Council to unveil portrait of the late Mairéad Furlong
A newly-commissioned portrait of the well-known art expert and antique dealer Mairéad Furlong will be unveiled at a ceremony in Wexford County Council headquarters in Carricklawn at the end of July which will be attended by members of her family and friends.
Mairéad of Drinagh, Wexford who died in August 2015, was a founder member of the Friends of the Wexford County Art Collection established in 2009 to promote and procure works of art for the collection and was one of its leading lights, conducting public tours of the art works on a regular basis.
Following her sad death, the Friends collaborated with Wexford County Council to commission a portrait of Mairéad by the award-winning Kilkenny-based painter Blaise Smith RHA who worked from photographs to produce a large painting which is currently ‘under lock and key’ in County Hall, awaiting the official unveiling on July 26.
The portrait which will form part of the County Art Collection, one of the finest local authority exhibitions in the country, which Mairéad was so proud of, has only been seen by a handful of people as it is being kept a closely-guarded secret until the unveiling.
The wife of Wexford writer, journalist and historian Nicholas Furlong, Mairéad was born in Dublin and worked in dairy farming in Wexford for many years before establishing an antiques business in 1973.
She undertook extensive studies in art hhistory and landscape painting and was awarded a Diploma in the History of European Painting from UCD.
Mairéad had a life-long interest in the arts, serving on the boards of the Arts Council and the National Opera House. She was a lecturer in art and a specialist on the Caravaggio painting in Trinity College.
She was a long time supporter of the Arts in County Wexford and a founding member of the Friends of the Wexford County Art Collection. She worked tirelessly to promote the art collection and procure donations.
The collection which is regarded as one of the finest local authority exhibitions in the country, comprises over 200 works by leading contemporary Irish sculptures and painters including Louis Le Brocquy and Martin Gale.
Mairéad gave lively and insightful tours of the collection once a month and her depth of knowledge andpersonal connections with many of the artists provided anecdoates and a window into a domain that few have access to.
Wexford County Council is currently reviewing how the public tours are organised and is planning to resume them in September.
The commissioned artist Blaise Smith who paints still life, portraits and landscape, studied Fine Art Painting in NCAD and has hosted 11 solo shows in the Molesworth Gallery in Dublin as well as exhibitons in public art galleries and museums.
He has just completed a large group portrait of eight leading Irish scientists for the Royal Irish Academy as part of Accenture’s ‘Women on Walls’ project which was unveiled in December 2016 and recently win the Irish Arts Review/ US Council Portraiture Award in the RHA where it is currently on display.
He was appointed to the board of the National College of Art in 2015 and was elected a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy this year.