Woman who Walked into Doorsand Paula Spencer, performed by the Franco-Irish actress Olwen Fouéré at the Cartoucherie de Vincennes theatre.