Views of Cork from the Collection

‘Unfortunate souls’ living beyond Ireland’s second city maybe unfamiliar with the 1990’s critically acclaimed Irish radio drama Under the Goldie Fish. The gloriously irreverent series chronicled fictional lives of fantastical characters amid the winding steps and steeples of Cork City under the gaze of the spinning golden fish weather vane on Shandon’s landmark, St. Anne’s Church.

Our exhibition takes its title from Cork born playwright and novelist, Cónal Creedon’s cult radio programme and draws upon the Gallery’s collection of artworks which can be found, geographically, under the gaze of the famous golden fish.

Most of the work shown is topographical: landscapes, studies of architectural interest or result from the artist’s need to record a familiar view– perhaps pivotal to the artist’s own life story. It also tells of changes within the city.

Works include the iconic John Butts’ View of Cork (c. 1750), a panoramic view of the city seen from an elevated position north of the River Lee- an amalgamation of two separate viewpoints; Nathaniel Grogan’s Whipping the Herring (c.1800) to contemporary interpretations by Eileen Healy and Harry Moore. It also features The Busy Interior of the Old Queen’s Castle Department Store (1848) by Robert Lowe Stopford, a recent addition to the collection.

Public collections, such as the Crawford Art Gallery’s, offer opportunities to rethink the past. The artworks we can also be used to trigger our imagination toward the future. How do we see our relationship evolve with the built and developing cityscape? What solutions can be drawn to protect the city from rising seas?

How do we want to live Under the Goldie Fish?