Random art of kindness

This summer a new exhibition in the Crawford Art Gallery will pay tribute to a generous gift it received one hundred years ago.

The Gibson Bequest 1919-2019 explores the history of an enormous donation made by a man called Joseph Stafford Gibson to the Crawford Art Gallery upon his death in 1919 for the "furthering of art” in the city of his boyhood.

The substantial sum was immediately put to good use in establishing the gallery’s collection of Irish and European artworks in the twentieth century.

Joseph Stafford Gibson was born in Kilmurry in October 1837 and moved to Cork city when he was 11 years old.

Co-curator of the exhibition, Dr Michael Waldron, told the Cork Independent: “He was a mystery to many. He came from a well-known Cork family who were silversmiths. His father was a captain in the British army and his grandfather was a silversmith on Grand Parade at a time when Cork was very well known for silver.”

The fund, which came to a total of £14,790, (more than €750,000 today) was used to acquire key works for the Crawford’s collection, including the iconic Men of the South (1921-22) by Seán Keating, and Harry Clarke’s celebrated Eve of St Agnes (1923) watercolours.

The terms of the bequest also facilitated international scholarships for exceptional young local artists, including Seamus Murphy and Breda O’Donoghue-Lucci.

"In many ways it was the making of the gallery. It was a great act of kindness and something we couldn't have done without. He didn't have to do it but he did,” said Dr Waldron.

He added: “For us it is one of the major milestones in our history, coming a hundred years after we were founded, and now we're a hundred years on again, so it's a really good time to look back."

The exhibition opens on Friday 3 May and will run until 12 January 2020.

Dr Waldron said: "Although there will be a number of old favourites on display, many of the works won't have been seen for quite a long time. With a collection of our size, we can't show everything all at once, so it's great to able to bring these together as a collection that was assembled under the same terms, and that we can now consider 100 years after the gift.

“We're are hoping that people will be intrigued and that they will, first and foremost, start to remember this man, Joseph Stafford Gibson, and his contribution to the city,” he concluded.