The Hugh Lane Centenary Stamp
27 March 2008
The 55c stamp features a portrait of Hugh Lane by Antonio Mancini, reproduced courtesy of Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane while the First Day Cover features a photograph image of the well known gallery’s facade. The stamp and First Day Cover are designed by Ger Garland.
Established in 1908 Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane is named after its founder, Cork born Hugh Lane, nephew of Lady Gregory and a central figure, along with Jack and W.B. Yeats, in Ireland’s cultural renaissance. In pursuing and achieving his dream of a gallery of modern art for Dublin, where the best international and Irish paintings would hang side by side, Hugh Lane succeeded in opening the first metropolitan gallery of contemporary art in the world.
Lane himself was one of Europe’s most discerning collectors of impressionist art and he persuaded many of the leading artists of the day to donate a small number of works for exhibition in a temporary location on Dublin’s Harcourt Street. Among those early works were paintings such as La Musique aux Tuileries by Manet, Sur la Plage by Degas, Les Parapluies by Renoir and La Cheminée by Vuilard.
This embryonic collection would eventually grow to become the highly respected and eclectic body of art that it is today. Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, located in Parnell Square is into a busy hub of activity for modern Irish art, as a visit to this wonderful gallery will demonstrate.
Now, with over 2,000 works of art, the gallery is quite literally alive with colour, shape and form. From a complete reassembly of Francis Bacon’s London studio, faithfully and meticulously rebuilt, to the work of modernists such as Mainie Jellett and Mary Swanzy, the gallery projects a clear and exciting artistic vision to all who visit.
While the legacy of Hugh Lane survives and continues to bring energy and vitality to Irish arts, the man himself sadly perished aboard the ill fated Lusitania, off the coast of Cork, his native county.
The Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane Centenary Stamp is available from the Philatelic Shop (01 705 7400) in the GPO, from selected post offices nationwide or online at www.irishstamps.ie (new window)
