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Trinity College Dublin as collector, patron and promoter of the visual arts

Trinity College Dublin represents a tradition spanning 300 years of commissioning and collecting art, with the earliest known record of paintings in College noted in 1710, and the earliest work dating from 1601. The collections predate those of the Royal Dublin Society, founded in 1731, and the establishment of the National Gallery of Ireland, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1854 and opened in 1864. The collections represent in the main, painting, print, sculpture, and statuary, with a significant historical focus on portraiture.

The modern collection was effectively initiated in 1959 by George Dawson, Genetics professor, when he and a group of students introduced the ‘College Gallery’ hire scheme. Original Irish and international artworks along with original prints and artists’ posters were actively acquired for display in student and staff rooms on campus to encourage an interest in, and a critical eye for, modern and contemporary art. This scheme generated such an interest across the College and beyond that it catalysed the conscious promotion, support, and involvement in the visual arts at Trinity by means of acquisitions, commissions, exhibitions, student societies, the establishment of a related teaching department, and the aesthetic modernisation of the campus environment.

For further information please consult:

George Dawson: An Unbiased Eye. Modern and Contemporary Art at Trinity College Dublin since 1959, edited by Catherine Giltrap (Dublin: Associated Editions, 2010) Available in the Trinity College Library Shop, Hodges Figgis Dublin, and the bookshops of The Irish Museum of Modern Art, and The Lewis Glucksman Gallery at University College Cork, among others. Also available online from the publishers: Associated Editions

Paintings and Sculptures in Trinity College Dublin by Anne Crookshank and David Webb (Dublin: Trinity College Dublin Press, 1990)
Currently out of print but available in libraries

The Modern Art Collection Trinity College Dublin, compiled by David Scott (Dublin: Trinity College Dublin Press, 1989) Available in the Trinity College Library Shop & in libraries

The Silver Collection Trinity College Dublin, by Douglas Bennett (Dublin: Trinity College Dublin Press, 1988) Available in the Trinity College Library Shop & in libraries