James White, art critic and museum head
Hyfler/Rosner
James White, who has died aged 89, was for a time a key figure in the Irish
art world, first as a critic and then when he headed the National Gallery of
Ireland and earlier the Dublin Municipal Gallery, although he had no formal
education in art.
More than anyone else, he was responsible for opening up art appreciation to
thousands of children as well as adults who came to hear his stimulating
lectures and view the exhibitions he organised outside Dublin as well as in
the galleries of the capital.
He believed his mission was "to bring art to the people". There were few
aspects of the Irish art scene from the 1930s until his retirement in 1980
in which he was not involved. As a critic he encouraged the younger Irish
painters who were experimenting with the Modernist style while deepening his
own knowledge of the Old Masters through frequent travel and study. Patrick
James White was born in Dublin on September 16th, 1913. His father, Thomas
White, had moved to the capital from Tulla, Co Clare. His mother was
Florence Coffey. His father had a clerical job but was deeply interested in
sports and wrote a column in the Irish Field under the pseudonym of Danny
Boy.
James White attended Belvedere College, where he showed an interest in art,
played tennis and rugby, but had to leave before completing his secondary
education to help out with the family finances. At age 16, he began work in
the John Player tobacco factory on the South Circular Road and was to stay
with the company for 31 years.
At Belvedere he had been a classmate of Jack Hanlon, who was to become a
well-known artist as well as being a priest in the Dublin diocese. Hanlon
introduced James White to the artist Mainie Jellett, who gave him art
lessons. But she gently pointed him in another direction by encouraging him
to become an art critic. He persuaded the editor of the Catholic Standard to
let him review art exhibitions under the name of James White while he
continued to be known at work and to his friends as Paddy White.
He also became very interested in ballet and in 1937 was a founder member of
the Irish Ballet Club. Many years later in a series of RTE interviews on his
life he explained that: "Through ballet, I saw the meaning of painting as a
background to movement and music. I owe more to this than to perhaps
anything else."
In 1941, he married Aggie Bowe and they had five children.
He took time from a busy life to travel around the country to give talks on
art to schoolgirls under a scheme financed by a bequest from Mrs George
Bernard Shaw.
In 1950 James White was appointed art critic of the Irish Press and he began
to give music talks on Radio Eireann, art lectures on BBC Northern Ireland
and in the Ulster Museum where the poet, John Hewitt, was a leading figure.
With the then director of the National Gallery, Thomas McGreevy, James White
established an Irish branch of the International Association of Art Critics
and succeeded in bringing its 1953 congress to Dublin, an opportunity to put
Ireland on the map of contemporary art and for struggling Irish artists to
show their work to influential critics from England, the US and continental
Europe.
As a critic himself, James White was more interested in the small number of
artists experimenting with the Modernist style following on from Mainie
Jellett and Evie Hone. These included Patrick Collins, Nano Reid, Gerard
Dillon, Louis le Brocquy and Oisin Kelly.
He once daringly criticised the Royal Hibernian Academy for ignoring
Modernist painting in favour of traditional landscape themes.
Writing in Art is My Life, a collection of tributes to James White in 1991,
Louis le Brocquy recalled that period when "no one as I remember brought us
quite the same indefinable combination of open-minded insight and human
concern as did James White."
While holding down a by now senior managerial post in Players, James White
was increasingly in demand for organising exhibitions and writing
catalogues. As his reputation spread, he was invited to lecture in both UCD
and Trinity College, Dublin - this by a man who had no academic
qualifications.
In 1960 he at last gave up the day job at Players to become Curator of the
Dublin Municipal Gallery, now the Hugh Lane Gallery of Modern Art. He moved
his family into the spacious apartment over the gallery in Charlemont House
on Parnell Square. He was shocked to find that the attendants were keeping
children out and changed that. He set out to popularise the gallery by
organising temporary exhibitions and inviting special groups. He had great
success with the Children's Art Holiday, held first in 1962 during the
Christmas period when artists gave lessons to children in drawing and
painting.
In 1964 he was appointed director of the National Gallery. One of the first
things he did was to remove the protective glass from many paintings. "It
was ghastly," he told an interviewer. "You came into the gallery and
wherever you looked you saw your own reflection."
While he came to the post with superb qualifications, he was also fortunate
that the bequest to the gallery by George Bernard Shaw of one-third of the
royalties from his published works was boosted by the success of the film My
Fair Lady based on his play Pygmalion. In addition, the badly-needed new
wing which had been approved by the Government in 1962 was going to expand
the potential of the gallery.
With a bigger budget and a larger building, James White was able to carry
through many of his ideas for attracting a bigger public. He organised more
exhibitions and lectures, concerts and seminars. The new restaurant became a
popular meeting place.
The staff was increased and a permanent restoration team was set up. He
increased the national collection by a number of significant paintings,
including some by Jack Yeats, Roderic O'Connor, Joshua Reynolds, Nathaniel
Hone the Elder, Jean Louis David and Giovanni di Paolo.
He also purchased the Icon Collection of 24 Greek and Russian icons.
In recognition of his work, he received decorations from the French, Italian
and German governments and an honorary doctorate from the National
University. He published widely on art and artists. He was also chairman of
the Arts Council in 1978-1983.
His publications include: Irish Stained Glass (with Michael Wynne), 1963;
The National Gallery of Ireland, 1968; Jack B. Yeats, 1971; John Butler
Yeats and the Irish Renaissance, 1972; Masterpieces of the National Gallery
of Ireland, 1978; Pauline Bewick: Painting A Life, 1985; and Gerard Dillon,
A Biography, 1993.
By the time he retired in 1980, attendance at the gallery had risen from
93,179 in 1967 to 426,416. He remained active in retirement, lecturing,
writing and opening exhibitions. He was involved in the Irish Museums'
Association, of which he is the only honorary life member. He continued to
play his weekly golf at Portmarnock.
He is survived by his wife, Aggie; daughter Mary and sons Peter, Patrick and
Mark. He was pre-deceased by his daughter Catherine.
James White: born September 16th, 1913; died June 2nd, 2003