Though the dining hall of the Dublin Union is a communal space, the old men who occupy it in Collie’s painting barely communicate, their focus on the food before them indicative of their straitened circumstances. It seems likely that the painting represents Collie’s response to a particularly topical issue. The Dublin Union, formed in 1918, had very recently been the subject of public disquiet, as the relevant authorities moved to discontinue the provision of meals in favour of the allocation of relief tickets. This measure was vigorously opposed by several organisations and prominent public figures. Collie’s technique and figurative style are relatively conventional and demonstrate the influence of his training at the Metropolitan School of Art, where he too would later teach. It is a rare depiction of urban poverty and charity, however, which presents a starkly alternative image of Ireland to the wholesome images of a subsistence lifestyle on the land in the west favoured by many of Collie’s contemporaries.
March 2016
Irish Art and Modernism 1880-1950, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin; Ulster Museum, Belfast, 1991
Highlights of the R.D.S. Taylor Art Awards, 1878-2005, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 2006
An Exhibition of 18th - 20th Century Irish Paintings, Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 2009