Quick Facts
Biography
Patrick Collins (1911–1994) was one of Ireland's foremost painters of the 20th century. He was elected HRHA (Honorary Council of the Royal Hibernian Academy) in 1980 and a member of Aosdána in 1981 and had a major retrospective exhibition by the Irish Arts Council (Cork, Belfast, Dublin) in 1982. Several solo exhibitions followed, including a Retrospective at Sligo Art Gallery in 1985. Two years later, Patrick Collins was the first artist to be honoured with the accolade SAOI by Aosdána in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the visual arts in Ireland. In 1988 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Literature from Trinity College, Dublin. His paintings have been exhibited widely in Ireland and in Europe, and are held in many public and private collections of Irish painting worldwide.
"Patrick Collins has made a unique contribution to painting in our time by his power to evoke an aspect of Ireland which captures not only the primary image of the place and the people, but also its spiritual content. His grey-blue landscapes contain images of households, farms and figures, which emerge with a curious imprecise shape that is ultimately seen to be marked by folk-memory and by legend. Like a poet with words, his images penetrate areas beyond exact statement or description – they belong to the area of suggestion and imagination which cannot be identified outside the realm of his own idiom."
(James White, Chairman of the Arts Council in the foreword to "Patrick Collins" by Frances Ruane)
Life
Biographical outline
| 1911 | Born in Dromore West, Co. Sligo, Lived in Riverstown and Sligo. |
| 1925 | School: St. Vincent's C.B.S., Glasnevin, Co. Dublin |
| Afterwards worked for Irish Life Insurance Company. | |
| Studied briefly at National College of Art and Design with George Collie RHA and at National College of Art. | |
| 1950 | First exhibits in Irish Exhibition of Living Art |
| Exhibits with IELA yearly until 1972 | |
| 1956 | First one-man show, Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin |
| Exhibits with Hendriks until 1973 | |
| 1958 | National Award in Guggenheim Award Exhibition. |
| 1962 | First Exhibits in Royal Hibernian Academy |
| 1964 | First exhibits in Oireachtas Exhibition. Exhibits regularly there until 1973 and rarely afterwards. |
| 1971 | Moves to Paris |
| Irish Landscape Prize in Oireachtas Exhibition | |
| 1973 | Moves to Orne, Normandy. |
| 1974 | Exhibits with Tom Caldwell Galleries from hereafter |
| 1976 | Moves to Nice |
| Receives Irish American Cultural Institute Award. | |
| 1977 | Moves back to Ireland |
| 1980 | Elected HRHA – Honorary Council of the Royal Hibernian Academy |
| 1981 | Becomes member of Aosdána |
| 1982 | Major Retrospective Exhibition (Cork, Belfast, Dublin) |
| 1985 | Retrospective at Sligo Art Gallery |
| 1987 | First artist to be honoured with the accolade Saoi by Aosdána in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the visual arts in Ireland. |
| 1988 | Received Honorary Doctorate of Literature from Trinity College, Dublin |
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
| 1956, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968 | Ritchie Hendriks Gallery, Dublin |
| 1968 | Mercury Gallery, London |
| 1969, 1970, 1972 | David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin |
| 1973 | David Hendriks Gallery at Cork Arts Society |
| 1971, 1974, 1976 | Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast |
| 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979 | Tom Caldwell Gallery, Dublin |
| 1982 | Collins Retrospective, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College Dublin (also in Cork and Belfast) |
| 1988, 1989, 1991 | Tom Caldwell Gallery, Dublin |
| 2011 | "Last Daylight", Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin |
Selected group exhibitions
| 1950 | Exhibition of Contemporary Irish Painting, North American Tour |
| 1953 | Irish Painting 1903–1953, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin |
| Contemporary Irish Art, Aberyswyth, Wales | |
| 1958 | Guggenheim Award Exhibition, New York |
| 1963 | Twelve Irish Painters, New York |
| 1965 | Paintings and Sculpture from Private Collections in Ireland, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin |
| 1966 | Modern Irish Paintings, Great Southern Hotels and Ulster Museum, Belfast |
| 1969 | Contemporary Irish Painting, Wexford Festival |
| Exhibition of Modern Irish Painting, Northern European and Irish Tour | |
| 1970 | Aspects of Landscape by Irish Artists, Irish touring exhibition. |
| 1971 | The Irish Imagination, Rosc '71, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin |
| Paintings from the Collection of An Chomhairle Ealaion, Irish Tour | |
| 1972 | The Irish Imagination, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington |
| Exhibition by Irish Painters, Galerie Braun, Paris | |
| From Yeats to Ballagh, Kusthalle Lund | |
| The Gordon Lamberg Collection, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin | |
| Paintings by Irish Artists, Killarney | |
| 1976 | Irish Art 1900–1950, Cork Rosc 1976, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork |
| The Gordon Lamberg Collection of Contemporary Art, Ulster Museum, Belfast | |
| 1978 | Dublin Arts Festival |
| 1979 | Contemporary Irish Art, Insurance Corporation of Ireland, Dublin |
| 1980 | The Delighted Eye, Arts Councils' Exhibition, London and Irish Tour |
| Irish Art 1943–73, Cork Rosc 1980, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork and Ulster Museum, Belfast | |
| The College Gallery 21st Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin | |
| The Collection of Pat and Antoinette Murphy, Belltable Gallery, Limerick |
Works in Collections
- Irish National Gallery
- Liffey Quaysides, 1957-8
- Irish Arts Council:
- Arts Council of Northern Ireland [3]
- AIB Collection
- Travelling Tinkers, 1968
- A Place with Stones, 1979
- Table with Exotic Fruit, 1976
- Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) Collection
- Landscape with Declining Sun (1984)
- The Wood Pigeon's Nest (1974)
- Field of Old Stones (1978)
- Bird Against the Window (1963)
- Headland (1980)
- Landscape with Church (1956)
- Bank of Ireland Collection
- Pigeon House (mouth of the Liffey), 1978
- Trout Rising, 1978