Artist Rita Duffy
A work by Fermanagh based artist Rita Duffy is among works to be included in the first major exhibition of Irish Art to be held in London for over 30 years. The Art of a Nation exhibition opens at the Mall Galleries in London on May 13th and closes on May 31st.
Duffy’s “The Geansaí’’ – Irish for sweater — is one of 70 works that will go on display at the Mall Galleries in London on 13th May as part of the Art of a Nation exhibition, which will feature works from the Allied Irish Banks and Crawford Art Gallery Collections.
Duffy, (pictured right) who now lives in Fermanagh, says the oil painting is based on a small Aran sweater that her mother knitted for her son, Conor.
“It was my way of expressing the emotion I felt at being a new mother and paying tribute to the often unrecognised skill and craft of my mother’s generation. Like many children of my generation in Ireland I never wore a “bought’’ jumper.’’
She added: “The title of the piece that will be shown in the Mall Galleries next month comes from the Hiberno-English my Co. Offaly grandmother spoke, choosing to pepper her everyday English with many words from the Irish language.’’
Drawing on Allied Irish Banks’ incomparable collection of paintings, photography, tapestry, sculptures and video, the exhibition includes works by many of Ireland’s greatest artists. Referencing key moments in Ireland’s rich history, the works range from19th century en plein air painters such as Aloysius O’Kelly and Sir John Lavery to the Dublin Painters Sean Keating, Jack B. Yeats and Paul Henry.
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