A sculpture by a De La Salle brother and artist, who spent most of his life working in Singapore, is to be erected in his native Mayo.
A 10-day silent auction to raise the €95,000 needed to install a scaled-up version of a sculpture by Brother Joseph McNally opened in the Singapore Art Museum last night, with the Irish Ambassador to Singapore, Mr Hugh Swift, in attendance.
The sculpture, known as Counsellor II, will be erected in the grounds of the National Museum's "Country Life" annex in Turlough Park, Castlebar, in September.
One of Singapore's most celebrated contemporary artists and a former student of Brother McNally, Chua Ek Kay, has donated a painting to the auction.
Ballintubber-born Brother McNally, who died two years ago, arrived in Singapore from Mayo in 1946 at the age of 23. He became a major figure in the island's arts scene over the next five decades.
A talented sculptor and painter, Brother Joe established an art school in Singapore in the early 1980s. Called the LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts, it is considered one of south-east Asia's best contemporary arts centres.
Many of Singapore's best-known modern artists were taught by Brother McNally or benefited from his efforts to nurture the arts community. Fifteen of his former students have contributed works to the auction.
According to Chua Ek Kay, Brother McNally was the person that gave him the chance to study. "He let me enrol in the LaSalle school and he encouraged me," he said.
The chairman of Singapore's National Heritage Board, Prof Tommy Koh, said yesterday Brother McNally was a gift to Singapore from Ireland.
"He was an extraordinary man. The LaSalle college would not have existed other than for Brother Joe's faith, commitment, charisma and vision," he said.
Brother McNally's sculpture is to be cast in bronze and will stand 2.5 metres high. One of his former pupils, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Development, Mr George Yeo, will be in Mayo in September for the official unveiling.
Brother McNally held his first show at the Brown Thomas Gallery in Dublin in 1954, but it was not until he retired in the 1980s that he produced most of his major works.
Many of his paintings and sculptures are now housed in the formal residence of the Irish Ambassador to Singapore, with the De La Salle order also holding a sizeable collection.
Brother McNally took out Singaporean citizenship in 1985, but died in Ballintubber in August 2002.