Sarah Purser
Artist
Mary Swanzy
(1882 - 1978)
Datec. 1926
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions58.5 x 49.5 cm
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery.
Donated by the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, 1944.
© The Estate of Mary Swanzy.
Object number921
DescriptionThe initial impetus for Hugh Lane establishing the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin was the exhibition he saw of work by the Irish artists Nathaniel Hone and John Butler Yeats at 6 St Stephen's Green, organised by the artist Sarah Purser in 1901. As well as personally presenting work to this Gallery, Purser founded the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland in 1924 which has led to many important works of art entering public collections in Ireland. She also suggested to the Taoiseach William T. Cosgrave that the recently vacated Charlemont House be given to the city to house the municipal collection. The Gallery here was formally opened in 1933. Purser and Mary Swanzy were great friends and an exhibition of Swanzy's Orphic chromatic work has held in Purser's home at Mespil House in Dublin in 1932. In a review of that exhibition Swanzy was described as a 'capital portrait painter.' However, Swanzy was not an artist who was content with painting what others wanted but pursued a stimulating exploration of subjects and styles in her work throughout her long life. (JO'D)On View
On view
