ANGLO IRISH Bank is donating 18 pieces from its art collection to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Imma) at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin, to mark the 20th anniversary of the museum.
The bank has agreed to hand over the collection, which it values at about €160,000, after receiving a request from Imma and members of the public to view the collection.
Among the pieces are a number of prints and etchings by Irish-born American painter Sean Scully, several oil paintings by Stephen McKenna and a piece by Sligo-based painter Barrie Cooke.
The bank is also donating a bronze sculpture by the late Edward Delaney who created the sculpture of Wolfe Tone on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin.
The pieces are by Irish artists or artists who have lived in Ireland.
They were identified and selected by Imma to fill gaps in the State’s contemporary collection.
The announcement of the donation is expected today by the Minister for Arts and Heritage Jimmy Deenihan and Anglo chief executive Mike Aynsley, and will coincide with the celebration of the museum's anniversary on Friday. An exhibition, Twenty: Celebrating 20 Years of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, will form the centre-piece of the celebration and will feature 20 younger Irish and international artists whose work is attracting prominence.
Among the other artists whose works are being donated by Anglo are Canadian-born Irish artist Elizabeth Magill, the late Charles Brady and Korean artists Chung Eun Mo and Kim En Joong.
The bank may also donate one of Anglo’s defunct signs removed from the bank’s former head office on St Stephen’s Green last month, which Imma could display with the 18-piece collection.
The donation of the art has been approved by the bank’s shareholder, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan.
Anglo has about 200 pieces in its collection built up under the guidance of the bank’s former chairman Sean FitzPatrick. Many of the paintings and sculptures were purchased as they had links to the bank’s offices around Ireland.
Anglo has shipped back paintings from its offices in New York and Boston, with a view to making further donations or selling the art to recoup money for the State.
The Government is injecting at least €29.3 billion into the State-owned bank, the highest amount required by any of the Irish banks.
The bank is disposing of its art as it merges with Irish Nationwide Building Society over the coming months and the two institutions will be run down over up to 10 years.
Bank of Ireland started selling its 2,000-piece art collection last year, donating the proceeds to arts charities and community groups. Imma opened on May 25th, 1991 after the then taoiseach Charles Haughey was persuaded by his cultural adviser Anthony Cronin in the late 1980s to set up a national gallery of contemporary art.
