PRESIDENT MARY McAleese yesterday paid tribute to the staff at the Glucksman Gallery at University College Cork for their efforts in saving valuable works of Irish art, when she reopened the gallery after extensive damage in the November floods.
More than 10ft of water flooded the basement of the gallery and in excess of 180 works of art were damaged on the night of November 19th when the River Lee burst its banks after the ESB was forced to release water from Inniscarra Dam following torrential rain.
Among the works of art damaged were Louis Le Brocquy’s watercolour Head of Francis Bacon, Hughie O’Donoghue’s oil painting Knocknalower and Martin Gale’s The Strangers as well as works by Barrie Cooke, Alice Maher and Ann Madden.
Glucksman Gallery director Fiona Kearney immediately appealed for help and a team of 12 art conservation experts began a major operation to save the works of art caught in the flood.
Yesterday their work was visible for all to see when the gallery reopened.
President McAleese recalled how she had officially opened the gallery some five years ago as she paid tribute to the late Lewis Glucksman and his wife, Loretta Brennan Glucksman, for their generosity in funding and developing the gallery.
