OnTheTown: This year may mark the centenary of the dramatist's death, but Henrik Ibsen was brought to life at the National Library of Ireland this week with the opening of Portraits of Ibsen, an exhibition of portraits of the great man by Norwegian artist Haakon Gullvaag.
As 150 guests awaited the arrival of the guest of honour, Queen Sonja of Norway, who was going to the show as part of a three-day State visit to Ireland, a trio of musicians played the works of Norwegian composers.
Gullvaag is one of Norway's most esteemed contemporary artists and is in high demand as a portraitist, having even painted Queen Sonja herself. For the Ibsen pictures, in the absence of a living subject to sit for him, Gullvaag used "pictures, paintings and sculptures of Ibsen's own time".
Aongus Ó hAonghusa, director of the National Library, welcomed Queen Sonja, noting that she was only the second royal to visit the library, the first being the then prince of Wales, who laid the building's foundation stone 121 years ago. The chairman of the library, Gerard Danaher SC, made the ubiquitous reference to earlier Nordic visits to Ireland. Queen Sonja and her husband must have become a little weary of all the congenial mentions of that prior, less cordial visitation.
Actor Tom Hickey performed three poems by Ibsen, before Queen Sonja was invited upstairs to view Gullvaag's show.
There were many museum staff there to witness the historic visit, including keeper of manuscripts Gerard Lyne, board member Margaret Toomey and chief herald Fergus Gillepsie. The national librarian of Norway, Vigdis Moe Skarstein, and the artist's manager, Elisabeth Hartmann Krafft, were among the Norwegian contingent in attendance. Other guests included Dr Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland.
Queen Sonja also took the time to view the Yeats exhibition currently on display at the National Library, but didn't manage to take in another of the capital's popular tourist attractions, the Viking Splash tour.
Portraits of Ibsen is at the National Library of Ireland until Oct 21
Putting the celebs in the picture
Art exhibitions usually mean galleries, trays of canapés and glasses of Chardonnay. But when the artist in question is caricaturist, cartoonist and animator Niall O'Loughlin, and the subjects are rock musicians, rugby players and celebrity chefs, the exhibition cliches are left out of the picture.
The venue was the Laughter Lounge on Eden Quay, there was not a fiddly canapé in sight, the beverage on offer was a trendy Italian beer and the crowd was a vibrant mix of stylish twenty- and thirtysomethings.
But how is caricature perceived from within the art world itself?
"The truth is, I don't care," O'Loughlin said candidly. "That's why I had the launch here in the Laughter Lounge, to get away from the whole cheese and wine thing."
For the same reason, he is happy to be exhibiting at the Green Gallery in St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, a place where he believes his work can be seen more easily by people who don't normally frequent art galleries.
Dermot O'Grady, owner of the Green Gallery, described O'Loughlin's work as "quirky" and, while admitting that not everybody wants to have Tiger Woods's exaggerated pearly-whites beaming down from their living-room wall, predicted that he is "the future Knuttel".
Artist and fellow cartoonist Tom Mathews came along to view the show, picking out the portrait of singer Shane McGowan as a favourite. Ireland AM chef Andrew Rudd, of the Andrew Rudd Food Group, Brian Barnes, of Spirit nightclub, and Dick Massey, of Commitments fame, were all there to lend support to the young artist.
Ex-Big Brother housemate and current Q102 presenter Ray Shah was also in the Laughter Lounge, having purchased O'Loughlin's painting of Brian O'Driscoll at a recent charity auction.
Those who have seen O'Loughlin's interpretations of their features invariably love the finished product. British comedian Jimmy Carr returned to the UK after a recent trip to Dublin with a bubble-wrapped O'Loughlin print of himself in the hold.
As for that Tiger Woods painting, I wonder if the American Ryder Cup team might be flying back to the US with a little extra baggage?
Niall O'Loughlin's exhibition continues at the Green Gallery, Top Floor, St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, until Sat, Sept 30
A crafty meeting of equals
There was a high-profile visit to the capital by the Norwegian royals this week, but some of their Swedish neighbours were also in town for an exhibition of Swedish-Irish crafts at Philip Murphy's Misery Hill Art Gallery. The show brought together tapestries, wood-carvings and pottery for what was described as "the first official Irish-Swedish exhibition in Ireland" by Winni Fejne, a minister at the Swedish embassy.
