Pale-haired men in claret robes, eminently stylish businesswomen and a hoard of prestigious artists were among those attending the Royal Hibernian Academy's 169th Annual Exhibition. Always an eagerly awaited event among the artistic community, the gallery was filled to capacity with guests vying for space over two floors. Of particular interest was the new Ashford gallery - a bright and optimistic space which houses work by artists including Patricia Jorgensen, Nancy Larchet and John Keating.
Among the stream of guests who flooded through the door on Monday night was Josephine Kelliher, who is currently preparing for an exhibition of Limerick-born painter Sam Walsh's work at the Rubicon Gallery. With her was painter Eithne Jordan, who's on her way back to France for a few months. Upstairs, crammed to the rafters, the eternally behatted Mafra O'Reilly in an artistic fuchsia hat caught up on gossip with Rita Hughes of the bookshop of theat name and Ulli de Breffni. James Hanley's striking portrait of the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, was a talking point of the evening, especially considering that the Archbishop himself attended the show. Also joining in the fray were poet Derek Mahon, artist Stephen Brandes, architects Simon Walker and Sam Stephenson, former restaurateur Peter White and former theatre festival chair Eithne Healy, who's off to New York to visit her daughter and to take in the Broadway opening of director Garry Hynes's production of The Lonesome West next week.