Seán Ó Laoire appraises a new study by Fergal MacCabe of part-visionary, part polemicist, townplanner and architect Frank Gibney
At a time of massive crisis in Ireland in local housing accommodation, Fergal MacCabe’s astute interrogation of the life, times and legacy of Frank Gibney (1904 – 78), self-styled ‘Architect and Town Planning Architect’, casts a cold eye on the decades between 1930 and 1960 and shows what this outstanding architect aspired to do in the early years of the Irish Free State. In doing so, MacCabe reveals a remarkable man and an epoch of our history, whose themes and challenges reverberate today, albeit in an Ireland that has radically transformed. Frank Gibney is revealed as a practical architect, a visionary, and a polemicist. Conservative and recessive, he was also capable of self-promotion. A devout Catholic, he was professionally successful. He was possessed of a generosity of spirit, and a commitment to public service which saw him, as the pre-eminent member of a small coterie of professional colleagues, promote the promise and prospects
Comhghall Casey is a keeper of ordinary things made extraordinary through his art, writes Isabella Evangelisti ahead of his exhibition at Solomon Fine Art this autumn
Christian Dupont reflects on the personal and political desires conveyed in two cartoons by Grace Gifford Plunkett
Recently elected ARHA Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh is proof that the outward appearance of Academicians may change but the concern with discipline remains constant, Niamh NicGhabhann reports