1960s Timeline +
Art USA now: It draws the crowds
1961
Upwards of 4,000 people came to see it in the first four days and the shilling postcards are selling at more than 200 a day. A string of sensible Dublin people queue up every day to buy abstract postcards. I cannot believe it !
James White – Irish Independent 28 April 1964
In July 1961, the Arts Council exhibition officer Desmond Fennell was keen to secure an exhibition of contemporary American art in Ireland. This followed the success of the 1959 show ‘the New American Paintings’ held in the Tate Gallery, London. The proposal was discussed at the October monthly Arts Council meeting and approved by Council members who expressed a ‘unanimous interest and desire for such an exhibition’.
The following day, the Arts Council officially recorded an interest for a potential exhibition with the American Embassy in Dublin, and also expressed its concern ‘at its possible cost, having regard to the relatively small annual subvention within which they must work’. The Arts Council could not have hoped for a better prospect.
Modern American art
In August 1962, the Second Secretary of the American Embassy Edward R.O. O’Connor contacted Mervyn Wall, Secretary of the Arts Council, proposing an exhibition of modern American art for show in Ireland during May1964. The exhibition called ‘Art USA: Now’ consisted of a collection of 102 paintings by living American artists purchased for S.C. Johnson & Sons, Inc. of Racine, Wisconsin by an independent art dealer from New York, with the aim of sponsoring and supporting American art and artists. The collection was initially to be shown in September 1962 at Milwaukee Arts Center (now Milwaukee Art Museum) before going on a two-year European tour, starting in London and finishing in Vienna.
S.C. Johnson & Sons offered to finance the cost of circulating the exhibition, including all transportation and the expenses of a travelling curator/lecturer. In addition, public relations personnel of S.C. Johnson & Sons, Inc. in London would be available for consultation and assistance.
At its September meeting, the Arts Council decided to: accept the exhibition; approve the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin as a suitable venue for the show; and sanction the expenditure, of a maximum of £300, from the Council’s funds to meet any necessary cost.
Highest attendance
The exhibition was opened on the 15 April 1964 by the American Ambassador Mr. Matthew McCloskey and welcomed by Rev. Father Donal O’Sullivan. It was open for viewing for four weeks and ‘recorded the highest attendance of the tour’.
The collection was subsequently gifted to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, Johnson citing its value because it had ‘reached people around the world’ and ‘enhanced the company’s reputation for doing the unusual in the name of excellence’.
Archive material: 16 items
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![Letter from James White, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art to Mervyn Wall, Secretary of the Arts Council. [Letter reproduced courtesy of the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane]](http://archivestories.artscouncil.ie/wp-content/gallery/1961-Art USA Now/10_ArtUSA.jpg "Letter from James White, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art to Mervyn Wall, Secretary of the Arts Council. [Letter reproduced courtesy of the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane]")
![Letter from Daniel Nolan, Managing Director of the Kerryman to Speer Ogle, the Arts Council. [Letter reproduced courtesy of The Kerryman] (Page 1 of 2)](http://archivestories.artscouncil.ie/wp-content/gallery/1961-Art USA Now/15_ArtUSA.jpg "Letter from Daniel Nolan, Managing Director of the Kerryman to Speer Ogle, the Arts Council. [Letter reproduced courtesy of The Kerryman] (Page 1 of 2)")
![Letter from Daniel Nolan, Managing Director of the Kerryman to Speer Ogle, the Arts Council. [Letter reproduced courtesy of The Kerryman] (Page 2).](http://archivestories.artscouncil.ie/wp-content/gallery/1961-Art USA Now/16_ArtUSA.jpg "Letter from Daniel Nolan, Managing Director of the Kerryman to Speer Ogle, the Arts Council. [Letter reproduced courtesy of The Kerryman] (Page 2).")
![Irish Indepenedent article entitled, 'It Draws the Crowds'. [Article reproduced courtesy of the Irish Independent]](http://archivestories.artscouncil.ie/wp-content/gallery/1961-Art USA Now/artusa_164.jpg "Irish Indepenedent article entitled, 'It Draws the Crowds'. [Article reproduced courtesy of the Irish Independent]")
![Kerryman article entitled, ' USA Art To-day', by Sara Conwell. [Article reproduced courtesy of The Kerryman]](http://archivestories.artscouncil.ie/wp-content/gallery/1961-Art USA Now/18_ArtUSA.jpg "Kerryman article entitled, ' USA Art To-day', by Sara Conwell. [Article reproduced courtesy of The Kerryman]")
![Irish Press article entitled, '16,640 see 'Art U.S.A.' [Copyright courtesy of the Irish Press]](http://archivestories.artscouncil.ie/wp-content/gallery/1961-Art USA Now/21_ArtUSA.jpg "Irish Press article entitled, '16,640 see 'Art U.S.A.' [Copyright courtesy of the Irish Press]")
![Mr W.C. Kidd vice-president and regional director of the Johnson collection, Mrs Matthew McCloskey, the Rev. Donal O'Sullivan, Mr Matthew McCloskey, US Ambassador to Ireland, and the Tánaiste Mr MacEntee. [Photo: Lensmen Press Photo Agency]](http://archivestories.artscouncil.ie/wp-content/uploads/ArtUSA_269.jpg "Mr W.C. Kidd vice-president and regional director of the Johnson collection, Mrs Matthew McCloskey, the Rev. Donal O'Sullivan, Mr Matthew McCloskey, US Ambassador to Ireland, and the Tánaiste Mr MacEntee. [Photo: Lensmen Press Photo Agency]")
Mr W.C. Kidd vice-president and regional director of the Johnson collection, Mrs Matthew McCloskey, the Rev. Donal O'Sullivan, Mr Matthew McCloskey, US Ambassador to Ireland, and the Tánaiste Mr MacEntee. [Photo: Lensmen Press Photo Agency]
The growth of artistic interest was most clearly shown by the attendance at the Art U.S.A. now exhibition which was a record for Europe. This Johnson collection was also a magnificent example of industrial patronage of the arts.
Rev Fr Donal O'Sullivan, Director, Introduction to the 13th Annual Report of An Chomhairle Ealaíon.