JAMES WHITE: James White, who has died aged 89, was for a time a key figure in the Irish art world, first as a critic and then when he headed the National Gallery of Ireland and earlier the Dublin Municipal Gallery, although he had no formal education in art.
More than anyone else, he was responsible for opening up art appreciation to thousands of children as well as adults who came to hear his stimulating lectures and view the exhibitions he organised outside Dublin as well as in the galleries of the capital.
He believed his mission was "to bring art to the people". There were few aspects of the Irish art scene from the 1930s until his retirement in 1980 in which he was not involved. As a critic he encouraged the younger Irish painters who were experimenting with the Modernist style while deepening his own knowledge of the Old Masters through frequent travel and study.
Patrick James White was born in Dublin on September 16th, 1913. His father, Thomas White, had moved to the capital from Tulla, Co Clare. His mother was Florence Coffey. His father had a clerical job but was deeply interested in sports and wrote a column in the Irish Field under the pseudonym of Danny Boy.
James White attended Belvedere College, where he showed an interest in art, played tennis and rugby, but had to leave before completing his secondary education to help out with the family finances. At age 16, he began work in the John Player tobacco factory on the South Circular Road and was to stay with the company for 31 years.
At Belvedere he had been a classmate of Jack Hanlon, who was to become a well-known artist as well as being a priest in the Dublin diocese. Hanlon introduced James White to the artist Mainie Jellett, who gave him art lessons. But she gently pointed him in another direction by encouraging him to become an art critic. He persuaded the editor of the Catholic Standard to let him review art exhibitions under the name of James White while he continued to be known at work and to his friends as Paddy White.
He also became very interested in ballet and in 1937 was a founder member of the Irish Ballet Club. Many years later in a series of RTÉ interviews on his life he explained that: "Through ballet, I saw the meaning of painting as a background to movement and music. I owe more to this than to perhaps anything else."
In 1941, he married Aggie Bowe and they had five children.
He took time from a busy life to travel around the country to give talks on art to schoolgirls under a scheme financed by a bequest from Mrs George Bernard Shaw.
In 1950 James White was appointed art critic of the Irish Press and he began to give music talks on Radio Éireann, art lectures on BBC Northern Ireland and in the Ulster Museum where the poet, John Hewitt, was a leading figure.
With the then director of the National Gallery, Thomas McGreevy, James White established an Irish branch of the International Association of Art Critics and succeeded in bringing its 1953 congress to Dublin, an opportunity to put Ireland on the map of contemporary art and for struggling Irish artists to show their work to influential critics from England, the US and continental Europe.
As a critic himself, James White was more interested in the small number of artists experimenting with the Modernist style following on from Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone. These included Patrick Collins, Nano Reid, Gerard Dillon, Louis le Brocquy and Óisín Kelly.
He once daringly criticised the Royal Hibernian Academy for ignoring Modernist painting in favour of traditional landscape themes.
Writing in Art is My Life, a collection of tributes to James White in 1991, Louis le Brocquy recalled that period when "no one as I remember brought us quite the same indefinable combination of open-minded insight and human concern as did James White."
While holding down a by now senior managerial post in Players, James White was increasingly in demand for organising exhibitions and writing catalogues. As his reputation spread, he was invited to lecture in both UCD and Trinity College, Dublin - this by a man who had no academic qualifications.
In 1960 he at last gave up the day job at Players to become Curator of the Dublin Municipal Gallery, now the Hugh Lane Gallery of Modern Art. He moved his family into the spacious apartment over the gallery in Charlemont House on Parnell Square. He was shocked to find that the attendants were keeping children out and changed that. He set out to popularise the gallery by organising temporary exhibitions and inviting special groups. He had great success with the Children's Art Holiday, held first in 1962 during the Christmas period when artists gave lessons to children in drawing and painting.
In 1964 he was appointed director of the National Gallery. One of the first things he did was to remove the protective glass from many paintings. "It was ghastly," he told an interviewer. "You came into the gallery and wherever you looked you saw your own reflection."
While he came to the post with superb qualifications, he was also fortunate that the bequest to the gallery by George Bernard Shaw of one-third of the royalties from his published works was boosted by the success of the film My Fair Lady based on his play Pygmalion. In addition, the badly-needed new wing which had been approved by the Government in 1962 was going to expand the potential of the gallery.
With a bigger budget and a larger building, James White was able to carry through many of his ideas for attracting a bigger public. He organised more exhibitions and lectures, concerts and seminars. The new restaurant became a popular meeting place.
The staff was increased and a permanent restoration team was set up. He increased the national collection by a number of significant paintings, including some by Jack Yeats, Roderic O'Connor, Joshua Reynolds, Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Jean Louis David and Giovanni di Paolo.
He also purchased the Icon Collection of 24 Greek and Russian icons.
In recognition of his work, he received decorations from the French, Italian and German governments and an honorary doctorate from the National University. He published widely on art and artists. He was also chairman of the Arts Council in 1978-1983.
His publications include: Irish Stained Glass (with Michael Wynne), 1963; The National Gallery of Ireland, 1968; Jack B. Yeats, 1971; John Butler Yeats and the Irish Renaissance, 1972; Masterpieces of the National Gallery of Ireland, 1978; Pauline Bewick: Painting A Life, 1985; and Gerard Dillon, A Biography, 1993.
By the time he retired in 1980, attendance at the gallery had risen from 93,179 in 1967 to 426,416. He remained active in retirement, lecturing, writing and opening exhibitions. He was involved in the Irish Museums' Association, of which he is the only honorary life member. He continued to play his weekly golf at Portmarnock.
He is survived by his wife, Aggie; daughter Mary and sons Peter, Patrick and Mark. He was pre-deceased by his daughter Catherine.