The planned Hugh Lane Gallery extension is under threat, which could leave it without a collection by artist Sean Scully that it hopes to acquire. Aidan Dunne reports
Dublin City Council's proposed quick sale of property adjoining its Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Parnell Square not only threatens to scupper the gallery's extension plan but also jeopardises the acquisition of work by one of the world's most highly regarded painters.
The gallery has been in discussion with the Dublin-born, internationally renowned artist Sean Scully over the acquisition of a group of paintings, including several large-scale works, to be housed in a gallery in the proposed extension. Part of the negotiations hinges on the provision of space for the permanent exhibition of the Scully works, and the extension plan incorporates a gallery to make this possible.
Numbers 20 and 21 Parnell Square North, with properties to the rear extending as far as Frederick Lane North, were advertised for sale by the council only last week. A tight deadline of Monday has been set for receipt of tenders. This, says city manager John Fitzgerald, is because the current tax incentives that might make the buildings attractive to potential purchasers expire at the end of December.
However, architects Gilroy McMahon has drawn up detailed plans for a modestly scaled, 1,646 square-metre extension to the Hugh Lane, on a site immediately next to the existing gallery, and to the rear of numbers 20 and 21. This proposed extension represents the culmination of many years of discussion and planning on the part of the Hugh Lane, which is chronically short of space - and the loss of the site would deal a catastrophic blow to the project.
At one stage in this process, the incorporation of numbers 20 and 21 into the gallery was considered. But the scale and nature of the buildings, which are not internally suitable as gallery spaces and would be expensive to refurbish and maintain, led to the proposals for the site to the rear. As the Hugh Lane's director Barbara Dawson understood it, the plan was that the council would sell numbers 20 and 21 and retain the site backing on to Frederick Lane North for development by the gallery. The gallery was happy with this arrangement, but the loss of the site to the rear would make any future expansion almost impossible.
Fitzgerald insists that no final decision has yet been taken on the disposal of the site. Such a decision, he points out, would have to be made by a vote of Dublin City Council. The land to the rear of numbers 20 and 21 was advertised, he claims: "To obtain a valuation of the entire site". He acknowledges, though, that the move raises the possibility that the entire site - buildings and land - could be sold.
As he sees it, there are three possible outcomes. "One is that we sell the two buildings and the proceeds might be applied towards building the extension. A second is that we might enter into a public-private partnership with a developer who would agree to refurbish the buildings, build the extension and rent or lease it back to the council. The third is that we might sell both houses and the area behind them outright. I agree that that would rule out building the extension to the gallery."
This move comes about, he says, because of changes in the financial situation. "Since I've been here, which is five or six years now, we've been trying to raise finance, from both public and private sources, for this extension, and we have so far failed to do so. If we couldn't find the resources during five good years it makes it all the more unlikely that we will be able to do it now."
While the City Council will have the final say, it will vote in the light of a recommendation from the City Manager. "I hope to be able to go back to the council in about a month or so with a recommendation."
Dawson argues that the sale of the site would be short-sighted in the extreme. "It also runs directly counter to the policy of the council over the last 10 years, which has been to revitalise the centre of the city." As director of the Hugh Lane, she pulled off a notable coup in winning the Francis Bacon Studio for Dublin. The studio, given to the city by Bacon's heir John Edwards and executor Brian Clarke, was reassembled in a specially designed room in the gallery and opened to the public last year.
With the studio came a substantial, 7,500-item archive of documentation relating to Bacon and his work. At a symposium on the artist last week, the gallery announced the acquisition of the Marlborough Fine Arts' archive on Bacon. Marlborough was for many years his art dealer. This archive of about 3,000 items includes voluminous correspondence extending back to the beginning of his artistic career, plus photographs and other material. It significantly enriches the existing archive and places Dublin at the centre of Bacon studies.
The acquisition of the Scully work is "contingent on having the space", says Dawson, and the project is made possible by Scully's goodwill towards the Hugh Lane Gallery and his loyalty to Dublin. Although he left the country at an early age, he identifies strongly with Ireland. The work of Scully, who is based now in New York and Munich, is both expensive and widely sought after.
The Hugh Lane, fondly regarded by generations of Dubliners, is a building of character. Any development that involved the incorporation of additional storeys would significantly detract from the quality of the existing, roof-lit galleries - something that makes the possession of adjacent land absolutely vital. In its design, Gilroy McMahon has come up with a compact, yet spacious, new building that integrates ingeniously with the existing building while enhancing its use. It incorporates permanent and temporary exhibition spaces, a bookshop, coffee shop, educational facilities and a courtyard. The projected cost of approximately €12 million is comparatively modest in gallery terms.
Plans for a municipal modern art gallery for Dublin were first mooted in the first years of the 20th century. The impetus came from art dealer Hugh Lane, who gave a substantial collection of contemporary art to the city. When it first opened in 1908, the gallery was located in Harcourt Street. It has occupied its current home, Charlemont House, since 1933.
"It is almost 100 years since Hugh Lane first offered his art collection to the city," points out Dawson. "It was almost turned down for lack of a space to exhibit it. I find it sad that rather than supporting the gallery now the council is acting in this way.
"Do we have to re-fight the same battles over and over?"