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6
WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
When I was invited, as Head of the Collection
department at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, to visit
the collection of George and Maura McClelland in 1998,
I had no idea what a treasure chest awaited or what
possibilities it contained for the museum’s collection.
Incredibly, the McClellands were offering the museum
the opportunity to select hundreds of artworks, mainly
paintings, but sculpture, drawings, glass and ceramics
too, for an extended loan, for at least four to five years.
Given that IMMA’s collection policy was unashamedly
directed to acquiring contemporary work rather than
trying to buy historical work retrospectively with its
limited resources, the McClelland Collection was like
manna from heaven.While we were only too aware of
the need to contextualise the museum’s contemporary
agenda, the cavernous spaces of the Royal Hospital
Kilmainham and a limited purse to fill them, meant that
IMMA could not fulfil that need for the foreseeable
future.
The McClelland
collection, at a stroke,
enabled IMMA to put
the history of Irish art,
especially of the
1930s to the 1970s
on show and in doing
so, to enable serious
research into some of
the most important,
but hitherto under-
studied artists in the
country’s heritage.
That fairytale moment grew, rather than diminished,
over the period of the loan, as some of it was gifted
outright, and additional artworks were added to the
original 400 or so objects that the museum selected.
When George and Maura finally sold a significant part of
their collection in 2003, the sale terms included a
stipulation that the new owner would donate about half
of it to the museum. For the first time, IMMA was able to
present exhibitions that showed the complete
development of the career of e.g. the chameleon-like
Colin Middleton, or to chart the years of Tony O’Malley’s
early struggles and his life in Saint Ives, because when
George fell for the work of an artist he bought large
The Art Collection of George & Maura McClelland
Maura & George McClelland with Catherine Marshall, in her role as
Head of the Collection, IMMA c.1998
George McClelland with artist Daniel O’Neill c.1970
Dust Jacket:The Hunter
Gatherer,The Irish Museum
of Modern Art, Dublin, 2004
Exhibition catalogue: 'Collectors' Choice, A selection of
works by Maura and George McClelland from their
personal collection and from the McClelland Collection
at the IMMA, Strule Arts Centre, Omagh and Highlanes
Gallery, Drogheda, 2007