“While the hub in the city is historic, the only thing you need the city for as an artist is the market, and exposure,” says Murphy. Why the need for a Dáil committee? When you’re a venerable institution with a royal charter, you can’t just decide to do things differently … Well, actually, you can: as an arts organisation, the RHA can get a little frisky with convention from time to time, and the first assembly meeting to be held outside Dublin has already taken place, last February in the Sligo’s Model. The Amendment of Charter Bill also asks that meetings should be allowed to take place outside Dublin. One of the smaller, but significant highlights of the bicentennial year is a Bill, before a Dáil committee, to increase the membership to 55.Ĭolin Martin RHA, Glastonbury, 2023, oil on canvas 180cm x 270cm at the RHA Annual 2023 As the membership is capped at 30, this means it can take quite a long time for cultural changes in society and the arts to filter through. They advocate for artists and propose and elect new members. While Murphy is the director, the RHA is run by its members, all of whom are artists and architects. The membership is now just two spaces short of gender equality. “It Took a Century”, refers to the 100 years that passed before the RHA elected a woman member: Sarah Purser and the further century before Abigail O’Brien became the first woman president. This is evident in the title of an exhibition to be held at the National Gallery of Ireland, opening in July. As director Patrick Murphy says, there is a “self-criticality” to the programming. Photograph: Donal MurphyĪnother more drawn-out process was the emancipation of women and it is a key theme in the bicentennial events. The Royal Hibernian Academy is run by its members, all of whom are artists and architects. During the Easter Rising, the original RHA building and entire Annual exhibition were destroyed by fire. The Famine, two World Wars, and the foundation of the Irish State are just some of the events that shook these shores. The 200 years of the Royal Hibernian Academy’s history encompasses times of great change. They have also done a fair amount of soul-searching. To mark its 200th birthday, the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) has put together a year-long programme, including commemorative stamps with An Post, a blue plaque for their original home on Lower Abbey Street, and a series of events and exhibitions: the largest of which will be the Annual, opening to the public on May 22nd. In 1823, while John Constable was painting winsome views of Salisbury Cathedral, Delacroix was romanticising orphans in cemeteries, and Turner was having a stab at the sublime thirty Irish artists sent a petition to the government asking for recognition for an Irish Academy of Arts.
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