- Ongoing
- Our Permanent Collection Galleries are closed from the 1st - 3rd November 2024 to facilitate our annual Craft Fair.
Tony O’Malley (1913-2003) was an Irish artist born in Callan, County Kilkenny. The Butler Gallery is honoured to caretake the artworks of Tony O’Malley, donated to us by his wife Jane O’Malley (1944-2023) upon our relocation to Evans’ Home. The O’Malley Collection includes early works on paper based on the life and landscape of his beloved Callan along with a range of paintings and sculptural constructions that reflect the range and richness of the artist’s career.
Celebrating 60th Anniversary of Arts Council Collection
Featuring important works by Tony O’Malley
November 2022 – January 2023
This year the Arts Council marks the 70th anniversary of its very first meeting on 25th January 1952. In addition to this important milestone 2022 also sees the celebration of 60 years of the Arts Council Collection. This Collection includes over 1,300 works of modern and contemporary Irish art spanning from 1940 until the present day.
As the Arts Council Collection celebrates its 60th anniversary, and in honour of this significant anniversary, the O’Malley wing of Butler Gallery has been rehung with a display of the council’s important abstract works from the 1970s and 1980s by the celebrated Kilkenny artist. The selection is supplemented by a long-term loan to the gallery and a small group of works from the O’Malley estate.
‘The Arts Council’s collection supports artists’ and public engagement with the arts. It does this by purchasing excellent contemporary work to be enjoyed and valued through display and programmes delivered directly and with partners. Through the collection, the Arts Council also acts as a custodian and carer of great art on behalf of the people of Ireland.’
To learn more about the Arts Council Collection and view works online please visit the Collection: https://www.artscouncil.ie/Arts-in-Ireland/Visual-arts/Arts-Council-Collection/