AIB to donate art worth €5m to the State

AIB is giving 39 of its finest art pieces worth over €5m back to the taxpayer.

Twelve major pieces, including works by major Irish artists such as Jack B Yeats, Sean Keating, Paul Henry and Roderic O’Connor, will be transferred immediately.

The bank is also making 1,000 other works in its possession available for public exhibition. Those artworks are believed to be worth around €5m.

The bank is not benefiting from the tax incentive for donating gifts of artistic value to the State.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, said he had decided the works would be held by the Crawford Gallery in Cork.

Mr Deenihan described AIB’s decision to enter into a partnership with the State in respect of its corporate art collection as “exciting and deeply important”.

He said the partnership included an agreement that the bank would not sell any works from the collection and would make additional pieces available for loan to publicly funded galleries through the aegis of the Crawford.

“Art is an intrinsic part of human nature and is at its most powerful when an entire nation can embrace it, appreciate it and find inspiration in its beauty and meaning,” he said.

It will take up to two years for all 39 artworks to be made available to publicly funded galleries.

AIB spokeswoman Niamh Hennessy said the most valuable of the 12 pieces being donated is A Race in Hy Brazil by Jack B Yeats, believed to be worth just over €1m.

AIB chairman David Hodgkinson said the bank had worked with Mr Deenihan and his office to ensure that artworks of historic and cultural interest are preserved and made more accessible to the public.

“The development of the arts in Ireland has always been important to AIB and today’s announcement will result in a greater appreciation of the strength, breadth and depth of our visual arts heritage,” he said.

Crawford chairman John R Bowen said it was a privilege for the gallery to be entrusted with the custody of such a wonderful bequest.

Gallery director Peter Murray said the donation marked an important step in the development of the Crawford as a national cultural institution, and as one of the foremost museums of Irish art.

Arts Council chairman Pat Moylan said: “Having part of the collection at the Crawford Art Gallery is of major significance and will give regional equality to the national collection.”

An exhibition of all 39 artworks at the Crawford will be opened by Mr Deenihan on Mar 5.