Students and Staff Given Opportunity to Hire Modern Artworks from the College Art Hire Scheme

Oct 18, 2010

The College Gallery Art Hire Scheme which offers students and staff the opportunity to hire modern artwork for display in their residences or offices celebrates 50 years by displaying the range of pictures for hire at a display in the campus Pavilion Bar and online this week.  At the display, which is open for viewing on Monday, October 18th between 1-6.30pm and Tuesday, October 19th between 12-5pm, staff and students will be invited to submit a form with their top choice for entry into a lottery draw which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 20th October.

Founded in 1959 by the former Professor of Genetics, George Dawson (1927-2004), along with a group of students, the aim of the scheme is to encourage engagement with art and to further enhance the living, learning, and working environment for all TCD staff and students.  Fifty years of the College Gallery’s scheme has not only significantly expanded Trinity’s catalogue of modern art but also allows both staff and students based off campus to avail of the scheme. 

Kate Babineau, The Whip, TCD Art Collections.

For those who cannot make the display at the Pavilion Bar, an image catalogue of the pictures for hire can also be viewed online at www.tcd.ie/artcollections along with the submission form and framed dimensions of each picture.  Successful students and staff will receive notice of which painting they can hire on Wednesday, October 20th.

The College Gallery loan scheme was established with the assistance of a grant from the Trinity College Dublin Association and Trust and has developed with financial support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Arts Council of Ireland.  Numerous artworks were also donated from Professor Dawson’s own collection, as well as from alumni, artists, architects, and other friends of the College.  Professor Dawson’s passion for art motivated him to encourage others to support the College collections and the pictures collected, along with the Henry Moore, Alexander Calder and Arnaldo Pomodoro sculptures on campus, became the foundation of the prestigious TCD Modern Art Collection.

Information on the full programme of events organised to celebrate 50 years of modern and contemporary art at Trinity College, including the forthcoming exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy which will run from November 19th to December 19th next, George Dawson: An Unbiased Eye. Modern and contemporary art from Trinity College, and a commemorative publication, can be viewed online.