Patrick Collins (1911–1994) was one of Ireland's foremost painters of the 20th century.

He was elected HRHA (Honorary Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy) in 1980 and a member of artists' academy Aosdána in 1981. He had a major retrospective exhibition hosted by Ireland's Arts Council (Cork, Belfast, Dublin) in 1982. Several solo exhibitions followed, including a Retrospective at Sligo Art Gallery in 1985. Two years later, Collins was the first visual artist to be honoured with the accolade Saoi by Aosdána, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the visual arts in Ireland. In 1988 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Literature from Trinity College, Dublin.

His paintings have been exhibited widely in Ireland and in Europe, and are held in many public and private collections of Irish painting worldwide.[1][2][3][4][5]

"Patrick Collins has made a unique contribution to painting in our time by his power to evoke an aspect of Ireland which captures not only the primary image of the place and the people, but also its spiritual content. His grey-blue landscapes contain images of households, farms and figures, which emerge with a curious imprecise shape that is ultimately seen to be marked by folk-memory and by legend. Like a poet with words, his images penetrate areas beyond exact statement or description – they belong to the area of suggestion and imagination which cannot be identified outside the realm of his own idiom." (James White, Chairman of the Arts Council in the foreword to "Patrick Collins" by Frances Ruane[1])

Life

Biographical outline

1910 Born in Dromore West, Co. Sligo, lived in Riverstown and Sligo.
1925School: St. Vincent's C.B.S., Glasnevin, Dublin
Later worked for the Irish Life Insurance Company
Studied briefly at the National College of Art and Design with George Collie RHA and at National College of Art
1950First exhibits at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art
Exhibits with IELA yearly until 1972
1956First one-man show, Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin
Exhibits with Hendriks until 1973
1958National Award in Guggenheim Award Exhibition
1962First exhibits at the Royal Hibernian Academy
1964First exhibits in Oireachtas Exhibition; exhibits regularly there until 1973 and rarely afterwards
1971Moves to Paris
Irish Landscape Prize at the Oireachtas Exhibition
1973Moves to Orne, Normandy
1974Exhibits with Tom Caldwell Galleries from hereafter
1976Moves to Nice
Receives Irish American Cultural Institute Award
1977Moves back to Ireland
1980Elected HRHA – Honorary Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy
1981Elected by peers as member of Aosdána[6]
1982Major retrospective exhibition (Cork, Belfast, Dublin)
1985Retrospective at Sligo Art Gallery
1987First visual artist to be honoured with the accolade Saoi by Aosdána in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the visual arts in Ireland
1988Received Honorary Doctorate of Literature from Trinity College, Dublin

[1]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

1956, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin
1968Mercury Gallery, London
1969, 1970, 1972David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin
1973David Hendriks Gallery at Cork Arts Society
1971, 1974, 1976Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast
1975, 1976, 1978, 1979Tom Caldwell Gallery, Dublin
1982Collins Retrospective, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College Dublin (also in Cork and Belfast)[4]
1988, 1989, 1991Tom Caldwell Gallery, Dublin
2011"Last Daylight", Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin[7]

Selected group exhibitions

1950 Exhibition of Contemporary Irish Painting, North American Tour
1953Irish Painting 1903–1953, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
Contemporary Irish Art, Aberystwyth, Wales
1958Guggenheim Award Exhibition, New York
1963Twelve Irish Painters, New York
1965Paintings and Sculpture from Private Collections in Ireland, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
1966Modern Irish Paintings, Great Southern Hotels and Ulster Museum, Belfast
1969Contemporary Irish Painting, Wexford Festival
Exhibition of Modern Irish Painting, Northern European and Irish Tour
1970Aspects of Landscape by Irish Artists, Irish touring exhibition.
1971The Irish Imagination, Rosc '71, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
Paintings from the Collection of An Chomhairle Ealaion, Irish Tour
1972The Irish Imagination, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington
Exhibition by Irish Painters, Galerie Braun, Paris
From Yeats to Ballagh, Kusthalle Lund
The Gordon Lamberg Collection, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
Paintings by Irish Artists, Killarney
1976Irish Art 1900–1950, Cork Rosc 1976, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork
The Gordon Lamberg Collection of Contemporary Art, Ulster Museum, Belfast
1978Dublin Arts Festival
1979Contemporary Irish Art, Insurance Corporation of Ireland, Dublin
1980The Delighted Eye, Arts Councils' Exhibition, London and Irish Tour
Irish Art 1943–73, Cork Rosc 1980, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork and Ulster Museum, Belfast
The College Gallery 21st Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin
The Collection of Pat and Antoinette Murphy, Belltable Gallery, Limerick

[1]

Works in collections

  • Irish National Gallery
    • Liffey Quaysides, 1957-8[4]
  • Irish Arts Council:
    • Rising Swan
    • Small Holding on the Side of a Mountain
    • Children Playing
    • Predator Bird
    • Atlantic Window
    • Rain on the Moon
    • Oak Tree
  • Arts Council of Northern Ireland
  • AIB Collection[4][8]
    • Travelling Tinkers, 1968
    • A Place with Stones, 1979
    • Table with Exotic Fruit, 1976
  • Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) Collection
    • Landscape with Declining Sun (1984)
    • The Wood Pigeon's Nest (1974)
    • Field of Old Stones (1978)
    • Bird Against the Window (1963)
    • Headland (1980)
    • Landscape with Church (1956)
  • Bank of Ireland Collection[4]
    • Pigeon House (mouth of the Liffey), 1978
    • Trout Rising, 1978

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Patrick Collins" by Frances Ruane, OCLC 10458687, 1982
  2. "A Day in the Life of Patrick Collins" by Elgy Gillespie, Irish Times, 15 August 1980
  3. Who's Who in Irish Visual Art
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Irish Arts Review Spring 2009: "Patrick Collins: A Modern Celt", Brian Fallon "Current Issue - Irish Arts Review". Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  5. "Patrick Collins, Through Sligo Eyes", RTÉ TV Program, 10 March 2009
  6. Aosdána member list, Patrick Collins
  7. "Last Daylight" Exhibition catalog, Centenary Exhibition 2011 in the RHA Dublin
  8. The AIB Collection in Context: Over a Century of Irish Art
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