A fresh look at Irish cubism

‘Analysing Cubism’ is a major exhibition of Irish Cubist painting at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.

IMMA, the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork, and the FE McWilliam Gallery in Co Down organised the show. ‘Analysing Cubism’ features work by Irish artists May Guinness, Jack Hanlon, Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett, Norah McGuinness and Mary Swanzy, and fellow Europeans Georges Braque, Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Henri Hayden, André Lhote and Pablo Picasso.

Seán Kissane, IMMA curator of exhibitions, and Dr Riann Coulter, art historian and FE McWilliam curator, curated the exhibition. “This exhibition isn’t about cubism as it was invented by Picasso and Braque,” says Kissane. “It’s about the cubism which was developed by André Lhote and Albert Gleizes, in Paris, around 1911 and 1912. The reason for that is because Lhote and Gleizes taught a number of Irish artists and they exhibited in public salons. And, so, they were the public face of cubism. Picasso and Braque exhibited privately in their gallery, so the work they made went to the private gallery and then straight to collectors. They were never shown in public and they were never scrutinised in the public way that Lhote and Gleizes were.”