THE status of Irish painter Patrick Pye was borne out by the large gathering of prestigious figures from the art world at the launch of this first major retrospective by the Rev Austin Flannery this week at the [Royal Hibernian Gallagher Gallery in Ely Place. A distinguished audience included two past presidents of the RHA, Carey Clarke and Tom Ryan, current president Arthur Gibney and that grand old man of Irish art and former director of the National Gallery, James White.
Artists Janet Mullarney and Veronica Bolay were there while there was also a strong clerical presence - fittingly in view of Pye's important religious works including the Stations of the Cross at the Church of the Resurrection, Killarney.
The Archbishop of Dublin Dr Desmond Connell normally enjoys a more solitary view of Pye's work, as the artist's painting of The Transfiguration is in the archbishop's office in Drumcondra.
Pye also has an exhibition opening next Monday at Jorgensen Fine Art in Molesworth Street.