INTRODUCTION

Crawford Art Gallery, the city art museum for Cork, is dedicated to informing a wide audience about the significant role that the visual arts play in contemporary life and culture. Located in the heart of the city, beside the Opera House, the Gallery is a critical part of Cork’s cultural and tourism infrastructure, welcoming over 200,000 visitors a year. In line with a policy of providing access to all sections of society, admission to the Gallery and to exhibitions is free. The Gallery’s permanent collection comprises over 2000 works, ranging from eighteenth century Irish and European painting and sculpture, through to contemporary video installations. At the heart of the collection is a collection of Greek and Roman sculpture casts, brought to Cork in 1818 from the Vatican Museum in Rome. The collection is particularly strong in Irish art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Through its temporary exhibitions, publications and education programmes, the Crawford Gallery is committed to fostering recognition, critical assessment, and acknowledgement of historical and contemporary art practice. The Gallery’s programming includes both Irish and international artists, reflecting the position of Ireland as a vital member of the EU and international community.The Gallery serves a wide range of audiences, ranging from local communities in Cork, schools in the Munster region and visitors from Ireland and overseas. The Friends of the Crawford, a support organisation with over four hundred members, organises lectures and museum visits, both in Ireland and abroad. A wide range of cultural organisations are facilitated by the Gallery, including the RIAI, Crawford Piano Trio, Cork lunchtime concerts, the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, the Cork Literary and Scientific Society and many others.

Crawford Art Gallery is an important social and educational venue not only for the people of Cork, but to national and international visitors. This has largely been achieved through a comprehensive programme of lectures, workshops, tours, and an exciting and challenging exhibition programme.

The Crawford Art Gallery’s art collection was formed in 1819, when a set of Graeco-Roman and Neo-Classical sculpture casts were presented to the Cork Society of Arts. This collection was quickly augmented with works by students and teachers of the Cork School of Art, formed that same year: the students included Samuel Forde, Daniel Maclise and John Hogan. In 1825, the collection was moved to its present building, the former Custom House of Cork. The old Custom House provided a home for the Royal Cork Institution, the body that had taken over responsibility for the art collection, between 1825 and 1849. With the founding of a university in Cork, responsibility for the art collection was transferred to the Cork Government School of Design, established in 1850, that continued to occupy the old Custom House. In 1884, a new extension was added to the building, providing purpose-built galleries for exhibiting paintings and sculptures. Renamed the Crawford School of Art, the art collection, used also as an adjunct to the teaching of art, continued to grow, under the stewardship of the Technical Instruction Committee.

The collection was augmented with the purchase of works by Irish artists, many of them staff or graduates of the Cork School of Art. This pattern continued through the twentieth century, although there were several developments, notably the bequest of funds for the purchase of works for the collection by Joseph Stafford Gibson in 1919. This fund was used through the mid-20th century to acquire a sizeable collection of mainly academic paintings.
In 1930, the Technical Instruction Committee was replaced by the Vocational Education Committee, and the City of Cork VEC continued through the twentieth century as owners and managers of the building. The Arts Council introduced a joint-purchase scheme in the late 1960’s, under which a number of mainly contemporary works were purchased by the Gallery. The Friends of the Crawford Art Gallery have supported acquisitions for the permanent collection over two decades. Private donations of works, such as the Seamus Murphy sculpture collection, will continue to form an important part of the Gallery’s acquisition strategy in the future, although such acquisitions need to be guided by this policy document.

In 2006, a new company was established by the Minister of Arts, Sport and Tourism to manage the Gallery. Ownership of the building was transferred to the Office of Public Works, and the Gallery designated a National Cultural Institution. The School of Art had long since moved (in 1979) to a different building, and in 2007 the administrative offices of the City of Cork VEC were also transferred to new premises nearby. The Department of Arts Sport and Tourism now provides an annual grant in aid that enables the purchase of a small number of significant works, both of historic and contemporary art. The legislation Section 1003 of the Finance Act, through providing income tax relief on works donated to the Crawford and other National Cultural Institutions, has become an important avenue for acquisitions to the permanent collection.

The permanent collection of the Crawford Art Gallery has grown steadily in recent years. It is strongest in 20th century and contemporary Irish art. In 1990 the collection numbered some 1500 paintings sculptures, prints and other works of art. These works were listed in the Illustrated Summary Catalogue, published in 1992. Since that date, over 1000 new works have been added to the collection, which now contains over 2500 items.