BANK OF Ireland’s decision to auction its collection of contemporary art has provoked an angry reaction from several of the artists whose work it possesses. The reaction is understandable – as Royal Hibernian Academy president Des McMahon points out a sell-off of this proportion in a depressed market could be “detrimental to the wider art market”. As well as the letter of protest from Robert Ballagh in this newspaper calling for an artists’ boycott of the bank, the general assembly of the RHA this week passed a motion deploring the decision to dispose of “a collection of national importance for minor financial gain and not seeking other avenues that could make this collection available to a wider national audience”.
This emphasis on the collection’s “national importance” is a vital point: between them both Bank of Ireland and, to an even greater extent, Allied Irish Bank have accumulated collections of the highest quality that represent the very best of Irish art of the past several decades. Bank of Ireland in particular has outstanding examples from that dynamic period of the 1970s.
Making at least part of the collection available to a wider audience is very much on the mind of the Minister, Mary Hanafin, who has quite reasonably requested the bank to consider donating key works to IMMA. The Minister’s appeal should be heeded. Bank of Ireland has previously transferred work to IMMA under the tax-beneficial auspices of the Heritage Gifts scheme.
Both of the major Irish banks have been astute buyers of contemporary art and both have built up enviable collections. In most instances they bought wisely and early in the artists’ careers – so the increased values of their acquisitions promises a handsome return on these investments. This patronage has been hugely beneficial also to the artists, especially in those early stages when many of them were still developing their reputations. As well as the financial rewards, inclusion in these collections brought prestige and kudos.
Bank of Ireland has been quick to respond that its corporate responsibility policy will continue and that the proceeds of the sale are not intended to fill gaps in the bank’s diminished coffers but to fund its commitment to “a new generation of Irish artists”. However, the dispersal of a collection of such historical importance would be a great loss. The taxpayers who are now paying for the bank’s mistakes deserve the opportunity to enjoy the best of this collection, and the minister’s suggestion is the means of achieving that.