Throughout the month of October, Ballina Arts Centre will host The Táin, an exhibition by Louis le Brocquy, selected works from the Niland Collection, on loan from The Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Sligo.
The Táin of a number of the lithograph brush drawings le Brocquy created as illustrations to Thomas Kinsella’s 1969 translation of the Irish legend, the Táin Bó Cuailgne (the Cattle Raid of Cooley ), published by Dolmen Press. The Táin is the centrepiece of the eight century Ulster cycle of heroic tales. It tells the story of the great cattle raid, when the armies of Medb and Ailill, queen and king of Connaught, invaded Ulster with the intention of carrying off the great brown bull of Cooley. The book is illustrated with 31 lithograph brush drawings by le Brocquy, 15 of which are in the Niland Collection. The Táin has been hailed by scholars as the greatest Irish Artist’s Book of the twentieth century. Scholars have noted that these illustrations with their precise, pared-down mark-making had a great influence on much of le Brocquy’s later work, and thus have argued that the Dolmen commission was central to the artist’s career.
The exhibition will run until November 1. Presented in association with rthe the Model Arts & Niland Gallery, Sligo. For more information, contact Ballina Arts Centre, Barrett St., Ballina, Co. Mayo. Tel: 096 73593. www.ballinaartscentre.com
