Title: Art in Belfast 1760-1888 : art lovers or Philistines? /
Authors: Black, Eileen.
Publisher: Irish Academic Press,
Year: 2006
Subjects: Art Northern Ireland Belfast History.; Art Social aspects Northern Ireland Belfast.; Belfast (Northern Ireland) Intellectual life; Belfast (Northern Ireland) Civilization
Abstract: "This richly illustrated book tells the story of art in Belfast from its early beginnings in the mid-eighteenth century to the opening is 1888 of the town's first rate-supported art gallery, a suite of rooms in the Free Public Library in Royal Avenue (known today as the Central Reference Library). Exhaustive use of primary sources charts the foundation of a number of exhibiting societies, all of which filed; also, the establishment of the town's first official art school, the School of Design, in 1849, which likewise foundered. Nevertheless, despite this lack of support for local artistic ventures, the town maintained a flourishing art market through a variety of auction houses and salerooms."--Jacket.
Contents: The beginnings of art in Belfast 1760-1810 -- The consolidation of the arts in Belfast 1811-35 -- The failure of exhibiting societies 1836-48 -- The Belfast School of Design 1849-58 -- Further attempts to establish annual exhibitions 1849-59 -- A transformation in the arts : the opening of Belfast's first commercial art gallery and the advent of regular exhibitions 1860-69 -- Annual exhibitons and a new art society 1870-88 -- The establishment of a new School of Art in 1870 -- Industrial exhibitions and the free public library movement 1870-80 -- The erection and opening of the Free Public Library 1881-88 -- The establishment of the Belfast Art Gallery and Museum 1889-90.