Arthur Gibney: The announcement by the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) that the gallery would be closed owing to the death of the "late great" Arthur Gibney said a lot. That an institution of the standing of the academy would phrase their regret in that personal way reflected the standing in which Arthur Gibney was held, not only by them but by everyone who had met him.
From the time he graduated from the School of Architecture in Bolton Street in the late 1950s, he seems to have been permanently to the forefront in the world of arts and architecture. In the 1960s he won, along with Sam Stephenson, the ESB competition for Lower Merrion Street in Dublin. In the 1970s he won the Triennial Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI).
In the 1980s he was elected president of the RIAI and served as a member of the Arts Council. In the 1990s he was elected president of the RHA. By the time of the new century, with his newly acquired doctorate from Trinity College Dublin, he had settled into an accepted position as a youngish grand old man of the arts.
His relationship with each of the institutions that he served was significant in terms of his general standing in the arts. His presidency of the RIAI occurred on the 150th anniversary of the founding of that body, making the honour more marked.
Every year in the election to the council of that body, he comfortably headed the poll. Similarly, the fact that he was president of the RHA for nine consecutive years emphasises not only the measure of the regard in which he was held, but also the practical gifts that he brought to the running of such a body. The statement issued last week by the academy identified this in particular.
His architecture was outstanding. Just two examples, one large, one small, would demonstrate the wide scope of his design talents. The headquarters at the Irish Management Institute at Sandyford in south Dublin, for which he won the RIAI Triennial Gold Medal in 1974, is about as simple as a building can be.
It is the kind of design solution that causes onlookers, and architects in particular, to wonder why they had not thought of that solution themselves. Simplicity of that level is the result of a lot of hard work allied to a lot of talent.
Another of his many designs which demonstrates his wide-ranging skills is the Patrick Guilbaud restaurant in the Merrion Hotel in Dublin. Again, this design highlights Arthur Gibney's skill at dealing with two essentials of the design process - space and light - and producing an ambience which makes the patrons comfortable and relaxed.
He was also a very perceptive critic with a profound knowledge of architectural history and theory, and his essay in the recently published book on the work of the architects Scott Tallon Walker is a model of reasoned criticism. It would be an appropriate memorial to him if his doctoral thesis on Georgian buildings could be published.
His painting was, in its apparent simplicity and beauty, on much the same lines as his architecture and no matter how many times he painted the church of Santa Maria della Salute in his beloved Venice, he always found something new. His recent series of watercolours of Dublin buildings new and old has been compared to Malton and the comparison is valid. On a personal level he was great company. But since he was a real "Dub" perhaps the phrase "great gas" should be used. One sensed a measure of discomfort when the simple Dub appeared in the magnificent robes of the president of the RHA.
He had a large fund of stories and reminiscences told with either a wicked glee or sympathy as the tale demanded. This storytelling was linked to a liking for and a deep knowledge of wines, although in recent years he would rail against the price of good burgundies. He was widely read, not only in his specialist subjects, but particularly in modern novels.
But overall what endeared Arthur Gibney to his many friends was the straightforward character of the man. You got, as they say, what it says on the tin. To say that he will be continually missed is something of a cliché. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that not only was he held in the greatest of respect and admiration but that he was widely loved.
He is survived by his wife Phyllis and his son John.
Arthur Gibney: born on August 6th, 1931; died on May 19th, 2006.