Page 43 - Studio International - September 1971

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Belfast

Since 1967 the Ulster Museum has been
building a large extension twice the size of the
original building which is also being completely
restyled. The result amounts to a brand new
museum building. The first part of the Ulster
Museum extension opened on 28 June,
comprising galleries of modern art and part of
the antiquities department. On 15 June a
new gallery of Irish art was opened and a brand
new temporary exhibition gallery. This gallery
is fully air-conditioned and has a very flexible
lighting system, it is carpeted throughout and is
divided into four main areas which are inter-
5
connected. It can be further subdivided
with movable screen walls. There are two
different floor levels and ceiling heights in this
area, and there is provision for storage of crates
and cases. The temporary exhibition gallery was
constructed in the Art Gallery which opened in
1929 but it is hardly recognizable as such. It has
its own separate lift and staircase and it can be
isolated from the rest of the art gallery while
exhibitions are being arranged. The opening
exhibition was the Henri Laurens exhibition
which moved to Belfast from the Hayward
Gallery.
The galleries' outstanding collections are
in the field of Irish and of modern art. There is
a group of works by post-war American
painters : Morris Louis, Sam Francis, Kenneth
Noland, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell
and Paul Jenkins. It includes donations to the
gallery by Clement Greenberg and Kenneth
Noland. Group Zero is represented by Heinz
Mack, Otto Piene and 'Gunther Uecker's
Tisch' which was presented by the
Contemporary Art Society. There are kinetic
works by J. R. Soto, Julio le Parc and Camargo.
There are important works by Bridget Riley,
John Hoyland, John Latham, Patrick Caulfield
and Robyn Denny. The sculpture collection
includes works by Phillip King, the Dublin
sculptor Brian King, Noguchi, Paolozzi and
César and there is an interesting group of
4 The Modern Art Gallery, Belfast pre-195o paintings by English and Irish artists
such as William Roberts, Stanley Spencer,
5 Interior of The Modern Art Gallery, Belfast
Works by Paolozzi, Denny, Noguchi, Farrell, Moon, Charles Ginner, Jack B. Yeats and
Brian King, Hoyland William Conor.
The building was designed by Mr Francis
Pym. Floor levels rise one room at a time so that
a visitor gradually ascends the building as he
walks round. The entire art gallery is
air-conditioned and the lighting is mainly
artificial although windows and balconies
prevent any feeling of claustrophobia. Wall
finishes are concrete or fabric-covered panels,
floors are carpeted, or tiled in black rubber.
The collections on display range from the most
recent modern abstracts to late-fifteenth-century
altar pieces. q
J. W. FORD SMITH
Keeper of Art
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