Art in Belfast, 1760-1888: Art Lovers or Philistines?
Author: BLACK, Eileen.
Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2006. xx, 274 pages. Illustrated. Hardback.
This richly illustrated book tells the story of art in Belfast from its early beginnings in the mid-eighteenth century to the opening in 1888 of the town’s first rate-supported art gallery, a suite of rooms in the Free Public Library in Royal Avenue (known today as the Central Reference Library). Exhaustive use of primary sources charts the foundation of a number of exhibiting societies, all of which failed; also, the establishment of the town’s first official art school, the School of Design, in 1849, which likewise foundered.
Nevertheless, despite this lack of support for local artistic ventures, the town maintained a flourishing art market through a variety of auction houses and salerooms. When the first commercial art gallery was opened in 1864, that owned by the firm of Marcus Ward, an exhibiting society, the Art Union of Belfast, was also set up. The success of its exhibitions, held in Ward’s prestigious gallery, brought about far-reaching changes; attending art exhibitions became a fashionable pastime and a number of public-spirited individuals began exploring ways in which intellectual recreation could be made available to the working classes. Their efforts led to the opening of a new (and successful) School of Art in 1870 and the establishment of the Free Public Library in 1888. This neglected area of Belfast’s cultural life is given an authoritative reappraisal and places events in context for the first time. It contains much new material and a wide range of illustrations.
ISBN: 0716533618
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