On the afternoon of Sunday, November 27th, the Gorry Gallery hosted the opening of the latest of its eagerly awaited exhibitions, showing 18th- to 21st-century Irish art, in its central Dublin premises at 20 Molesworth Street.
For years, James Gorry has been researching and restoring damaged, unframed, hitherto lost, freshly discovered or newly identified Irish paintings whose display and sale tempt buyers, art historians and collectors within and far beyond these shores. But, unlike his similarly skilled father and grandfather before him, the third generation James Gorry until very recently worked in tandem with his beautiful, spirited, bright-eyed wife Thérèse, as much part of the establishment as he continues to be.
Her silken voice directed visitors guided by the discreet name plaque beside the front door through the entrance hall to a narrow passage behind the staircase of the Georgian house opposite Buswells Hotel. She would release the lock on the glass casement door to permit the visitor into the inner sanctum, where she sat majestically enthroned, ready to receive and quiz whoever called.
You entered the presence of this vivacious, discerning and hospitable Dubliner, known of late to many as “Lady Molesworth”, a name whose irony she relished as a committed republican, knowing that you were in for a lively session of gossip conducted with her unique mixture of discretion and wit.
There you’d often be joined by her beloved Jim whose knowledge and subtle understanding of Irish art complemented Thérèse’s spicy interest in the people she encountered. This was likely to erupt in sparkling irreverence (accompanied by her ever-beguiling smile) when she was confronted with the sort of pomposity and pretension not uncommon in the art world.
Thérèse took a maternal interest in everyone she met. Her intuitive mind and photographic memory gave her an edge when dealing with people. She expected loyalty from those close to her and always spoke her mind. Her honesty and her refreshing no-nonsense approach endeared her to those she met.
Thérèse and Jim, who met as teenagers in 1964, had worked as a team since the 1980s, offering help, information and advice to all who sought it.
She hand-wrote in fountain pen and often personally annotated as many as 4,000 invitations generously sent out with the authoritative illustrated catalogues produced for each Gorry exhibition.
Now this ever-youthful and constant presence has left us after a brief illness – to the grief of her husband Jim, son Jimmy and daughter Aisling, and the hundreds of sorrowing friends who crowded into the Church of Mary Immaculate in Rathmines for her funeral in mid-September.
Fittingly, for one who loved music and the Irish language, she was played out by an uilleann piper and harpist.Thérèse is buried in the Gorry family plot in Glasnevin cemetery. Her epitaph might be by her favourite poet Dylan Thomas (whose birthday she shared): “Do not go gentle into that good night”. The Gorry Gallery exhibition was simply dedicated “to the Memory of Thérèse Gorry”.
Thérèse Gorry (née Butler) 1949-2016