LCGA Exhibitions 2022

Curated by Seán Kissane, Curator: Exhibitions, Irish Museum of Modern Art as part of the IMMA Modern Masters Series

LCGA is delighted to present a selection from the Voyages retrospective exhibition, following its presentation at IMMA and Crawford Art Gallery.

Mary Swanzy (1882-1978) was a pioneering figure in Irish art. Born in Dublin’s Merrion Square she was educated in Dublin, Freiburg and Paris at the turn of the last century. There she mixed in the circles around Gertrude Stein and witnessed the birth of Modern Art. After 1914 she exhibited at the Paris Salons alongside those modern artists who are now household names. She mastered the academic style of painting at a young age and her work rapidly evolved through different styles: Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Symbolism and Surrealism; each of these interpreted and transformed by her in a highly personal way.

She held strident views on the position of female artists, relative to males, making off the cuff remarks such as ‘if I had been born Henry instead of Mary my life would have been very different’ revealing that she was conscious of the ways in which her gender impacted on her career. 

Her record of achievement is unsurpassed by her better-known contemporaries yet there has not been a substantial exhibition of Swanzy’s work in Dublin for 50 years since 1968. This exhibition aims to reintroduce our audiences to this artist’s extraordinary achievements and reinstate her as a Modern Irish Master.

Information sheet for LCGA    Mary Swanzy, Voyages (532 Kb)