Gillian Freedman, who designs and makes hand-woven tapestries, and wood-turner Liam Flynn, were the two Irish artists involved in the exhibition.
Flynn, who is based in Abbeyfeale in Co Limerick, has only recently returned from a two-month residency at Philadelphia's University of the Arts and is preparing to travel to Chicago in November to represent Ireland at the international exposition of Sculpture Objects and Functional Art.
The chief executive of the Craft Council of Ireland, Leslie Reed, noted obvious links between Irish and Scandinavian design, describing the show as a "meeting of equals".
"The Irish and Swedish parts form a very nice whole, I think," said Nils Daag, the Swedish ambassador to Ireland. Also in attendance were the Hungarian ambassador to Ireland, Dr János Balassa, and Leena Husso-Hanevold, wife of the Norwegian ambassador, who must have been having a very busy few days.
Peter Arnesson, one of the Swedish artists included in the show, took the opportunity to tell those gathered a little about his tapestry, The Dream of Balder - To Hel.
Many friends and neighbours of the gallery came along to the opening, including Brian Lalor, chairman of the Graphic Studio, currently located in the Trinity Centre, and his daughter, ceramic artist Ayelet Lalor, who works from a studio in the Trinity Tower. Dublin-based Swedish designer Maria Tapper and her husband, Jimmy Quinn, were also at the exhibition.
The night had a definite Scandinavian flavour, with Swedish meatballs replacing traditional canapés, but the emphasis, as with the exhibits themselves, was on bringing together all things Swedish and Irish. Fejne even managed to impress with a perfectly enunciated cúpla focal.
Swedish-Irish Crafts With A Modern Twist continues at Misery Hill Art Gallery, The Trinity Centre, Pearse Street, Dublin 2, until Oct 6
From the 'Joy to the Gaiety
The stylish costume sketches for Opera Ireland's latest production scream Italian chic, but the fact that they were designed by prisoners at a maximum-security prison in Italy makes the company's forthcoming version of La Bohème truly unique.
In the auditorium of Mountjoy Prison this week, guests gathered to celebrate an innovative collaboration, which saw prisoners at Maiana Prison, in Perugia, and Mountjoy Prison, in Dublin, design and make all the sets and costumes for a production of Puccini's opera to be staged at the Gaiety Theatre in November.
"We took a deep breath," said David Collopy, outgoing chief executive of Opera Ireland, "and then handed over artistic direction to them."
Opera is often perceived as one of the least accessible of all art forms, but Opera Ireland is trying to break down those kind of barriers, maintained Collopy. "Puccini wrote this for the man on the street," he said. "Anyone can engage with opera."
Porzia Addabbo, who is directing the project, and stage designer Michele Zualdi, have been working with the prisoners at Mountjoy, giving them the guidance and skills to make their designs work.
"I've been working with the best crew," enthused Addabbo. "I'm not directing my opera, but their opera."
This week's was a bilingual launch, with speeches discreetly being translated for some of the Italian contingent, which included Andrea Jengo, Umbrian regional director for the Italian national broadcaster, RAI.
Senator Mary Henry, who was instrumental in the project, was at the event, as was the governor of Mountjoy, John Lonergan, and Kathleen McMahon, governor of the women's prison. Others in attendance included the project's independent producer, Joe Mitchell, Opera Ireland's Lisa Irvine and Aisling Sullivan, and Paddy McLaughlin, of Opera Theatre Company, which is currently staging a production in Kilmainham Gaol.
The reading of two speeches, written by the Mountjoy prisoners involved in the project, struck a serious note.
" I think it was Shakespeare who said 'all the world is a stage' and I, for one, am glad that you introduced the stage to my prison world," Addabbo read from the male prisoners' speech. "One gift we'd like to thank Porzia and Michele for is the friendship they shared, a friendship that accepted us for who we are."